The Winnipeg Jets Are Playing The Waiting Game, But Will It Pay Off?

The Winnipeg Jets Are Playing The Waiting Game, But Will It Pay Off?

winipeg appears to be playing a patient game when it comes to free agency when will Chevy know the moment is Right find out on tonight’s episode of Locked on Winnipeg [Music] Jets you’re locked on the hockey Jets your daily podcast on the Winnipeg Jets part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hey friends and welcome to tonight’s episode of lock on Winnipeg Jets part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I’m your host arrison Lee an avid Winnipeg Jets fan and an online blogger you can follow me on Twitter HL Liv Loco and lore winipeg Jets thanks for making locked on Jets your first listen of the day every day if you enjoy what you’re hearing be sure to like follow And subscribe on all of your favorite podcasting platforms and YouTube doing so of course is always free of charge and itur you never missed another episode most of all though we just love and appreciate your support support and of course uh especially now as we’re in the quieter I guess months of the off season although recently you know with free agency opening this week been a little more active you could say and uh for the Jets though I that that hasn’t really been quite the case Winnipeg is definitely making signings and they’re active in the free agent Market but there’s not a lot that I would say um Winnipeg is going for when it comes to uh their their like actual NHL roster right we’ve mostly seen more on the uh the the depth side of things and I would say for the the bulk of Winnipeg signings other than like Dello we’re generally looking at like Manitoba moose signings I think that’s been the the general gist that I’ve got which is fine I think if you want to bulk the moves up that’s certainly good creating a good environment for you know the the AHL fans and also a couple of prospects who will be filtering in like um you know Kobe Barlo who’s really starting to uh get into Pro level reps and a few others Danny zilin of course is still there so there’s real incentive to give that group a a nice supportive environment uh you do Wonder at some point though are the Jets going to push uh for a little bit more that said you know this is one of those things where the Jets are are play playing the long game a bit I guess uh they’re being patient um and we’ve seen some interesting stuff from Darren Dreger apparently you know the Jets tried to extend sha manahan didn’t work they tried for Adam Henrik that didn’t work they tried for Blake lazat that also did not work and so uh Winnipeg ended up not tying up lots of money in some bad contracts we’ll talk about what benefit that probably gives Winnipeg and whether or not um hearing that the Jets dodged bullets makes me happy in just a moment but before we go any further just wanted to let you let you know that tonight’s episode is brought to you by game time download the game time app create an account and be sure to use promo code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply now like I said uh with the news that the Jets have kind of been active but missed on a lot of their targets I guess my concern is that missing on targets means you still intended to sign them and with Monahan looking for five years Henrik looking for a couple of years uh and lazat I don’t know what he was looking for I don’t know what Winnipeg’s offer was but probably another another multi-year deal I would suspect that you know for all intents and purposes the Jets probably made relatively competitive offers uh against the teams that these guys ended up going to and for me I I just you know when it comes to free agency I always worry where the Jets are going to be prioritizing their uh cap allocations to and I think this is one of those really good examples where the Jets kind of got bailed out uh not to belabor the point but I feel like getting bailed out by your um I guess competing teams doesn’t really make me feel great about the direction in part because let’s be honest right you don’t want to have somebody else do the work for you you want to have a a winning formula and I think that is uh something that the Jets are still trying to perhaps figure out I guess but in the meantime you know Winnipeg did make a couple of extra moves for the Moose uh Mason Shaw Hayden flurry you know they’re Joy wi ing Jared Anderson Dolan yesterday uh for Winnipeg’s moose signings and I think that’s probably good uh I think you know the the moose being a little bit deeper A Little Bit Stronger that kind of stuff makes me relatively happy like I said there’s no harm in having a deeper uh I guess minor league Squad that’s doing a little bit more and hopefully giving the fans something to be excited about it’ also be nice if you could create a supportive environment for some of your mid-tier prospects uh obviously Barlo I think is probably in the upper tier of Winnipeg’s pool but you know considering we have um Lambert and sherov and a few others he’s definitely more like the four to five seed but he’s still a good kid and uh I I think it’d be nice if you know the Jets are able to give a a solid um AHL Squad that also uh you know gives the kids a taste of success and you know prepares him for what the Jets are going to be like so uh you know I’m going to be tracking the Moose probably a little closer this year just because I want to see how some of our prospects are handling Barlo in particular is somebody who I’m curious in because he’s got a big shot but I’ve always sort of felt that based on the limited bits I’ve seen of him there might be some limitations to his game I don’t want to say that that’s going to be a a guaranteed thing but it’s just something I’ve noticed and I wonder if that’s going to continue to be a problem or if moving to the pro level we’ll start to push his game in a more posit positive more diverse Direction that’s not to say that he’s like a simple player by any