Live and Learn: The 2024 Winnipeg Jets
Mar 24, 2024 8:29:19 GMT -5
LAKingsGM, NY Islanders GM, and 2 more like this
Post by Winnipeg GM on Mar 24, 2024 8:29:19 GMT -5
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
The dust has settled on what was a feverish trade deadline in the NsHL. A few stunners in the final moments shook the core of the league and shifted the trajectory for multiple teams around the league. For the team who lives at Portage and Main, their goal remains the same: to live and to learn. The Winnipeg Jets went to 7 of the last 8 post seasons in the NsHL. From basement dwellers in 2014 to perennial playoff team by 2017, the team has had a series of ups and downs. After so many years of ups, the downs were expected to come.
"No one is prouder of this team than me," said General Manager Sean Croft. "This organization from the players to the popcorn vendors put all of their heart and soul into making us a world class organization. I believe we have established that we are and at this time, we need to look to the future."
This is the most active the Winnipeg Jets have been since Croft's first season in the league. The Jets, at the time, had 3 picks heading into the 2014 NsHL draft. They sat dead last in the standings and had a depleted prospect pool, consisting of less than 10 names. A flurry of moves, deemed a "hybrid rebuild" by Croft at the time, saw the Jets grow their prospect pool to a reasonable number and also saw them add multiple draft picks to the arsenal. The Jets were not a playoff team in 2013-2014. The biggest win they had was on draft night when they secured the #1 overall pick in the draft. Players such as Kevin Bieksa, Travis Zajac, Brent Seabrook, and Andrew Ladd anchored a core of Jets in their prime. Croft brought in prospects that he had traded for, such as Calle Jarnkrok, Brendan Gallagher, and Brock Nelson to add firepower and youth. The Jets saw that they may have not been far off. Live and learn.
"Young and hungry and wanting to do the best for the team and the city is how I would explain our aggressiveness when it comes to free agency and trades that year. Jaromir Jagr and Olli Jokinen were players we coveted in free agency and we had the cap space to get them. Nathan Gerbe was a trade that we thought made a lot of sense for us and we made it. In retrospect, I believe we thought we were closer than we were but those were great players and we owed it to ourselves to try. It still took us until 2017 to get to the dance and I can tell you the assets we traded away to try and fill the holes and the money we spent on signing bonuses would have been invested better elsewhere," said Croft.
Something changed for the Jets in recent years however. They became a playoff team more times than not and fought hard, usually running into how powered teams such as the Colorado Avalanche, the LA Kings, and the Nashville Predators who were all cup favourites at the time. The Jets only made it out of the first round once in those 7 attempts, but you live and you learn.
"We have a better understanding now of how to build a team. We sit here 10 years later and can confidently say that we believe we have a better plan this time around. We have a young defensive core and thats important. We have a young netminder to develop and support and that too is important. We have three guys in their prime who we could have traded but instead we put letters on their chests because they earned it and we believe we can add youth and support around them to get back to where we need to be. We will practice patience and continue to build homegrown Jets before worrying about making the front pages on deadline day," replied Croft as to why he did not trade Mason Marchment, Brendan Carlo, or Sam Reinhart in the midst of the rebuild.
The Jets have practiced a principle of not being, within reason, a rotating door in the NsHL. The team believes in support, stability, and loyalty. They believe this has given them a favorable reputation league wide with players, agents, and fellow GMs. Their aggressiveness this past week has been a necessary evil for a team that finally ran out of gas. The belief according to sources is that the Winnipeg Jets want to get back to their roots of scouting and drafting well, particularly in the middle rounds. Despite some misses in the past, the team did strike gold in drafting players such as Michael Bunting, Andrew Mangiapane, Jack McBain, Nicolas Roy, and Beck Malenstyn. Only Malenstyn remains after deals were stuck in either "win now" trades for Bailey or Lee, or due to a lack of protections following two expansion drafts. The focus of the Jets now is to try and hold those prospects and bring them along internally for as long as they can.
"We will never not make trades that help us win, but I think where we stand today is in a smarter place than in the past," said Croft. "I have no regrets about the deals we made because we did win a lot of games and we brought excellent players into our club. But I think we have a better understand of WHEN to make the deals. I think you'll see a more refined process this time around."
The Jets head into this upcoming draft with a slew of draft capital to help their efforts. Our understanding is that the Jets scouting department has been hard at work since last summer targeting prospects for this upcoming draft. The list of names that the Jets currently have scouting notes on is said to be in excess of 100, and they are determined to get it right and do it better for the Winnipeg Jets Ver. 2.0.
