Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff media availability during TSN broadcast

On last night’s Jets broadcast during the 1st intermission they played a discussion that play-by-play voice Dan Robertson had with Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff which had been recorded earlier that day. They covered a number of topics including:

1) Why has Scott Arniel been such a good fit behind the bench?

“The time that Scott had with our organization over the last couple years has been invaluable but I really believe that the opportunity that he’s had to kind of run the bench itself, when Bones had to take his leaves away, I think it really gave him a real understanding of this group, not only the players, but just how it needs to play. I think the real thing is that he’s trying to get them to play in his way, in his mind, it’s not like we’re just trying to be a carbon copy and he’s got strong beliefs. When a guy gets another opportunity to to be in charge of an NHL team they learn over the time. I know when I sat down with him, I guess three years ago now to interview for that job, at that point you can just tell that you know he had been taking notes and learning from so many different people along the way and and the humility that he has to put it in place and understand today’s player has been important.”

2) What does having a good culture mean to him?

“Culture is a very nebulous word. It’s used a lot on the positive side and it’s used a lot on the negative side. But ultimately culture is something that is formed and developed. It’s a belief that people have within themselves and within each other, and it’s not something that you just go to the corner store and buy. It’s not something that just happens. It comes from common beliefs, common standards, holding each other accountable and striving for a common goal. And I think this group it’s grown up together. They’ve had many highs, they’ve had many lows, some people have left, some people have come back, a lot of people have chosen to stay because they want to try to do it together and that says a lot about this group.”

3) With the core in their prime does that make him more aggressive to round out his team?

“I think we’ve shown we’ve always been aggressive if the opportunity is there. I think the thing that people have to understand about a trade deadline is you never know what’s going to be available. And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again it has to come down to fit. Sometimes there’s those players that are just automatic fits that are out there, and some of them, you have to maybe sit back and try and see ‘is this going to be the right thing’. One thing that is for sure that you learn over time is that for 47 games this group has earned what they’ve gotten. There’s obviously 25 some odd more games ahead of us, that there’s a lot of runway, the story is not written yet. But this group, obviously has shown a lot of passion in trying to do things right.”

4) Does he see that the team is built a little stronger last year for when playoffs come around?

“The proof is always in the pudding. You can sit here and talk, I can talk, certainly I don’t go out and play. Coaches coach, obviously players play. But you’re a human, you learn from your past experiences and as a pro athlete they learn. That first round of the playoffs it’s very, very difficult for all teams. Like all the teams that make it, eight teams are going home trying to figure out what happened. First and foremost, you got to make it in this league and I think you can see through the standings the parity that is there of just trying to get in. And once you get in the storylines change to anybody can upset anybody at that point in time.”

5) With Nikolaj Ehlers being a UFA at end of season, have they started contract talks with him?

“I haven’t had any negotiations with any of the free agents yet as far as sitting down and talking to them about actual nitty-gritty of contracts, but I have had conversations with many of the RFA and UFA free agents.”

6) What was it like having Scott Arniel as a player when he was an assistant coach in Utah?

“We traded for Scott here, and it was the kind of the missing piece that put us over for a championship. He was a veteran player at the time, and he fit in extremely well. It was a great time and anytime you can win a championship together, those are the relationships that you grow and build on. All those years later who would have known that we would be working together on this side of it! But once you win one championship together you get that great feel of wanting to do it again.”