stretch of the imagination I just sort of Wonder you know that extra layer of dynamism that can separate a decent Prospect from a truly great one will he have that one and I’m curious you know I I kind of want to see I I will certainly uh give him plenty of time to develop he’s still very young although he doesn’t look like it you wouldn’t know it looking at him but he is still a a very young player and so it’s important to just give him time to really uh grow mature and hopefully with the Moose Thrive if he has a very strong moose season you do Wonder towards the back half of this Jets year if he does get some NHL time uh he’s definitely more physically developed than a lot of the other players the Jets have and you know considering um his age could be interesting if he hits the ground running with Manitoba to start the year so lots of stuff to consider but I think the primary thing that I get the sense from Winnipeg is that they’re waiting for something uh I think that there’s a sense that there’s going to be stuff that falls through the cracks and the Jets are sort of hoping to pounce on that now I will admit the number of opportunities to make that happen is shrinking and For Better or For Worse uh there’s not as much available for Winnipeg’s actual signing options that I would say is worth it um Nate Schmid you know uh signing for like 800k I think is a good example of a deal that if it was like a different player uh obviously not Schmidt because we just bought him out but those are the kinds of contracts that you could potentially round out the bottom of your I guess signing field with and it would have been decent value for the Jets uh again not the same player but a contract in that VIN um obviously Winnipeg is generally uh patient so far and there’s still a couple of big names that I’m curious about Shillington being one of them you know maybea is an option but I feel like when Peg is just being patient and waiting for everyone to sort of finish up their big expenditures getting the big offers out of the way there’s going to be some players who are looking for work and Winnipeg might be one of those teams that can actually offer it uh I know that there’s some thought about Kevin Leon uh he had a really rough past couple of Seasons with the sharks and I don’t know what his game is like but we’ll kind of explore some of the remaining free agents I know we sort of talked about it yesterday but you know I think there’s a question of is there anything left really worth getting excited about and how long is waiting you know really worth it right is there going to be a moment where the Jets basically pass any sort of real attainable value off of the free agent Market because let’s be real right the longer the Jets wait the less likely it is they’re actually going to be able to find like a true blue nhlr that’s worth actually bringing on so um some food for thought there but again there is Intrigue and I think that there’s some potential uh depth ads that could be of interest maybe one or two big swings but we’ll just have to wait and see what the Jets are planning we’ll talk about how much longer the Jets can afford to wait on this in just a little bit but before we go too much further did want to talk about our friends and partners at game time when it comes to buying tickets we all know that it can be a painful process you get hit with surprise fees sometimes you buy tickets blindly not really sure where you’re sitting and you don’t always get a sense of the view that you have game time totally none you know they totally know that same pain they’ve been through the same process we have and they wanted to create a service that finally gives you peace of mind they offer killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat in the venue and their lowest price guarantee all backed by an event cancellation protection as well they are so good and so trusted that they’ve become an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes getting tickets faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to the first pitch and for those of you who are jays or Orioles fans I am on the Oro side but maybe you’re a Jay’s fan this is a great way to get in on get in on the game um for those of you out there who are heading over to onario anytime soon maybe you should give game time a shot like I said they offer Flash Deals Zone uh deals and prices and they always come back with their lowest price guarantee so if you want to take the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets download Game Time create an account and be sure to use promo code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code l c k d o n NH for $20 off down download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed hey friends and welcome back to this episode of lock on Winnipeg Jets part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day every thank you so much for rejoining us on today’s episode as we’re just chatting about Winnipeg and uh obviously Winnipeg’s been a little bit quiet with the free agency market and I think that there’s a sense that the Jets are waiting for something to happen maybe a deal to break their way we’ll talk about how much longer they can afford to wait in just a quick moment but before we move on just wanted to let you know for all of you FOX Sports or ESPN Watchers if you find yourselves having to turn down the volume maybe you should make the switch to locked on sports today a free 247 sports streaming Channel programmed for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming lockon sports today brings you C Miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV Channel’s app all part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day now coming back to the Jets obviously uh a sense of timing and patience is usually a Hallmark of the Chevy regime sometimes they’ve sat on their hands to the point where they actually missed opportunities I don’t know that we’re necessarily there yet uh for the most