Jets White Out
Fansided

Winnipeg Jets: 4 biggest Free Agent flops all-time

By Dylan Paré

WINNIPEG, CANADA - FEBRUARY 12: Alexei Ponikarovsky #23 of the Winnipeg Jets keeps an eye on the puck as he flies through the air during first period action against the Philadelphia Flyers at the MTS Centre on February 12, 2013 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Flyers defeated the Jets 3-2. (Photo by Travis Golby/NHLI via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, CANADA - FEBRUARY 12: Alexei Ponikarovsky #23 of the Winnipeg Jets keeps an eye on the puck as he flies through the air during first period action against the Philadelphia Flyers at the MTS Centre on February 12, 2013 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Flyers defeated the Jets 3-2. (Photo by Travis Golby/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /

July 5th, 2013 – Winnipeg Jets acquire Devin Setoguchi from Minnesota for 2014 2nd round pick

Sure, this deal was a trade, but it still was a flop that happened during free agency.

The shortened 2012-13 lockout season had just wrapped up. The Winnipeg Jets came just short again for their second season back in the ‘Peg. They still had displayed a winning record, but they just couldn’t get quite enough done in order to make the postseason.

Yet again, Cheveldayoff was looking to make a move to get the Jets that extra little push they needed to make the playoffs. The Jets also had to find a guy who could be acquired for a fairly cheap price. We were still a team building our prospect pool as deep as possible, and trading a first round pick wasn’t much of an option.

Insert Devin Setoguchi. A young 226-year-old player, coming off the last season with a lot of potential to make something happen for a team like Winnipeg. The Jets swapped our 2014 2nd round pick, which looked like a great deal at the time for us. Looking back on it, it wasn’t so great.

Setoguchi came into the lineup to be top six player, but didn’t have the season we all expected out of him. He only managed 27 points in 75 games, which was nothing like his 27 points in 48 games in the shortened campaign before with Minnesota. There could’ve been lots of things which contributed to him not living up to expectations, but one of the main suspects was substance abuse.

Our Jets failed to make much happen earlier in the 2013-14 season, which led to us giving former head coach Claude Noel the boot, bringing in our current head coach, Paul Maurice.

Looking back on this deal, it wasn’t one to remember for Kevin Cheveldayoff or the Winnipeg Jets. There wasn’t much gained here, aside from learning from our mistakes.

Home/History