Kevin Cheveldayof hit a home-run on this one.
As I tweeted, with his back against the wall, the public eye saying he has no leverage and Pierre-Luc Dubois wanting out of Winnipeg, Kevin Cheveldayoff made the most out of the situation and came out on top as the biggest winner of this deal.
It was time for Winnipeg to get out from their relationship with Dubois, and at the hefty price tag he commanded from LA, he isn't worth that with the Jets.
So what did Winnipeg trade away?
The only asset headed to LA was Dubois. He is a big-bodied, physical center who isn't afraid of making the hit and playing the body in puck battles. He has the ability to drive his line, and meshed well with some the Jets' offensive wingers. The downfall? This season he set a career high of 63 points. Paying this much for a 25-gaol, 63-point center is a lot.
I strongly believe Dubois has more in the tank than that and will have his best seasons as a King, but they paid a lot, asset-wise and dollar amounts, for what he has done so far.
The Jets however, they got quite a haul from LA for someone who was "destined to be a Hab".
The easy asset was the 2024 2nd round pick (MTL). That will likelt be in the 35-41 range of next years draft, which could be significant. Top 40 picks are becoming more and more valuable.
The star of the deal is Gabriel Vilardi. The 23 year old had a career-best season this year, nothing 23 goals and 41 points in just 63 games. He has shown plenty of signs of being a very productive player, and while the Jets have traded one of their top centermen with the other likely on his way out, Vilardi will mash well with any of the Jets' top-six wingers.
Vilardi is poised for a big year this year. He was just getting a taste of being a successful NHLer and once he gets comfortable, look out. I expect him to follow a path similar to the one Martin Necas went on over the past two years, and see Vilardi have a season like Necas next year.
Alex Iafallo is another great middle-six winger option. He is good for 45 points and a decent two-way player. I imagine him and Adam Lowry could be fantastic on the same line, especially with the offensive jump Lowry took this year. If they are both lined up on the third line on opening night, I would be very happy.
As for Rasmus Kupari, the former 2018 1st rounder hasn't quite panned out the way everyone thought. Coming in next year, he would likely start as the Jets' fourth-line center. He is a great two-way player and will help the PK. He has shown plenty of signs of promise, but can't put it all together yet. He is an easy player to take a bet on.
So, right now the future of Scheifele and Hellebuyck are unknown, but it seems like Blake Wheeler is all but done in Winnipeg. With that being said, the Jets have built a very strong core of wingers to play with.
Connor-__-Vilardi
Perfetti-__-Ehlers
Iafallo-__-Niederreiter
Barron-__Appleton
Obviously things can change, but even with that group, they still have Lambert, Torgersson, Chibrikov, Rashevsky, and many more who could contend for a spot if they come to camp and play well.
The Jets are loaded on the wings, and even down the middle they have Scheifele, Lowry, Kupari, Gustafsson, Lucius, Nikkanen, Wagner.
Assuming Wheeler is bought out, the Jets will have roughly $16 million in cap space to get deals done with Vilardi, Kupari, Barron, Stanley and Samberg. None of them will command much outside of Vilardi, and with some depth players signed too, they should have some wiggle room. I would expect them to try and get out from Nate Schmidt's high cap-hit too. This is just a start to the exciting summer ahead, and Chevy has given all of the fans a whole bunch more faith than here was before.
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