Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
The Winnipeg Jets’ 2024-25 season has ended, and with that, we move into a fascinating offseason for the franchise. From the end-of-season media availabilities, here are four things that stood out, with a look into the upcoming offseason.
The Winnipeg Jets had an incredible season. They also fell short of their ultimate goal, leaving the organization in an interesting position this offseason.
During the regular season, they won the Presidents’ Trophy as the top team in the NHL, set franchise records in wins and points, and received a handful of nominations for individual accolades that could be taken home next month during the NHL awards.
Despite that, the players, coaches, and general manager are not satisfied with the result.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“We are not satisfied with what happened,” Arniel said. “Next year our goal is to win a Stanley Cup, so there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Last year’s mantra was to be 5-10% better. Cheveldayoff acknowledged that the team completed that this season, but they’ll need to do it again to achieve an even higher level next year.
“We need to go back home this summer and get X-percent better,” Cheveldayoff said. “And we said to them, ‘you did.’ You took the homework assignment and you came back, we had a good start to the year, but there’s got to be more.”
The Jets will aim for even higher levels next season. One aspect of their group that they can rely on is their leadership group, whose impact was on full display throughout the season, but especially so at the end of it.
Every team in the NHL says they are a family. It has become cliche at this point.
However, in Winnipeg, we’ve had a front row seat to the evolution this group has shown, from a team that talks about being a family to a team that shows it.
The morning of Game 6, when we learned about the sudden and tragic passing of Mark Scheifele’s father, Brad Scheifele, what we saw from the team rallying around Scheifele from that point forward was special.
Josh Morrissey spoke at length on Day 1 of the Jets’ locker room cleanout day about his point of view from the day of Game 6.
“Just watching him out there, even in the warmup, we do some little things together, and it felt like I was fighting back tears,” he said. “It makes you think about Brad and obviously just the whole thing. It was tough. Beyond inspiring by Mark.”
Josh Morrissey’s father passed away in 2021. He was asked if having gone through that experience helped him support Scheifele on that day.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
“I’m grateful in a way that I had the experience, as tough as it was, to be able to support my friend,” Morrissey said. “Somebody texted me, ‘We’re part of the same club,’ which is not one you want to be a part of, but one that you can provide support to one another in and share your experience.”
From the moment Rick Bowness was hired as the head coach before the 2022-23 season, stripped Blake Wheeler of the captaincy, and gave it to Adam Lowry to begin the 2023-24 season, this team’s culture has taken a massive turn.
On the business side of things, players who have been traded here have extended their contracts years into the future. Nino Niederreiter, Alex Iafallo, and Vladislav Namestnikov are the latest examples. They came from playing in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Tampa Bay, yet chose to re-sign in Winnipeg. At this year’s exit availabilities, a handful of players spoke about their desire to remain with the team. All of these signs point to a great culture within the room, one that the players on the team appreciate.
The players on the ice can lean on the great culture and core of players heading into next season. Kevin Cheveldayoff has plenty of business to take care of, making sure that this team has the firepower to remain a contender in the Central Division.
There are a few key unrestricted free agent (UFA) and restricted free agent (RFA) decisions looming large this summer. Here’s a list of every free agent for the Jets, with their AFP Analytics contract projection listed next to their name. The “Y” is years, with the dollar amount being how much AFP analytics is projecting them to make per season in average annual value (AAV).
UFAs
RFAs
The Jets will have roughly $25 million in cap space to work with, per PuckPedia. With Ehlers, Vilardi, and Samberg, those are three very key figures who play prominent roles for this Jets team.
The biggest question mark is Ehlers. Kevin Cheveldayoff said he met with Ehlers’ agent just over a week ago. At his end-of-year press conference, he made it clear that he wants Ehlers to return.
“We’ll put our best foot forward to try to make our case for him to be a unique, Jet for life type player.”
And if the two sides can’t reach a deal, Cheveldayoff is prepared for that too.
“If he does choose to go in a different direction… It’ll be another opportunity for us to grow in a different direction.”
With a list of free agents as long as Winnipeg’s, it is inevitable that we will see one or more players being promoted from within.
A player that Jets fans and the organization have high hopes for is defenceman prospect Elias Salomonsson. His first season in the AHL was an incredible one as he represented the Moose at the AHL All-Star game.
In 53 games, he had five goals and 27 points and was a lone bright spot for the Moose.
“I think if he has a really good summer I think he’s someone that could force us to make some big decisions,” Cheveldayoff said of Salomonsson.
Scott Arniel outlined that their role model for Salomonsson is right here in Winnipeg.
“We have a role model in front of him, for me, is Dylan Samberg.”
Having two Dylan Sambergs sure would be good for the long-term outlook of the Winnipeg Jets’ defence core.
The 20-year-old, right-shot defenceman will look to put together a strong summer and come into camp vying for an NHL role. Working against Salomonsson is the fact that the Jets have seven defenders signed under contract next year (Morrissey, DeMelo, Pionk, Schenn, Miller, Stanley, Heinola), with Samberg and Fleury as the players yet to be signed.
He’ll need to impress his way onto the roster, and he has the talent to do so.
“He had an exceptional year, not surprisingly,” Cheveldayoff said. “We’ve been talking about him for several years in different settings like this, we feel like we have a really good one there.”
Up front, Nikita Chibrikov and Brad Lambert could also force some big decisions if they have a productive offseason.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
Chibrikov got into four games with the Jets in 2024-25, scoring two goals and an assist in those games.
Lambert got into five games for Winnipeg throughout the season and posted one assist.
Both players could fill roles in the Jets’ forward core next season, from Lambert potentially looking to fill Nikolaj Ehlers-sized shoes, to Chibrikov potentially filling Mason Appleton-sized shoes.
The roles available in training camp, much like the second-line centre battle that has been tracked year-over-year, will be clearly outlined as we progress through the offseason.
Does Winnipeg hold onto its 2025 first-round pick? Do they potentially move it for an impact forward or a defenceman? These are questions that will be answered later in June, and we will have you covered right here on illegalcurve.com.
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