Winnipeg Jets: Predicting Contracts for 3 Jets RFAs this Offseason

The Winnipeg Jets have three key restricted free agents this offseason. Here is our prediction for their new contracts for next season.

The Winnipeg Jets have a number of players that will become either unrestricted free agents or restricted free agents (“RFAs”) this offseason.

Of the seven players that are due to be RFAs, three of them were key members of the Jets during the 2021 season.

Those three players are Andrew Copp, Logan Stanley, and Neal Pionk. All three of these players are under the age of twenty-seven and have the potential to be mainstays for the Winnipeg Jets for years to come.

Here are our predictions for the contracts that Copp, Stanley, and Pionk will get from the Winnipeg Jets during this offseason:

3. Andrew Copp

Andrew Copp is coming off his best season statistically as a professional, and oddly enough, it was during a shortened 56-game season.

The twenty-six-year-old had 15 goals, 24 assists for 39 points along with a +2 plus/minus and 20 penalty minutes. Copp also had a four-goal game this season against the Vancouver Canucks in late March:

Copp was the Jets’ utility player in 2021. He started the season on the third line, but when injuries occurred or trades or suspensions happened, Copp was promoted to the first or second line and performed well. He was the lone player on Winnipeg to jump around the top-three lines.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan native was also a force on special teams. He contributed six goals and six assists on the man advantage and was also the Jets’ top penalty killing forward, with the most shorthanded time on ice among Jets’ forwards.

After a career year like this past year, it is safe to say that Copp earned himself a raise from his most recent contract that carried an average annual value (“AAV”) of $2,775,000.

If you look at similar players who play a similar role within their team, some have a much higher AAV than Copp. One of those players is William Karlsson of the Vegas Golden Knights. Karlsson was Vegas’ best penalty killing forward and scored the same exact amount of points as Copp, but his contract is extremely different than Copp’s most recent one as Karlsson’s is for eight years and carries an AAV of $5,900,000.

Other similar players to Copp including Bo Horvat has an AAV of $5,000,000, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins new contract carries an AAV of $5,125,000, and Jakub Vrana’s contract has an AAV of $3,350,000

As Copp seems to get better by each passing season, our prediction is that the Jets will try and tie him down to a four-year deal with an AAV of $4,750,000.

2. Logan Stanley

Logan Stanley had an outstanding campaign in his first season in the NHL in 2021. He stood out as a shutdown defenseman and was our pick as the Jets’ Rookie of the Year.

Stanley appeared in 37 games in his rookie season and put up solid numbers including one goal and three assists. His best statistical category was his plus/minus, where he finished second on Winnipeg’s roster with a plus-13 rating.

Although the six-foot-seven-inch defenseman was at times throughout the regular season going in and out of the lineup, he solidified his place in the lineup with his performances during the postseason.

He played extremely well in the first round of the playoffs helping play a role in shutting down the top-two goal scorers in the league against the Edmonton Oilers. Then, Stanley’s arguably best performance of the year came in game four of the second round against the Montreal Canadiens when he scored two goals.

Stanley finished his first postseason with two goals, one assist, and a +6 plus/minus in eight games.

The twenty-three-year-old is coming off his entry-level contract with an AAV of $1,075,833. One of the main issues regarding Stanley is that he is eligible for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft unless the Jets decide to protect him.

Three players comparable to Stanley are Andrej Sekera, Jan Rutta, and Brayden McNabb. All three of these defensemen do not pick up many points but are defensive defensemen and excel in shutting down opposition forwards.

All of these players carry an AAV in the $1,500,000-$2,500,000 range with Sekera’s and Rutta’s contracts over two years and McNabb’s over four years.

It will be interesting to see what Kevin Cheveldayoff does regarding Stanley. If the Jets protect Stanley they may be able to give him a lower value contract, but if Stanley is exposed in the expansion draft and Winnipeg still wants to protect him, we could see Stanley sign for a higher AAV than expected to price Seattle out.

There is an immense amount of value in a shutdown defenseman in today’s game and the Jets have found one in Logan Stanley. We predict Stanley will get a two-year contract with an AAV of $1,750,000.