We are now in January, and that means the trade deadline is slowly lurking. The Winnipeg Jets approach looking like a buyer yet again, however we don’t need to make a huge deal to better our team.
The Winnipeg Jets now find themselves in a really good spot as we head into the beginning of 2019, giving us all the reason we need to be buyers at the deadline. However, we don’t necessarily have to make a big splash on every move we make.
One thing I’ve noticed is our depth has been worse than last year. What I mean by that is our fourth line is a lot weaker. It hasn’t been able to get a whole lot done, especially with Andrew Copp being injured and out of the lineup quite a bit.
Nic Petan and Brendan Lemieux haven’t exactly been able to get anything going this year, with an exception for Lemieux’s two goals against Edmonton on New Years Eve. Petan, well, he has a mere two assists and is proving to Jets fans that he no longer is the prospect he once was.
So we also have Jack Roslovic on that line. So he’s clearly not putting up a whole lot of points, but you can’t blame him. He just has nothing to work with unless Copp is playing. Right now Copp is healthy but who knows who could go down with an injury, causing one of Copp or Roslovic to be moved to a higher line.
Now the problem here is that we already have Lemieux in our lineup. Lemieux alone is fine, but when you put him and Petan together, it’s an absolute disaster. There is no production whatsoever.
What the Winnipeg Jets need is another depth player who can come in and make a push for a spot on the 3rd/4th line, plus someone who can make somewhat of an impact.
There’d have to be a few factors we’d want in order to make a trade. The first is someone, like I already said, who can push for a depth spot and make a difference. The second factor would be preferably a pending free agent. If we were to trade for an older depth veteran who had some money on his contract, we wouldn’t be able to pay our guys next year if it had a few years remaining.
It would be alright to trade for a player who’s contract was cheaper (ex. $750k/season) that extended beyond this season. That wouldn’t be anything to worry about, but a $1 Million+ deal likely couldn’t go beyond this season. (There are obviously always a few exceptions, however).
Three guys who’d be a good example are Bryan Boyle (New Jersey Devils), Jordan Weal (Philidelphia Flyers), and Patrick Maroon (St. Louis Blues).
I like all of these guys because they can put up points and make a difference, they have only one year left on their deals, and none of their contracts exceeds $2 Million. Each of these guys are also veterans on struggling teams who could be grabbed for fairly cheap.
The Winnipeg Jets just need to make a small move for insurance. If one player goes down, they at least know there’s someone to step in, rather than having the fear of just putting in a player who we’d much rather not play.