The Winnipeg Jets and asset management

Method: I took three teams: the Winnipeg Jets, the Chicago Blackhawks, and the Detroit Red Wings and looked at players that they had brought in and players that they had lost since the 2011-2012. I chose Detroit because they are often talked about as the best team in regards to both player development and free agency. I chose Chicago because they have won two Stanley Cups in four years and are consistently making moves that are lauded by the Fancy Stats community.

Data:

Winnipeg Jets: Player Recruitment (all ages are current)

The Jets have signed a lot of bad free agents (the best being Al Montoya and Alexei Ponikarovsky) and have acquired five players off of waivers.

Player Retention

*included by accident, but he played NHL games for the Jets!!!!

Next up is the Pantheon of player development and asset management; the Detroit Red Wings. Before showing this a couple of caveats: a) they have 11 players this year who are 30 or older and b) I am a big Mike Babcock fan, but have cooled off considerably to Ken Holland. You will see why.

Detroit Red Wings: Player Recruitment

Player Retention

The Detroit Red Wings only let one NHL player go without compensation, but that leaves me to question how good they are at signing players in the first place.

The Chicago Blackhawks: Player Recruitment

*Pierre-Marc Bouchard was included in this trade as well

^Salary dump of the contract that Tallon signed Campbell to.

Player Retention

*has not filed his papers, but is not playing anywhere

This is where Chicago really stands out. While they struggle with free agent signings for the most part, Stan Bowman has begun to avoid those and instead will draft and develop players who will then either make the Blackhawks like Brandon Saad or be traded away for players that will help them right now like Kris Versteeg. Smart trades and good drafting is what makes the Hawks who they are.

Analysis: Free Agency is not a place to make hay. For any team. Where Chicago really separates themselves from both Winnipeg and Detroit is trades. Without giving up a first round pick they have made some savvy moves for depth players that are skilled. One thing that should be noticed is that a team lacking depth should go after Chicago for players like Brandon Pirri, who is performing well in Florida. Bowman is willing to move players to fit both the current needs and help the future of the Blackhawks.

Summary: The Detroit Model is often used when talking about building a winning franchise and while in the past Detroit has dominated the NHL, Chicago seems to have a better model for building a consistently strong team. From little moves, like acquiring Michael Frolik or Peter Regin, to drafting well enough that trading a couple of prospects for picks is something that needs to be done in order to allow that player to play at the level that they deserve to, Chicago leads the way in this regard. Chicago's trump card is drafting. Much of their depth players were drafted and developed by them, as are many of their top players.

Instead of trying to build off of the Nashville Model or the Detroit Model, Kevin Cheveldayoff should look to where he came from and start making small, savvy moves to build up the Jets and not worry about any top end players. Also, avoid the Sheldon Brookbank's and Mark Stuart's. Wait. it's too late for that one.

In brief, for low risk trades and less waiver wire.

*Disclaimer: I know that some moves are missing. There are some players who I either missed or simply played one or two games. There are also players that played under 10 games on this list. I believe I managed to include all the key moves as well as some fringe ones.