Darren Dreger talks Winnipeg Jets front office/coaching staff, no appetite for a rebuild & what will happen to core

After an eye opening day in Winnipeg the talking heads on the sports networks in Canada had lots to discuss. James Duthie and Darren Dreger over on TSN had a chat discussing the players reactions to the words of Rick Bowness and his walking them back during his media availability at Canada Life this afternoon.

Duthie began the discussion asking the hockey insider if he anticipated any major changes to the Jets front office or coaching staff.

Dreger said “I don’t”.

He continued on about the big decisions that needs to be made in Winnipeg.

“There are some big decisions that clearly have to be made by Winnipeg Jets management. What is the team going to look like for Rick Bowness? You wonder about veteran players like Blake Wheeler as an example. What we know though is that the business model isn’t going to accept a full rebuild in Winnipeg. And Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck also made it clear in their media avails that they’re not interested in a rebuild.”

Duthie asked if the core players aren’t interested in a rebuild what do you do after what just happened? Dreger responded:

“I think that’s fair but to what degree right? I meant most of the speculation always seems to hover around Pierre-Luc Dubois and a lot of that speculation kind of connects Winnipeg to the Montreal Canadians. Well Pierre-Luc Dubois is a restricted free agent this summer so that endless speculation is going to continue. It also then swirls around veteran centre Mark Scheifele. He’s got one year remaining on his contract but you’re talking about James a 1 and 1A centre. The top two centres for the Winnipeg Jets. If you move one of those two it’s considered a re-tool. If you move both then you darn well better be getting a centre back that can be an impact player in your lineup for the start of next season. Big, big changes coming.”

Should be fascinating. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff speaks tomorrow.