The Winnipeg Jets’ training camp opens Thursday, Sept. 19 and the 2024-25 season is less than a month away, with regular-season puck drop slated for Oct. 9 in Edmonton against the Stanley-Cup finalist Oilers.
Related: Breaking Down the Winnipeg Jets’ 2024-25 Schedule
It’s been an interesting offseason of additions and subtractions for a Jets squad that finished fourth in the NHL with 52 wins last season but made its second-straight first-round exit, this time at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche.
We certainly won’t accuse you of living under a rock if you haven’t been paying attention to the Jets since they were crushed by the Avs in five games — summer is fleeting in Manitoba and thoughts of cold-weather pastime hockey can be far away when there are lakes to go to, football and baseball to follow, and hot days and warm nights to enjoy with family and friends.
That being said, at The Hockey Writers, hockey is always at the forefronts of our minds, and our Jets team has published a ton of articles breaking down everything general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and company has done between May and now, with training camp about to start.
Without further ado, here is our Winnipeg Jets 2024 offseason overview.
Bowness Retires To Wrap Distinguished Coaching Career
On May 6, just a few days removed from the early playoff exit, head coach Rick Bowness announced his retirement after two seasons behind the Jets’ bench and five decades of coaching in the NHL.
Related: Jets’ Rick Bowness Retires with a Lasting Impact on Hockey
Bowness took over as Jets’ head coach — the third in the 2.0 era — ahead of the 2022-23 season after Paul Maurice stepped down in 2022 and interim head coach Dave Lowry was not renewed. Bowness — known as a no-nonsense but caring coach — inherited a team with a poor culture and lack of identity but made a positive impact almost immediately, installing a stout defensive style and establishing an accountability structure.
Bowness led the Jets to a 98-57-9 record during his pair of campaigns and his 52-win 2023-24 ties a 2.0 record. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get them past the first round in the postseason.
His 2,726-career games as an NHL coach are the most by anyone in league history. He posted an all-time head coaching record of 310-408-48-27. (the 48 number represents ties.)
“I just loved the game,” Bowness said while fighting back tears during his press conference. “Right? And I respected the game. I love this league, I respect the league. I hope over my career, it’s not about winning the Stanley Cup, that’s always been important, but over the years, as you age, you hope you have an impact on your player’s lives. Off the ice, on the ice, and that’s been more important to me over the last 10 years.”
Arniel Named Fourth Head Coach in Jets 2.0 History
On May 27, Scott Arniel was named the new head coach. Arniel had served as the Jets’ associate coach under Bowness for the past two seasons and took over as acting head coach twice last season when Bowness was away due to his wife’s seizure and a medical procedure of his own.
Many saw Arniel as the heir apparent to the head-coaching gig as hiring him the same summer as Bowness seemed to be an exercise in succession planning, more than a matter of just bringing another experienced person with past organizational connections on board.
The Jets had no shortage of highly-qualified candidates for next head coach, and interviewed three, Cheveldayoff said. He was most impressed with Arniel.
“We weren’t looking to reinvent this team, we weren’t looking to take it from one kind of coach to another,” Cheveldayoff said. “We were looking to know that the foundation that we had in place was going to continue to be built upon.
This is not Arniel’s first head-coaching job as he was the Columbus Blue Jackets’ bench boss for the 2010-11 season and half of the 2011-12 season and coached them to a 45-60-18 record before being fired in January, 2012. He was also the head coach of the Manitoba Moose from 2006 through 2010 — leading them to four-straight playoff berths and Calder Cup Final appearance in 2009 — and the head coach of the Chicago Wolves in 2012-13.
He has also worked as an assistant or associate coach with the Buffalo Sabres, New York Rangers, and Washington Capitals. His connections with Winnipeg go back to 1981, when he first played for the Jets 1.0.
“A lot of firsts have happened here,” Arniel said after being introduced as new head coach. “I met my wife here, my kids were raised here, I got to play my first professional games here, I got to retire here at the end of my career as well with the Moose. It was also the start of my coaching career.
Related: Jets’ Head Coach Scott Arniel Praises Youth & Analytics
“People always ask me why am I still doing it. It’s just the next thing to being a player. It’s my dream. I’ve loved it. I’ve done it my whole life and hockey is a big part of me, and to be here today and be the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets is extremely special to me,” he continued.
Jets Hire Pair of New Assistants in Chynoweth and Payne
On June 17, Arniel rounded out his coaching staff by bringing on a pair of new assistants in Dean Chynoweth and Davis Payne. Arniel interviewed no fewer than 17 candidates for the open positions.
Related: Get to Know Winnipeg Jets’ New Assistant Coaches Payne & Chynoweth
Payne, 53 brings 20-plus years of experience from a variety of levels, including 137 as head coach of the St. Louis Blues. He was most recently an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators and won a Stanley Cup as a Los Angeles Kings’ assistant coach in 2011.
Prior to his NHL coaching career, he coached in the ECHL almost a decade and led the Alaska Aces to a Kelly Cup championship in 2006. He was also the head coach of the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen for a season-and-a-half before being promoted to the Blues’ top job in 2009.
Chynoweth, 55, spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it was announced after Sheldon Keefe was fired that he would not return. Prior to his time in Toronto, he spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Carolina Hurricanes.
His first experience as an NHL coach came in 2009-10, when he became an assistant with the New York Islanders and stayed in the position for three seasons. Between the Islanders and Hurricanes, he was head coach of the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters (three seasons) and San Antonio Rampage (one season) and spent a decade in the WHL as a coach and general manager.
Both men are former NHLers and the hires will aim to help improve the Jets’ subpar special teams. Payne will manage the power play and forwards, while Chynoweth’s purview will be the penalty kill and the defensemen.