part I would say barring trades uh that have kind of come through I would suspect that Winnipeg really hasn’t missed on anyone in fact I would actually argue them not signing a lot of the players that have become available is probably better than spending lots of money uh recklessly but you know at some point you’re going to have to start making moves and I think that’s where the Jets may want to take a a bit of a a more aggressive approach pretty soon not that there’s a lot of guys that I would say I’m really thrilled with uh I I wouldn’t you know go out of my way to make a bunch of huge splashes there are some players though that are potentially intriguing one guy that I’m sort of curious about uh that’s kind of been out there and I haven’t really talked about him a lot because quite honestly he’s been a little disappointing um but it’s Kyler Yamamoto Yamamoto has sort of bounced around the league a bit he had one pretty good season with the Oilers and then the rest of his career has generally been fairly modest uh and I sort of wonder what Yamamoto has left in the tank he does play center I don’t know that he would actually be a particular upgrade for the Jets but if you’re looking for a punt that’s kind of in the Philip Zena territory of potentially being an interesting Reclamation project maybe it’s worth a shot uh he didn’t exactly light the lamp a ton for Seattle so I’m not sitting here thinking he’s going to be a huge addition but given that Yamamoto is going to be looking for a job and and might be um a little bit on the outs here in terms of teams that are actually willing to sign him maybe the Jets can bring him in and see if he has something left to offer uh I think guys like the are nice for giving yourself a little bit more roster depth especially because the Jets are going to have to deal with injuries at some point it’s going to happen and Winnipeg’s going to need at least a few experienced nhlers to help supplement when some of the kids are either injured or perhaps struggling under the weight of increased UH responsibilities with their respective Squad now in terms of like how long the Jets probably want to sit on some of these other deals whether it’s like sprong or another player they maybe have like another few days before I think you start to worry that you know the the time has passed for them to make a big signing uh obviously signings can occur throughout the entire off season but I think for the Jets it’s important not to let guys like spraw or uh some of their other potential cheap Reclamation players go for too much longer um there are some interesting I guess depth options again like I said I’m not really looking at this market and seeing a ton of guys that I’m like banging the able to go after uh I guess you could potentially look at maybe like a shaton Kirk or something but you know at this point I I just I’m not really thrilled seeing most of the options that are available uh there’s like a James Van reik potential for you know the Jets to maybe look at if they want to add some cheap veteran scoring depth he’s very good and look he may be 36 but he’s still got a a fair bit left in in the tank but again you know he may not be interested in coming to win a pck really couldn’t blame him if that’s his assessment but uh you know aside from that there’s just I don’t know you look around the league and you’re looking at some of the available free agents it’s getting to a point where like at this point the Jets maybe are better off not making too many moves I would say that you know my my primary focus would be trades I think that’s where the Jets have a real chance to uh Come Away with some real success especially because like you know there’s a lot of rfas that are perhaps not interested in extending with their respective clubs just yet I think one of the biggest ones that that out there right now is obviously Marty niches uh niches I I still think resigns with Carolina at some point I don’t know when that’ll happen but if it does uh he would probably be one of the biggest names off the trade market although in my opinion I don’t know if that makes me upset uh niches if you look at some of his scoring rates and stuff there’s a lot of red flags for giving him a big contract and if he’s asking for like seven or eight million that’s a very hard pass uh I know that he’s skilled I know that he scores some flashy goals would not give anywhere near that kind of cash for what he actually offers on the ice so um for me you know it it’s it’s it’s tough right there’s not a ton of options out there that I think are abundantly exciting I mean you know the Jets might have to go for some guys who are already signed a deals uh one name that is of interest is is Dylan stro I feel like the Caps are going to be able to sort of avoid some of the issues that they’re going to run up against with the recent signings that they’ve made but if they have to move a player that’s actually got some term and some cash well stro would be a huge piece that could potentially get you mcity plus and I think for the Jets it would be a major upgrade to their top six now I just don’t really see that happening you know with with stro having just signed that extension pretty recently and a player that quite honestly I think the Caps really love and Oshi likely mulling over retirement I think that they already have their cap savings sort of baked in but for me if you’re trying to be aggressive on the market and looking for something that’s a lot better than most of the free agents that you could potentially sign stro actually moves the needle for Winnipeg and he wouldn’t just be blocking roster spots for the kids you’re legitimately getting a true topen player a guy who could really help Winnipeg’s goal scoring efforts and is extremely versatile in ways that Winnipeg just doesn’t have a a ton of like offensive Talent with so uh you know guys like that I think could be of interest other than that though you know Winnipeg may just spend most of the