With the uncertainty surrounding the Jets’ second line centre position due to health concerns for Bryan Little there has been plenty of talk as to what Winnipeg can do to fill that hole. There has been plenty of speculation as to whether it could be done via internal options of Blake Wheeler or Andrew Copp or potentially having to deal star winger Patrik Laine.
Frank Seravalli of TSN was chatting with Gino Reda on That’s Hockey last night and the topic of teams needing to unload payroll came up with Gino asking Frank if that list included Vegas. Frank confirmed it does and he indicated that with the inability of Vegas to find someone to trade for Marc-Andre Fleury it is necessitating GM Kelly McCrimmon to look elsewhere on his roster.
“One of the names that’s been talked about a lot has been centre Paul Stastny and I wonder if in this case that the Golden Knights don’t get something done elsewhere with Stastny would he make sense to go back to the Winnipeg Jets? We know that they’re interested in a second line centre to fill one of their holes that really hasn’t been adequately filled since Stastny left for the Golden Knights in free agency. You think back to their playoff run, their deep run to the Western Conference Final, Stastny was such a huge part of that. He has one year remaining at 6.75 million dollars and he could certainly be one of those guys that wouldn’t cost a lot, the Jets have the cap space”
Stastny had 17 goals and 21 assists in 71 games for Vegas last season. His cap hit for the upcoming season is 6.5 million and he would be owed 5.5 million in actual salary. He also has a 10 team no trade list according to CapFriendly. If you’d like to see his analytics check out what Evolving-Hockey says about him here.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence
Of course Bryan Little’s health would play a factor as to whether Winnipeg would have the cap room to add Stastny.
As an aside you should be listening to the song Reunited by Peaches & Herb when reading this post.
