The Pro Hockey News podcast (@PHN_PODCAST) filed its finale for the 2018-19 hockey season this week. One of the more energetic of the season, the episode focused on the four divisions of the NHL, well three if you discount the near dormant Pacific, and the various moves made, or not made, since free agency opened on Monday.
The Winnipeg Jets are among the teams looking to settle their restricted free agent class this off season. The Jets have some space on the cap as projected by CapFriendly.com; the Jets are listed as $22 million in space for the coming season.
But they have Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor to lock up as well as Andrew Copp and Neal Pionk.
To the delight of the PHN podcast this week, the idea of the Montreal Canadiens writing an offer sheet for Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes was the excitement of the free agency season.
But no other teams have been willing to dip their skate blades in the pool. The Habs ended up enabling the Canes to get Aho for a friendlier deal.
But back tot he Jets. Laine is an interesting question for any club including Winnipeg. The forward had 30 goals and 50 points on the season and was a -24 all the while he was skidding off the elite list of skaters in the NHL.
The season went underwater for Laine after November; his production dropped to a paltry nine goals after November and the Jets suffered for that lack of production. The year before this, Laine scored 44 goals and added 26 assists.
The expectation was he would play for a $10 million AAV salary over a minimum of five years.
That salary is in the rear view mirror and Winnipeg is not interested in paying for a disinterested or disengaged player with only $22 million in cap space.
That’s because Copp is due for a payout and Connor is as well.
Connor has been in the Jets fold since the 2016-17 season and has been consistent; this past season he collected 66 points on 34 goals.
It seems inconceivable the Jets would not re-sgn Connor, but his expected contract AAV would nearly halve the available cap space and still have Laine and Copp to satisfy.
As for Copp, 24, he had 11 goals and 14 assists this past season in 68 games. To solve Copp’s status with the club, the expectation is for $3 to 3.5 million AAV over a short-term deal to let him develop more.
Pionk was acquired by the Jets in the Jacob Trouba trade. The Jets were in no position to re-sign every one of their RFAs and Trouba had to go.
Pionk collected six goals and 26 points in 73 games with the New York Rangers and he became a valuable asset to the Rangers in their rebuild.
Pionk’s salary will far less than Trouba and will find a spot of the Jets’ blueline in the second or third pairing.
If Laine understands he played himself out of a $10 million AAV deal, and the Jets can get Connor and Copp on short-term, three-year deals, then Winnipeg may escape this off season with a stable lineup for two years.
That’s a lot of “what-ifs” and in a division that saw a major arms race with their competitors, the Jets’ quiescence since 1 July is threatening the recent momentum up the NHL ranks.
And if they don’t do something soon, will another club write an offer sheet they cannot refuse?
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