The Winnipeg Jets are still talking like a team that can win now, even with Connor Hellebuyck’s future hanging out there. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff is projecting confidence, and people around the club are saying the same thing: the players and management left the season believing this group can still be competitive next year.
But the harder read is that Winnipeg looks more like a team headed toward a reset than one chasing a Presidents’ Trophy. The sense around the club is that the Jets have already hit their peak, whether you mark it at 2018, when they reached the Western Conference Final and lost to the Vegas Golden Knights, or at 2021, when they were swept by the Montreal Canadiens.
That was the crux of Jim Biringer’s take when he joined TSN Radio in Montreal last Friday. Biringer said the Jets need to start thinking seriously about a rebuild or retool because the roster, as it stands, doesn’t have enough coming behind it.
“Well, look, I think the Winnipeg Jets need to start looking at rebuilding and retooling this roster. He was promised to be a contending team every year, a competitive team, be in the playoffs.
Unfortunately, this team isn’t it. They don’t have the assets to trade.
They don’t have the draft picks. They don’t have the players coming up.
So they have to rebuild. They have to get younger.
They have to develop their picks. And good on Winnipeg.
Like, let’s be honest here. If you think about it, go back to that deal with Buffalo.
Why would they give up the eighth overall pick too when they’re trading Connor Hellebuyck? I get Buffalo wants a first-round pick, but if I’m trading a goalie of that calibre, I need two first-round picks, included here.
Now, the next caveat is: what else happens in Winnipeg? If Connor Hellebuyck goes, where does Mark Scheifele end up?
Where does Kyle Connor end up? Josh Morrissey?
The list goes on and on of guys who may not stay in Winnipeg. It’s unfortunate because the Jets had a good team.
They probably peaked already.”
That’s where the real pressure sits now. What Cheveldayoff gets back for Hellebuyck will shape everything else.
If the return includes players who can help keep Winnipeg competitive right away, the fallout might be limited. If it’s mostly futures, then the possibility of more players wanting out starts to feel a lot more real.
The issue is that Cheveldayoff appears to have made promises he may not be able to keep, and now he’s trying to steer the Jets out of a difficult spot before things get worse.
In Other News...
Connor Hellebuyck Trade Pressure Is Suddenly Building On The Jets
Connor Hellebuycks public trade request has put Winnipeg in a far more complicated spot than it was facing earlier in the summer, when a few different routes seemed at least plausible. Florida and Buffalo were both part of the conversation at one point, but the landscape has shifted since then, with no-trade protections and other roster moves taking some of the cleaner options off the board. What looked like a market with multiple doors now feels a lot tighter, and the Jets have to weigh both the value coming back and the reality of losing a franchise goalie.
Winnipeg is still not in a rush to accept a lesser package, and that stance is part of what makes this so tricky. The club is holding firm for the kind of offer that makes sense on its end, while also needing a path to cover the crease if it does move Hellebuyck. Signing Stuart Skinner shows the Jets are preparing for that possibility, but the bigger question remains whether another team can assemble something strong enough to get the deal done. [Read more 🡒]
Michael Hutchinsons Next Hockey Move Will Hit Home For Jets Fans
Michael Hutchinsons playing days are over, but his ties to Winnipeg hockey are only getting deeper. The former Jets goaltender, who logged 154 NHL games across several teams, has officially retired from professional hockey and settled into a life here that feels pretty fitting for a player who made this city his permanent home.
Hutchinson is staying close to the crease in a new way, working with young netminders in Winnipeg and adding another local connection to a career that already resonated with Jets fans. His next chapter is more about teaching than stopping pucks, and it gives the city a chance to keep one of its familiar hockey figures in the middle of the game he knows best. [Read more 🡒]