offseason playing things pretty quietly I think that there’s a sense that training camp and pre-season will be big opportunities and tests to see what the kids are made of I think the Jets are now going to gamble more on the youth with them having missed most of their free agent signings the fact that all three of those big targets ended up going elsewhere thank goodness uh I I think suggests the Jets may be sort of out of options in terms of major free agent signings and I don’t want them to just Chase somebody and give them money because they’re desperate looking for roster depth I think at this point you know it’s important for the Jets to to stay focused not lose sight of things don’t go away from the process that I think they’re starting to undertake and be cautious about committing lots of money in term to players who just aren’t going to be worth it down the road we’ve seen lots of teams like Nash and a few others getting really aggressive on the market Seattle another big one and I I’ll be honest while the PR’s definitely improved they’ve also locked up a fair bit of term and money for uh aging players right so how much longer that’s really going to be productive is tough to say I think for the Kraken man I just don’t know what their plan is uh they just seem to be eternally mediocre and I’m not sure that’s really going to change so we’ll see how that shakes out for them but all I can say is good luck with that Chandler Stevenson track contract because that feels like one that’s going to be a buyout candidate pretty quickly other than that though you know Winnipeg’s best option again like I said is to to play the youth and maybe look at the trade market in a few weeks uh there’s no real urgency for them to go rushing into things right now I think you know if they really don’t sign any free agents I I don’t know that I can really complain like I said unless it’s sprong or somebody like that I’m just not that interested so uh you know if they can get Zaden or Yamamoto or players that are interesting uh Reclamation projects to come in and potentially fight for Spots I’m interested in that but beyond that you know you you better have a sure thing if you’re committing any sort of money in term especially with a guy like sprong who uh is a pretty proven commodity for your middle six but curious to know if there’s a free agent out there that’s uh apparently being overlooked maybe you have a name on your mind that is you know a short must sign player for Lord knows what reason uh drop that player in the comments below or at my social medias at H living Loco and at loore Winnipeg Jets while we’re at it just thought I’d chat about a few other moves that have happened around the NHL in the meantime and uh you know maybe some stuff to look forward to as we start getting closer and closer to next week’s uh training camp stuff hey friends and welcome back to tonight’s closing thoughts on this episode of Locked on Winnipeg Jets part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day every thank you so much for joining us on tonight’s episode as we’re just finalizing some stuff uh there’s been some moves here and there that have been of Interest I suppose especially if you’re tracking free agents that the Jets potentially could have been interested in maybe a trade or two that’s a little bit unusual uh the I guess biggest signing for today was Vlad tereno to the Red Wings for two years at something like 4.75 is million uh actually it might be a little bit more than that more like um around 4.75 which I mean it’s not the worst contract but I kind of look at that and I think to myself you know with the wings not really in a competitive spot they just keep making strange signings that I frankly don’t understand um Detroit seems to think that they’re more competitive now that they’ve had a very aggressive offseason and all I can say is I I just look at the wings and I’m like I don’t really think they actually improved all that much uh Detroit just seems like a team that’s perhaps overestimating where it is in the development process and where it is uh in the rebuild stages but maybe I’m wrong about that I don’t know they also traded Robbie fabri and a conditional fourth rounder from next year’s draft uh in exchange for Gage Alexander from the Ducks uh I don’t know anything about Alexander my suspicion is that this is probably more of a cap dump fabri you know has been a uh an unfortunate case of super talented super great player always injured like the guy just has not been able to stay healthy for many years now and while he does have some really strong stretches of play uh you know his body being made of glass at times has really inhibited his ability to be such a key player uh for for a couple of teams you know St Louis and Detroit among those but it’s just a shame because I feel like there is a very good player there and he’s shown some fantastic flashes and it just it just never really coalesced into a longer careers so um maybe anaheim’s going to be you know hoping for a trade deadline flip here somebody that they can perhaps retain some salary on and get a decent return for should he be able to stay healthy but my suspicion is you know the the the the wings are probably just looking to get some cap space back from a guy that they feel is probably towards the end of his playing days so unfortunate there um but you know I guess it is what it is Fab would have been intriguing for the Jets as like a really cheap option but you know with Winnipeg not really having a lot of space to offer a player who’s injured a lot probably a wise choice not to go after him in this case for the Jets uh speaking of which they did release their training camp roster uh the other day didn’t really talk about it because you know there’s a lot of other stuff to cover in you know with respect to free agency and stuff but if you are interested uh we have quite a few invitees including some big prospects like Kevin he Barlo Lucius Wagner uh and and you know