Winnipeg Jets Call Up Kristian Vesalainen, But It’s Complicated

The Winnipeg Jets have recalled their top prospect, but I’m not sure if they wanted to. Either way, don’t blame the kid.

The Winnipeg Jets opened the season with Kristian Vesalainen on their roster, and we were all excited. Well, I was. He’s a great, young player will the skills to exceed in today’s NHL., and he’s just 19.

I expected him to be sent to the AHL, as this was the first year of his three year ELC, and his first stateside (Well, proviceside too).

He even played in their first five games, albeit sparingly as the team struggled in close games and on spent hours on the penalty kill, two times where you don’t normally like to expose your rookies. And so down he went to the Manitoba Moose, and I thought nothing of it.

The kid needed to play, first and foremost, and the team wasn’t in a position to give him ice time, having to claw and scratch for wins in the early parts of the season.

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But then I thought, wow, the Winnipeg Jets are on a roll, they should call up their top prospect! I figured, well, they would have ice time for him in games where they have a bit of a lead. I would even like to see him get some powerplay time, receiving passes from Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele with space.

And then I saw that they actually had called him up, and I thought, wow, I really nailed that one. Way to go, Kyle. But I was technically wrong. Look, there are hockey reasons for the Jets to call up Vesalainen.

There are the ones I just said, and the fact that he was at a point per game in 8 contests with the Manitoba Moose. KV was not undeserving of a call up, so it doesn’t look bad that he got one.

But then there’s the contract issue, with reports that Vesalainen was considering using a clause to go back to Europe. This is triggered only this season of his three year ELC and, only if KV is in the AHL. He can’t do it if he’s on the NHL roster.

Now, there are developmental reasons for that, as KV is, you know, from Europe. He probably doesn’t know the first thing about Manitoba, and if he’s not on the NHL roster, why wouldn’t he want to go home if he could?

He still gets to play, the Jets don’t lose him forever, but it’s still kind of a lost year as far as his NHL career is concerned, as well as his ELC. But there’s also a financial reason for this. I can’t speculate as to what KV would make in Europe at all, but in the AHL? It’s 70k.

That’s pretty good, it’s more than I make. But it’s not great. At the NHL level, he gets $832,500. Yeah, I’d hold the team hostage with that clause for that kind of money at 19.

And don’t get it twisted, he’s well within his right to. The clause is in the contract. If KV wants to go home to Europe at 70k in the AHL, but will stay for more than 10x that in the bright lights of a Stanley Cup chase, I don’t blame him. Good for him.

Why do I think Winnipeg got handcuffed here and had to do this, even though they didn’t really plan on doing it internally? Well, he’s been a healthy scratch the two games since. And they didn’t really need another forward, with them already scratching Brendan Lemieux.

And the Moose were just about to play a back to back, so they could’ve used him down there. And the clause was set to kick in the following day. But you know what, good for him on the money side. The Jets have the money, and the players should always go for (and get more of) the pie.

My main concern is that the Jets will not play him because they don’t deem him ready for action, which wouldn’t be outlandish at all. I wouldn’t necessarily blame Paul Maurice if he and the FO felt this way.

But that would severely hamper KV’s development. He needs to play, he’s just 19, and this is a key juncture of his development. Would it be better if he played in the AHL? Maybe.

Am I gonna hate on him for allegedly doing this? No. And maybe he didn’t. Maybe he would’ve been a model citizen and stuck it out in the AHL. It’s not like he’s said anything publicly.

The Jets just could’ve struck before the problem came up. They crossed the bridge before they got to it, if you will. Either way, it’s a storyline to follow. Hopefully Vesalainen gets in some games soon, but I doubt he’ll play against Calgary or Minnesota.

Maybe the scrub teams that pop up after those? St. Louis, Chicago and Pittsburgh are dumpster fires right now. Might be a good time to see what the kid can do. Either way, nobody’s happy if he’s riding the pine all year.