Jay Trotter
Jet Fuel
The dust has settled on what was a feverish trade deadline in the NsHL. A few stunners in the final moments shook the core of the league and shifted the trajectory for multiple teams around the league. For the team who lives at Portage and Main, their goal remains the same: to live and to learn. The Winnipeg Jets went to 7 of the last 8 post seasons in the NsHL. From basement dwellers in 2014 to perennial playoff team by 2017, the team has had a series of ups and downs. After so many years of ups, the downs were expected to come.
"No one is prouder of this team than me," said General Manager Sean Croft. "This organization from the players to the popcorn vendors put all of their heart and soul into making us a world class organization. I believe we have established that we are and at this time, we need to look to the future."
This is the most active the Winnipeg Jets have been since Croft's first season in the league. The Jets, at the time, had 3 picks heading into the 2014 NsHL draft. They sat dead last in the standings and had a depleted prospect pool, consisting of less than 10 names. A flurry of moves, deemed a "hybrid rebuild" by Croft at the time, saw the Jets grow their prospect pool to a reasonable number and also saw them add multiple draft picks to the arsenal. The Jets were not a playoff team in 2013-2014. The biggest win they had was on draft night when they secured the #1 overall pick in the draft. Players such as Kevin Bieksa, Travis Zajac, Brent Seabrook, and Andrew Ladd anchored a core of Jets in their prime. Croft brought in prospects that he had traded for, such as Calle Jarnkrok, Brendan Gallagher, and Brock Nelson to add firepower and youth. The Jets saw that they may have not been far off. Live and learn.
"Young and hungry and wanting to do the best for the team and the city is how I would explain our aggressiveness when it comes to free agency and trades that year. Jaromir Jagr and Olli Jokinen were players we coveted in free agency and we had the cap space to get them. Nathan Gerbe was a trade that we thought made a lot of sense for us and we made it. In retrospect, I believe we thought we were closer than we were but those were great players and we owed it to ourselves to try. It still took us until 2017 to get to the dance and I can tell you the assets we traded away to try and fill the holes and the money we spent on signing bonuses would have been invested better elsewhere," said Croft.
Something changed for the Jets in recent years however. They became a playoff team more times than not and fought hard, usually running into how powered teams such as the Colorado Avalanche, the LA Kings, and the Nashville Predators who were all cup favourites at the time. The Jets only made it out of the first round once in those 7 attempts, but you live and you learn.
"We have a better understanding now of how to build a team. We sit here 10 years later and can confidently say that we believe we have a better plan this time around. We have a young defensive core and thats important. We have a young netminder to develop and support and that too is important. We have three guys in their prime who we could have traded but instead we put letters on their chests because they earned it and we believe we can add youth and support around them to get back to where we need to be. We will practice patience and continue to build homegrown Jets before worrying about making the front pages on deadline day," replied Croft as to why he did not trade Mason Marchment, Brendan Carlo, or Sam Reinhart in the midst of the rebuild.
The Jets have practiced a principle of not being, within reason, a rotating door in the NsHL. The team believes in support, stability, and loyalty. They believe this has given them a favorable reputation league wide with players, agents, and fellow GMs. Their aggressiveness this past week has been a necessary evil for a team that finally ran out of gas. The belief according to sources is that the Winnipeg Jets want to get back to their roots of scouting and drafting well, particularly in the middle rounds. Despite some misses in the past, the team did strike gold in drafting players such as Michael Bunting, Andrew Mangiapane, Jack McBain, Nicolas Roy, and Beck Malenstyn. Only Malenstyn remains after deals were stuck in either "win now" trades for Bailey or Lee, or due to a lack of protections following two expansion drafts. The focus of the Jets now is to try and hold those prospects and bring them along internally for as long as they can.
"We will never not make trades that help us win, but I think where we stand today is in a smarter place than in the past," said Croft. "I have no regrets about the deals we made because we did win a lot of games and we brought excellent players into our club. But I think we have a better understand of WHEN to make the deals. I think you'll see a more refined process this time around."
The Jets head into this upcoming draft with a slew of draft capital to help their efforts. Our understanding is that the Jets scouting department has been hard at work since last summer targeting prospects for this upcoming draft. The list of names that the Jets currently have scouting notes on is said to be in excess of 100, and they are determined to get it right and do it better for the Winnipeg Jets Ver. 2.0.
Jay Trotter
Jet Fuel