The hockey pundits in the media picked up on rumours swirling around the pending unrestricted free agent Kyle Connor yesterday and indicated that it seemed the Winnipeg Jets’ management was close to coming to an agreement on a contract extension. It appears that that the information was correct this time, as True North General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff got the American goal scorer to re-up with the Jets for another 8 seasons.
Connor was going to get a big pay raise from his current yearly salary of $7.142M contract and then Kirill Kaprizov’s new $17M/yr deal seemed to indicate that Kyle might actually double his salary on his next contract. Then mega superstar Connor McDavid potentially threw a wrench in KFC’s agent’s plans when he left money on the table with his $12.5M per year extension on a short-term deal. That must have provided the information needed to come to an agreement that kept the sniping winger’s new contract under that of the Oilers’ superstar. When you take that into your calculations, along with the ever increasing salary cap, I think the $12M per season contract for 8 more campaigns is more than reasonable for what Kyle brings to the table. It certainly can’t be considered a steal…but as other players like Jack Eichel & Alex Tuch ink new deals, it might become more of a bargain.
This contract represents the highest one in Winnipeg’s history in the NHL, plus includes somethings that Jets’ management doesn’t normally hand out….such as a no trade/movement clause through the entirety of the deal and signing bonuses that extend beyond the first season. You got to bend at times in difficult negotiations and I am okay with the Jets going a bit outside of their conservative game plan to get it done.
Well, either way….I am glad that the situation got resolved before the 2025-26 NHL campaign kicked off for the Jets. No good could have come from having the negotiations dragging out throughout the season.
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Now that the team’s biggest pending UFA has been dealt with, the Winnipeg Jets are very close to setting their NHL roster for the 2025-26 season, with only one more cut to make before Tuesday, Oct 7th. At this point, the club will have 3 players on Injured Reserve to begin the campaign, with Adam Lowry (return Oct 13-Nov 10), Dylan Samberg (return Nov 9-23), & Cole Perfetti (return Oct 10-20) all banged up.
That means the True Northers will be able to carry 26 players on their NHL roster instead of just 23, leaving them with only one more player for coach Scott Arniel to disappoint. Since the coaching staff has opted to send Ville Heinola through waivers and only carry 7 healthy defensemen, that means the most likely cut candidates are forwards Brad Lambert, Parker Ford, and Nikita Chibrikov. The newly re-signed Russian seems to have the inside track to fill in for the injured Perfetti, so that probably means it is down to one of Ford or Lambert (apparently it will be Lambo sent down to the Moose, while rookies Chibrikov & Ford will start the year with the Jets).
Here is what the Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose depth charts will look like for the upcoming season:
Winnipeg Jets Roster:
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Manitoba Moose Roster:
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The action for the Winnipeg Jets will get underway on Thursday, October 9th when they host their division rivals, the Dallas Stars. The minor league Manitoba Moose will kick off their campaign on October 10th versus the Laval Rocket. Strap in people……it is just the start of a long season of hockey watching.
Go Jets!!! Go Moose!!!
