This post is traditionally written in spring as we would be looking ahead to a busy summer of signings for Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff starting on July 1st. Of course 2020 has seen fit to give us playoff hockey in August and a Stanley Cup Final in October so nothing is “normal”. Free agency is scheduled to get underway, at the latest, on October 9th (or seven days after the Stanley Cup Final concludes).
According to CapFriendly the Jets have 13 players under contact for the 2020-21 campaign which means there are a number of UFAs and RFAs that will be in need of new contracts either with Winnipeg or with new NHL/AHL teams or a team overseas.
The lists are as follows, namely;
Unrestricted free agents (UFAs):
Cody Eakin
Nick Shore
Logan Shaw
Mark Letestu
Gabriel Bourque
Dmitry Kulikov
Nathan Beaulieu
Dylan DeMelo
Luca Sbisa
Anthony Bitetto
Laurent Brossoit
Restricted free agents (RFAs):
Jack Roslovic
Jansen Harkins
Mason Appleton (Arbitration eligible)
Sami Niku
And it won’t just be the Jets that have players in need of new contracts as their AHL club the Manitoba Moose also have a number of players, both prospects and depth players, who will be in need of new deals, including:
Unrestricted free agents (UFAs):
Andrei Chibisov (signed in the KHL)
Seth Griffith
JC Lipon (Group VI) (signed in the KHL)
Cameron Schilling
Restricted free agents (RFAs):
Michael Spacek (signed in Finland)
CJ Suess (Arbitration eligible)
Nelson Nogier (Arbitration eligible)