The Winnipeg Jets Once Held the Draft Pick that Sanford was Drafted

With the 2022 trade deadline passing by yesterday and considering how active the Winnipeg Jets were by making six trades, it is interesting to look at how trades in the past have impacted the team, not only during that season but in subsequent years.

One trade that Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Jets management team made yesterday afternoon was they acquired forward, Zach Sanford from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the Jets’ 2022 fifth-round draft choice.

Sanford was originally drafted by the Washington Capitals in the second round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and is currently in his sixth NHL season.

Did you know the Winnipeg Jets once had the rights to the draft selection that Zach Sanford was ultimately drafted at?

So you may be asking yourself how did the Capitals select Sanford if Winnipeg once had the rights to that draft choice? This is how it all happened back in 2012-2013:

At the 2011-2012 season deadline, during the Jets’ first season back in Winnipeg, the Jets were outside of playoff position and were sellers at the deadline.

They then made a deal with the Chicago Blackhawks, who were making a playoff push, to trade defenseman Johnny Oduya to Chicago in exchange for two draft picks. Those two draft picks were a 2012 second-round choice (where Sanford was drafted) and a 2012 third-round selection.

Winnipeg held on to these selections for a little bit under a year, but then in January of 2013, they made a draft pick trade with the Capitals.

The Jets sent that 2012 second-round pick to the Capitals in exchange for three draft picks: a 2013 third, fourth, and fifth-round selections.

Then when the draft came in the summer of 2013, the Capitals used their second-round draft choice that they got from the Jets to draft prospect Zach Sanford with the 61st overall pick.

The Jets used their three picks that they obtained from Washington to select James Lodge, Jan Kostalek, and Tucker Poolman. Lodge and Kostalek have never played a game in the NHL, while Poolman is currently playing in his fourth NHL season. Poolman spent his first three with the Jets before joining the Vancouver Canucks this past offseason.

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It is extremely interesting to see how all of these trades have worked out and the fact that the Jets once had but then traded away the draft selection that Sanford was drafted at and how now, almost ten years later, Sanford is a member of the Jets.