March 8th was the last day National Hockey League GM’s could make any trades to try and improve their franchises for the upcoming playoffs. With plenty of both “buyer” and “seller” teams, the NHL’s registration department was kept busy in the month leading up to this deadline.
Since Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff pulled off the trade to pick up center Sean Monahan on February 2nd, there have been 44 acquisitions for the league office to log. Things started out slowly with only 5 transactions between February 3rd and March 5th, however these included the Dallas Stars picking up defenseman Chris Tanev, the Toronto Maple Leafs netting defender Ilya Lyubushkin, and the Vegas Golden Knights starting their load up process by acquiring Anthony Mantha.
March 6th saw the action pick up with another 5 trades, seeing players like Vladimir Tarasenko (FLA), Sean Walker (COL), Adam Henrique (EDM), and Alexander Wennberg (NYR) joining new teams. Possibly the biggest move of the day saw young defenseman Bowen Byram and middle-aged Casey Mittelstadt swap squads (COL & BUF).
The following day saw 11 more transactions, but only two of the moves included star players – Jake Guentzel heading to CAR for a package that included Michael Bunting & prospect Cruz Lucius (brother of Jets’ prospect Chaz) and d-man Noah Hanifin leaving Calgary to join the Golden Knights.
Deadline day had a total of 23 moves to keep the talking heads at TSN busy enough, which is way too many to describe here. So I will focus on the key trades, starting with a gamble by the Carolina Hurricanes when they picked up the troubled Evgeny Kuznetsov from the Capitals. A couple other teams also added scoring help when former Jet Jack Roslovic joined the Rangers and the Golden Knights shocked everyone when they acquired Tomas Hertl from San Jose.
Winnipeg wasn’t inactive that day, as management made a pair of moves, prying forward Tyler Toffoli and defensemen Colin Miller off the NJ Devils in two separate transactions (see deals outlined below, courtesy of CapFriendly):
Once again, Cheveldayoff made moves with specific goals in mind and most importantly, that kept the Jets’ key prospects in the fold. The recent injury to Gabriel Vilardi has displayed the lack of top 6 forward depth on Winnipeg’s roster, so Chevy picked up Toffoli to give them another solid option and then added a physical & experienced defenseman in Miller for much-needed depth.
It has been a fairly interesting season for the Jets’ GM…after the coup of signing Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele to extensions prior to the season, the top decision maker has continued to make quality moves to improve his team in-season. After picking up the 2nd best center on the trade market (Monahan), he has now added the 2nd best scoring winger available (Toffoli) to his roster. With the media’s #1 center, Elias Lindholm, struggling since moving to Vancouver, it will be interesting to see whether Guentzel thrives in Carolina.
While the Winnipeg Jets didn’t make quite the splash the Golden Knights did (taking full advantage of Mark Stone’s huge salary being on LTIR), the hockey gurus have heartily applauded our franchise’s transactions. During my discussions with fans of the New Jersey Devils, almost all their comments about Toffoli and Miller were positive. They felt that adding Tyler to our forward corps should provide the boost in offense that we require and another sniping option on the powerplay. The only knock was the lack of Toffoli’s foot-speed, but the common agreement was that he should excel on a line with Monahan and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Diving a bit deeper into Tyler Toffoli’s season to date, let’s see how our new winger can start helping the Jets against the Washington Capitals on Monday (images courtesy of MoneyPuck).
Toffoli’s 44 points to date puts him in a tied for 4th with Kyle Connor & Ehlers, only trailing Monahan’s 45 pts, Josh Morrissey’s 52 pts, and Scheifele’s 56 pts. It also appears that Connor has a challenger for best scorer on the squad, since he is now tied for the lead with 26 goals this year. The winger’s advanced stats also look quite good, especially coming from a NJ team with a -13 goal differential. However, he did get the benefit of playing with great centers like Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Dawson Mercer with Devils. So we know our new forward can put the puck in the net, let’s take a look at where he is taking his shots from at even strength & on the powerplay (from MoneyPuck):
Looking at the above shot charts, the first thing that pops out to you is that Toffoli doesn’t appear to be shy in pulling the trigger. His 5 on 5 chart has almost completely filled up the offensive zone with attempts, but you also like to see that the denser spots include prime scoring areas. On the PP, Tyler seems to be a solid bumper option for the 2nd unit with the high amount of shots from just in front of the net, but he also appears to be able to score from either face-off circle so the coaching staff will appreciate his versatility.
Moving onto the other acquisition at the trade deadline, defenseman Colin Miller. No disrespect intended to the right handed defender, but my analysis will be much shorter for him. I’m sorry, but defensive d-men just lack the flash of a guy who puts the puck into the net. That doesn’t mean that coach Scott Arniel won’t appreciate the rugged style of play Miller brings, especially on the penalty kill. His addition finally gives Winnipeg three actual RHD and allows the team to potentially sit players like Neal Pionk or lefty Nate Schmidt after bad games. Here is how MoneyPuck says Colin has done this year with the Devils:
As the normal stats show, we shouldn’t be expecting much offense from Miller over the remainder of the season, but his 4 goals does tie him with Pionk for 3rd in backend scoring. The advanced stats won’t wow you, but coming from a team with a negative goal differential, it is a positive sign that they were getting more shots and expected goals than their opponents with him on the ice. One thing I did notice when looking at his career stats is that he has played well defensively in the playoffs, including a 20 game run with the Knights in 2017-18 (yes, he was on that squad that ended the Jets best post-season run) where he ended with 7 points and a +5 rating.
At the end of all that, I will say that I am impressed with how Chevy has handled himself this season. None of the additions are game changers on their own, but if the two new guys can contribute by being themselves like Monahan has, then it could be an interesting end to the season. While the prospect cupboard is decently stocked, the Winnipeg Jets will have to consider ways to re-coup the lost draft capital as I don’t foresee them becoming sellers for the next few seasons. If I put my predictor hat on, I think the Jets’ GM will have his biggest tests in the next couple of off-seasons when he is confronted by the choice to re-sign aging players like Connor and Ehlers or use them to improve the draft/prospect pool while allowing younger players (i.e. Brad Lambert, Rutger McGroarty, & Colby Barlow) to take their spots.
But that is for the future, in the present I’m willing to give Cheveldayoff a solid A- for his moves in picking up Monahan, Toffoli, and Miller to assist his squad in their quest for a Stanley Cup. Well, that’s the end of my take….let me hear in the comment section your thoughts on this article, the new players, or anything Winnipeg Jet related.
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