Jesse Edwards wasted little time fixing what he deemed as issues for the Jets, making a number of moves right up until the final hour of the trade deadline.
Making good on the promise to improve the middle, Jets management brought in four new centres in Tyson Jost, William Karlsson, Nicklas Backstrom, and Pierre-Luc Dubois.
These additions did not come without a cost. GM Jesse Edwards cleared out an uncomfortable amount of picks and prospects. The Jets attempted to recoup some picks with the sale of Tyler Johnson and Nico Sturm but remain quite barren for the upcoming entry draft, but their 1st selection was retained.
Other notable additions were Jeff Skinner, Olli Maatta, and Joel Edmundson. Skinner has been brought in for the hope of more goal scoring and a little bit of fire. Edwards is very high on Maatta, who is the type and style of D he'd like to see more of on the Winnipeg backend.
Joel Edmundson was acquired at the trade deadline, capping off the moves made by the new GM. Edmundson will stiffen the backend as the GM thought there wasn’t enough hardnosed hockey players in front of Connor Hellebuyck.
"I like what we have done with the centre group," said Edwards. "I’m a little disappointed that William Karlsson has decided to test the free agency market, but he has been our best forward since being acquired.
"Real happy to land Backstrom, the top centre and leader I felt these locker room needed. Tyson Jost is a future piece that will help for years to come and lastly Dubois, I’m not sure I could be any happier with an addition.
"(Dubois)'s ceiling is high and has all the qualities I like in a hockey player. Pierre will be a stud for us as he continues to grow and develop his weak areas.
"At the end of the day when I review the roster I was saddled with and what we have now I’m optimistic we can run with the big dogs. I know I could be criticized for dumping the youth and picks but I feel that the team is in a position to make the dance and the bigger concern is how this offseason will play out, therefore I deferred a lot to future drafts."
Sure, maybe the naysayers will say some mistakes were made - but hindsight is 20/20. Now it comes down to hockey games, and it will be a hard push to the end with several large matchups still remaining.
None may be more important than the next 4 games, 3 of which will be against Central Division arch rival Dallas. Dubois’ old team and Vincent Trocheck’s new team. The standings could be a lot more interesting after this 4 game run.
We will leave you with a quick IN/OUT break down while under the new GM’s reign.
IN:
- Tyson Jost
- William Karlsson
- Olli Maatta
- Anthony Greco
- Jeff Skinner
- Nicklas Backstrom
- Pierre-Luc Dubois
- Parker Milner
- Joel Edmundson
- NYR 4th 2023, BUF 5th 2023, DAL 3rd 2023, DAL 6th 2023, MIN 4th 2023, SJS 5th 2021
- $200,000
OUT:
- Cal Foote (P)
- Adam Gaudette
- Hadyn Fleury (P)
- Michael Stone
- Dylan Holloway (P)
- Michael Raffl
- William Cuylle (P)
- Jonathan Marchessault
- Tyler Johnson
- Vincent Trochek
- Kiril Marchenko (P)
- Yegor Chinakhov (P)
- Nico Sturm
- Jordan Oesterle
- Sean Durzi
- WPG 3rd 2022, WPG 3rd 2021, WPG 5th 2021, WPG 4th 2022, WPG 2nd 2021, WPG 5th 2022
The Winnipeg Press