Winnipeg Jets: Three Offseason Cost-Saving Measures

Everyone knows that cap space can be a good NHL team’s biggest concern. After all, it was introduced to help ensure parity throughout the league. The Winnipeg Jets are no different.

The Winnipeg Jets need to use their cap space wisely.  More than just spending intelligently, they’ll need to shed money when it makes sense to do so.

Smart free agent signings, deft trades and bold moves of all kinds are going to be required if the Jets want to remain as relevant as possible for as long as humanly possible.

Let’s not beat around the bush here, this past season was disappointing. I get it, injuries happen. The team just never played up to what we thought they were capable of, though.

It made you wonder if 2017-2018 was a fluke and the Jets won’t reach those highs again, or if this year was just a blip and a tough go. Sometimes it happens. The Washington Capitals weren’t good in 2013-2014 but around that year they’ve been one of the dominant forces of the NHL.

Maybe a coaching change is needed, maybe not. But one thing we do know, the Jets will be fighting the cap as long as they’re good. Perhaps even after (looking at you, Chicago).

They’ve already started doing so, honestly. The Jets traded Steve Mason to clear space. Well, also because they signed him to be the starter and he lost the job almost immediately and was awful and injured all year.

They also shipped off Joel Armia, thinking one of the youngsters could fill in a bottom six role just as admirably. None of the kids the Jets brought up managed to really seize a spot, though Jack Roslovic stayed in the lineup nearly all year and flashed enough to have some hope for him in the future.

But we know the Jets need to make some cost-saving moves, so we’ll go over a few possibilities.

The Jets have acquired an upgrade at the #2 center spot at the trade deadline two years in a row now, and it’s time to stop hoping the incumbent can handle the job.

The Jets need more than just to acquire a better #2 center. Kevin Hayes re-signing would be cool, not that I’m counting on something like that.

Could it happen? Sure. Will it? Who could know? But what I do know, is that Bryan Little just isn’t up for it. After dealing with injuries a few years ago, he seems to be healthy now, but he just doesn’t produce in a manner that is necessary for his spot on a Cup contender.

Little played all 82 games for the second year in a row, and while we thought of his 2017-2018 as a down year (16G, 27A, 43 points), he actually kept that pace remarkably well this past season (15G, 26A, 41 points).

That’s not gonna cut it. He was a high-end faceoff guy, but even that number slipped this season (from 55.6 to 56 to 52% the past three seasons). In 59 games in 2016-2017, Little managed more points (47) than he has in the last two full campaigns.

If he were still sitting at around .75 points a game, that wouldn’t be so bad. But now, his Corsi% has dropped below 50 for the first time since the strike shortened season, and it really makes his 6 yr / $31,746,000 contract look horrible.

The worst part is that it just kicked in this past season. That $5.291 cap hit is just untenable for this team at this point. This is such an important time for this team, that they should really buyout this contract.

It won’t look good, just after one season, but hey, the money is necessary. They can’t be wasting that much on someone with this kind of production. Factor in a no movement clause and the fact that he’s nearly untradeable anyway, and you need a buyout.

Nobody wants to be boughtout and the Jets probably aren’t looking forward to it. But it needs to be done.

The Winnipeg Jets need to keep the defense in as much depth as they can, but they also need that depth to come cheaply. It’s easier said than done, but it can be done.

The Winnipeg Jets have Dmitry Kulikov on a three year, $13MM deal, for which he’s at a $4.33MM cap hit and he’s just one year in.

Also, Kulikov just isn’t very good. He played in 57 games last season and had only six points, all assists. Kulikov’s never been an offensive stud but he’s also never been worth that cap hit.

A sturdy if unspectacular defenseman, the Jets could do better. And at that price, they need to. His contract isn’t immovable, especially with just two years remaining. He does have a six team no-trade list, but I don’t think the Jets will find it too difficult to part with him.

He won’t fetch anything, and might need to be attached to something to clear the space, but it can be done. Hey, it’s better than buying out two contracts in the same offseason.

Kulikov offers nothing offensively, which is fine since the Jets have Josh Morrissey, Jacob Trouba and Dustin Byfuglien to pick up the slack there.

The Jets could use defensive depth, but honestly, I’d rather roll with Sami Niku, Ben Chiarot, Nathan Beaulieu, Bogdan Kiselevich and Joseph Morrow. Only Niku is under contract for next season, though.

Chiarot and Kiselevich are UFAs, while Morrow and Beaulieu are at RFA status. None of them should be too pricey, save for possibly Chiarot on the open market. I could see someone overpaying him, as he did have a nice postseason.

The others offer as much as Kulikov does at this point, anyway, as well as slightly cleaner injury histories. Either way, depth defensemen shouldn’t be too hard for the Jets to find this offseason. They’re always out there.

So the Jets should look to get Kulikov out there.