uh Walton and L you know some of our new guys uh Brad Lambert’s also joining of course not really shocked there he’ll be making the Jets for sure we are also uh seeing Max namestnikov who is vlad’s Brother which is pretty cool some Bloodlines there other than that probably not a ton that’s going to be like super crazy for most folks maybe ja Jacob Julian would be fun to watch I would say like you know uh this group in in particular strikes me as a lot of the sort of middle tier prospects plus a couple of upper upper tier guys uh who are going to be more fighting for moose spots uh at present right um one player that I’m curious about is Conor Levis uh Levis has had some limited success at the pro level so far only had a very short stint I would like to see him you know really uh grow into a bigger role with the Moose this upcoming season believe that’s where he’ll end up uh Levis has a lot of interesting passing skill that I think most teams uh really could make use of and especially a team like the Jets right Winnipeg’s distribution skill has traditionally been a little bit of a a Struggle Bus uh I’ll be honest I think that’s something that they could really improve upon and I think if you’re the Jets uh you would certainly want that to be a point of focus going forward but you know for the forwards I would say that this is a pretty solid like mixed group of of likely depth players if they pan out as Zen ERS plus a couple of topend talents that will uh I’m sure Dazzle the crowd on the D side I’m curious to know what we see with uh you know Dylan anhorn uh alons FR alfons fry salamonson kman and brown those those guys uh all have some decent upset an horn if you remember was brought on last year out of college only played a couple of moose games maybe we’ll see him start to get a bigger role he’s like 25 so at this point if he’s uh going to make any sort of impact at a higher level it’s going to have to be a big preseason and camp out of him I do think that he’s a very fun player and he’s certainly uh scored quite a bit in college we’ll see if that starts to translate at a pro level if he does have a really big year um for Manitoba he might be an interesting player to eventually earn a a third pairing spot I don’t know that he’s uh necessarily a top-end prospect that we’re talking about here but for a college free agent that you picked up for nothing uh anhorn was one of the more touted uh free agents coming out of college last year and so it’ll be interesting to see what a full year of moose uh looks like for him he is a lefty which we don’t necessarily need more of but you know curious to know if he can play on the right side if that becomes a thing so again you know just a free prospect that you can you know stack the Moose with any help that they can get is probably really beneficial especially on the puck moving side other than that you know we have Thomas millich Alex Worthington and Dominic dentes uh in net so you know Milich and dentes are are both going to be competing at some point for maybe some AHL time uh you know the the AHL depth chart is probably going to look like om and Milich this upcoming season Deen chenes I’m not really sure what the plan is with him long term uh I suspect this year probably not going to be his moose debut but maybe um a little bit later we’ll start to see him get to the pros he’s still pretty young and I don’t think the jets are in any real rush to to kind of you know force him out of Brampton but um you know he is 20 and he’s you know getting closer and closer to perhaps being a pro age uh his his rampton or his sorry his North Bay season this past year did take a bit of a step back comparatively speaking uh his his numbers all definitely plunged below you know the the previous 2022 season when I think what he was like OHL goenda keep an eye on uh obviously goalies are voodoo so don’t read too much into you know Junior numbers necessarily but curious to know if that’s a reflection of his own performance or if North Bay was just a little bit more leaky um you know you look at his actual record in net and it was still pretty strong overall so the numbers taking a bit of a step back this past season maybe not the happiest moment but we’ll see what happens with him long term uh like I said goalies are just one of those things where um I tend not to like look too closely at the numbers uh until they start playing upper level competition right so give them some time let them marinate uh Mill looks like he’s probably ready to take on a bigger AHL role this year comry is certainly capable of being the starter for the Moose so uh in terms of goalie depth let’s just say the Jets are probably looking pretty good but let me know what you’re hoping for out of this upcoming prospects Camp uh are you excited to see some of the kids who are you looking forward to seeing what are you hoping the Jets uh you know accomplish with some of these Camp invitees drop your thoughts below at my social medias or at lore Winnipeg Jets of course the first couple of sessions will kick off at the end of this week and then over the weekend we’ll have some stuff and uh should be a good time for training camp so get excited we’ll see how that goes but for tonight’s episode that’s going to be all the time that we have thanks so much for listening and making us your first listen of the day every day we’ll see you back here on Thursday for even more Jets offseason coverage

Free agency continues to see the Winnipeg Jets make additions for the Manitoba Moose, but what about the big club? Is Winnipeg holding out for any NHL signings to slip through? Where will Sprong end up? Would Yamamoto be worth offering a contract to, or should the Jets focus on internally developing a centre? What is the best route for improving the roster going forward? Should Winnipeg be interested in Necas, or are there warning signs there? Who should Jets fans be excited to see in development camp?

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