The Winnipeg Jets are finally becoming a team that could contend. We have all the assests, and are all set to go. One thing a team like us might do is make massive trades at the deadline. I’m not against that, but we shouldn’t be trading prospects for rentals.
Kevin Chevaldayoff has done a great job of setting the Jets up for success. He’s been using the “draft and develop” strategy with every prospect (With an exception of Laine), and has built up a exceptionally strong team. Unlike many other top teams, we have depth, and we still have more prospects coming in.
This year at the deadline, we shouldn’t be dealing our future for a rental. It might make sense to trade a mid-low pick, but not a prospect. It wouldn’t make sense to counter everything we’ve done to dish off all or some of our prospects. If we were going to trade someone who has potential, it’d have to be in a deal where we aren’t getting rentals, and we’d have to be getting a solid return. In one of my previous articles, I mentioned a Karlsson trade. That would make lots of sense, because he’s not on the last year of his deal, and we could re-sign him.
Related Story: Erik Karlsson should be a Winnipeg Jet
How we should approach a potential trade
It would make sense to trade for someone who’s not too old and fits into our lineup. They’d also have to be under contract for a few more years.
We should stay away from trading for a guy in his late thirties and on his last year of his deal unless we can get him fairly cheap, without losing a quality prospect. We don’t want to go trading everyone, but it might make sense to move a guy like Nic Petan. If we moved Petan, we could bring in someone else who might fit better in our lineup. I can’t express enough about how that guy should not be a rental. If he is, we could end up like Washington did. They dealt Filip Forsberg to Nashville for Martin Erat. Nashville completely robbed them.
Say the Winnipeg Jets do need a rental guy to fill in for injuries, the most we should spend is a 3rd round pick. Even that could be pricey, but there’s no way we should pay more and put our future in jeopardy. A deal like what we got for Stafford, except now on the flip side would make sense. Very low risk, and high potential for reward is the way to go.
Now we will just have wait to see what the Winnipeg Jets actually do.