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Waking up Monday morning, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves nine points out of a playoff spot with four teams to jump. It’s a tall task.
The grim outlook is backed by probability. MoneyPuck.com has Winnipeg’s current playoff chances sitting at 5.2 per cent, which is the eighth-longest odds in the entire league.
But make no mistake, the Jets aren’t entering a rebuild.
Connor Hellebuyck is signed for five more seasons. That in itself should be the organization’s competitive window.
Add in that the entire top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Gabe Vilardi for five or more years and you can see the core of a long-term contender.
So Winnipeg is in a much different situation this week than the other Western Canadian teams that are out of a playoff spot.
The Calgary Flames could potentially move Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman and MacKenzie Weeger, among others.
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Seemingly anyone and everyone could be on the move in Vancouver.
But for Winnipeg, the goal for this trade deadline has to be with next season in mind.
How long have the Jets needed to address their second-line centre role? Would it make sense to try and find a long-term solution now, or wait until the summer?
Depth on the back end has been tested, with 11 defenceman finding their way into an NHL game this season, but is this D corps deep enough to compete?
For trade chips, look at the Jets to potentially move off of pending free agents to recoup some draft capital, considering they don’t have their own second- or fourth-round picks in either of the next two drafts.
Jonathan Toews has a no-move clause and has made it clear he wants to stay.
But what about Gustav Nyquist, who’s still unbelievably sitting on zero goals in 38 games? Luke Schenn is a commodity many teams look for on deadline day — a veteran who has a Stanley Cup on his resume.
Then there’s Logan Stanley, the most polarizing of all. He’s having a career year offensively but still has some serious flaws in his game.
There have been contract talks, but nothing has materialized. The Jets couldn’t risk losing him for nothing if a contract extension isn’t reached this week…could they?
One phone call can change everything — and we’re just days away from what should be an interesting trade deadline for the Winnipeg Jets.
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