Winnipeg Jets Free Agency: The Insurance Center
The Winnipeg Jets have only one real hole on the roster. I wouldn’t even call it a hole, just a position that can probably be filled. One of the middle six pivots should be upgraded. Just which one?
The Winnipeg Jets have to be weighing all options considering Bryan Little. Even if last year is the real him, he’s a good player. He didn’t score nearly as much, but his role was diminished. Mostly because he wasn’t scoring as much.
But! Little is still useful. He’s become quite a faceoff ace, winning over 55% of draws the past two seasons. Is that a product of his diminished line? Hard to say, but he’s winning them. That’s pretty much all that matters. The past few years, the Jets have made sure he’s making mostly offensive zone starts.
A lot of that has to do with Scheifele ahead of him. He’s taken over as the True #1. But Little can be useful, bloated salary aside. There’s another center the Jets should consider if they don’t want to pay for Paul Stastny to come back: Valtteri Filppula.
I mostly am advocating this because I want the Winnipeg Jets to have every player whose name I have to look up every time I type it. Also, Filppula is pretty good. He’s just recently exited a contract that heavily overpaid him as well, so you know he’ll come a little cheaper.
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Filppula is the prototypical middle-six center. He can play on the second line, which would likely boost his production (Who wouldn’t want to play on a line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine). Or you can plug him in as the third liner and not lose much.
He wins draws (career 51.2%, right in line with last year’s 51.3%), can kill penalties and push the offense if he has to, albeit not by himself.
No doubt about it, Paul Stastny is the best of these three centers. But it’s no guarantee the Winnipeg Jets will re-sign him (or that he wants to return!) Stastny is basically good Bryan Little, or Filppula with more scoring punch.
And yes, I’d like to see Winnipeg bring him back. Unless John Tavares really wants to join up, there’s not many options out there. Joe Thornton? Pass. Riley Nash? Eh, maybe. Tyler Bozak? Not a good defender and I’m not a huge fan of paying good money to poor defenders.
What better way to give yourself Bryan Little / Jack Roslovic insurance than to sign…basically another Bryan Little? At a fraction of the cost. I’d like to see Roslovic seize the #3 job and eventually push for more minutes. I think we all would.
But you can’t trust rookies that freely when you have a team like this. Make sure Roslovic is in your plan as a big part of your depth, not as a necessary piece. You don’t want to have to go out and acquire someone at the deadline.
So, acquire someone now. And why not Valtteri Filppula?