If you listened to the Buzzcast today you probably heard Russ Cohen
@sportsology say that he's hearing a ton of chatter around RFAs being moved. The Jets have 8 RFAS.
Now, the other news that is circulating comes from Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press and how in his discussions with Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, Mike pieces a story about mining for gold deep in the draft. That's all fine and well but is it the right move given the opportunities that exist now and likely through tomorrow and Saturday?
Look at the great stuff Sean Tierney puts out...
The point with this tweet is the image that shows draft pick value over time after the first round. The value really plateaus and while you can mine for gold deeper into the draft and hope to find a Sami Niku a question could be asked why that's not happening every year?
In seven drafts the Jets have only had 3 players make impacts who were picked after the 3rd round and they were Hellebuyck, Copp and most recently Poolman. If you want to be a bit more generous and go after the second round it looks like this: Lowry
Niku, while exciting to consider has 1 NHL game to his career. He should be added to the list but it's a short list. Thus, why would the Jets find gold now when it's been more like silver in the past?
If you consider the RFAs the Jets have 2 are obviously untouchables unless something goes horribly wrong and they are Trouba and Morrissey. Add Lowry and Poolman to that list too for good measure and that leaves 4 who could be trade bait and perhaps better bait than given credit for.
Like him or not @Tony_MBHKY makes a lot of good points and this is one worth repeating...
and this...
So why am I suggesting trading Petan and Dano and Tanev and Morrow? Well I'm not saying they should be traded, what I'm getting at is that they might be targets by other teams, at least the first two, and Chevy has some thinkin' to do.
He and Maurice have to decide if there is a future for these guys with the team and if there is when does that future begin?
This is where things get complicated because if you look back at what the Golden Knights did this past season, the team they built, it plays on acquiring under-valued/under-used guys. Petan and Dano fit that bill perfectly and they are not the only ones like that in the league.
The key for Chevy is to know if he is going to use them or not and if the answer is not (right or wrong) then extracting the greatest amount value for them from other GMs. That's not the easiest thing to do but Chevy has a pretty good case given the Jets team, record and success from last season?
Say he's talking Chiarelli and the Oilers GM suggests that Vegas acquired similar players for much less than Chevy's ask of him. The response is pretty simple, 'who do you think our coach should have taken out of the roster to fit them in?'. Furthermore, Chevy should suggest that teams were going to lose some one so those GMs took risks for other reasons and he's not in that position.
Being able to sell something to some one at your value and not theirs is part of being a good GM, among other skills and traits. That's an area that perhaps Chevy has been under-appreciated in but given the results of the Kane and Bogosian deal he may have more of that game in him than many believe. He should still sell the expensive over-valued assets if possible but that task is even harder than the aforementioned. Should he get offers he needs to be patient and also set his sights on what he wants and needs, not what's offered to him.
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