2024 Draft Welcomes Freij, Three Other Prospects Into Pool
Cheveldayoff added four players at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft in Las Vegas to his deepening pool of prospects. Although he did not have a first-rounder — he traded it to the Montreal Canadiens for Sean Monahan — and had fewer picks than in years past, he seems to have found a great deal of value.
Related: Winnipeg Jets 2024 NHL Draft Recap
In the second round at 37th overall, he took Swedish left-handed defender Alfons Freij, a smooth-skating 18-year-old defenseman playing in the Swedish Hockey League. In the fourth round, he took forward Kevin He of the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) Niagara IceDogs, making He the highest-drafted Chinese-born player in NHL history.
In the fifth round, he selected Finnish forward Markus Loponen, and in the sixth round, he selected hulking 6-foot-6 forward Kieron Walton of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.
Jets Re-Sign DeMelo, Buy Out Schmidt
Ahead of free agency, Cheveldayoff ticked a box off his pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) list by re-signing defenseman Dylan DeMelo to a four-year extension worth $4.9 million annually.
DeMelo has played 295 games for Winnipeg since being acquired from the Ottawa Senators near the 2019 Trade Deadline. He has recorded 10 goals and 70 assists for 80 points — including a career-high 31 points (three goals, 28 assists) in 2023-24 — but is more known as a stay-at-home guy who posts strong possession metrics. He has played primarily with Josh Morrissey over the past two seasons and complements Morrissey — who has really broken out into an elite defender over the past two campaigns — well.
During his exit interview in May, DeMelo cited his fit on the team, the team’s competitiveness, and the stability that staying put will provide his young family among the reasons he wanted to stay in Winnipeg. The new deal will be in effect until DeMelo is 35.
On June 30, the last day of the buyout period, Cheveldayoff bought defenseman Nate Schmidt out of the final year of his six-year contract that was worth $5.95 million per season.
Schmidt spent three seasons with the Jets after being acquired from the Washington Capitals but became a very expensive seventh defenseman who was in and out of the lineup. He was well-liked for his kind and gregarious personality, but his on-ice metrics and offensive numbers dipped a lot — to 19 points in 2022-23 and and 14 points last season — from the 32 he put up in his first season with the Jets.
Free Agent Frenzy Sees Jets Lose Key Personnel
July 1 was a bit of an exodus from Winnipeg as the Jets lost four prominent UFAs to other teams. In a free agent frenzy that saw more than $1 billion worth of player contracts dished out league wide, top-six forwards Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli departed for the Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks, respectively, while top-four defenseman Brenden Dillon signed with the New Jersey Devils and stellar backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit inked a deal with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Jets were pushing hard to re-sign Monahan, who fit perfectly as second-line centre upon his arrival from Montreal, but the five-year term and $5.5 million annual salary the Blue Jackets gave were too long and too rich for Cheveldayoff and company. Toffoli departing was more expected as he did not make as big of an impact as expected upon coming over from the Devils at the 2024 Trade Deadline. Dillon wanted to stay in Winnipeg, but the Jets let him walk as they want to retool their blue line, and Brossoit was able to cash in on a big raise in Chicago thanks to betting on himself with a one-year deal and posting stellar stats behind Connor Hellebuyck.
Other players who departed were defenseman Kyle Capobianco, goaltender Collin Delia, forward Jeff Malott, forward Kristian Reichel, goaltender Oskari Salminen, and forward Jeffrey Viel.
New (And Familiar) Goaltenders Come On Board
Cheveldayoff had a fairly quiet free agency compared to other general managers, but did bring a pair of goaltenders on board in Eric Comrie and Kaapo Kahkonen who will battle to replace Brossoit.
Comrie signed a two-year pact with the team worth $825,000 to return for his fourth stint since being drafted 59th overall by them in 2013. Comrie, who will be 29 by the time the 2024-25 season begins, has been a fringe goaltender since his big-league debut with the Jets in 2016-17. He spent the last two seasons with the Buffalo Sabres organization but struggled and bounced between the NHL and AHL’s Rochester Americans, posting an 11-16-1 record in 29 starts over two campaigns with a 3.68 Goals Against Average (GAA) .886 Save Percentage (SV%), and one shutout. A couple injuries didn’t help matters and he was leapt on the depth chart by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi last season.
In 57-career NHL games between the Jets, Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and New Jersey Devils, he has a 24-26-2 record, 3.38 GAA and .893 SV%. He has also played 214 games in the AHL and holds a number of Moose individual goaltending records.
Kahkonen, who signed a one-year deal worth $1 million, split time between the Sharks and Devils last season, being dealt to New Jersey at the 2024 Trade Deadline. In 37 games and 34 starts between the two clubs, the Finn had a 7-24-3 record, 3.64 GAA, .898 SV%, and one shutout.
Kahkonen was drafted 109th overall by the Minnesota Wild in 2014 and made his NHL debut in 2019-20. In 139-career games and 131-career starts between the three clubs, he owns a 49-67-15 record, 3.33 GAA, .899 SV%, and four shutouts.
Whoever impressed more in the Jets’ six-game preseason slate should win the job. The other will be sent down to the Moose to play in tandem with and mentor promising sophomore Thomas Milic.
Unrestricted and Restricted Free Agents Ink New Deals
On July 1, Cheveldayoff also re-signed right-shot defenseman Colin Miller to a two-year deal worth $1.5 million annually.
When the Jets acquired the 31-year-old from the Devils at the 2024 Trade Deadline, the thought was Miller would be a lineup regular and an upgrade over Neal Pionk on the second pairing, or at the very least, an upgrade over Schmidt and Logan Stanley on the third pairing.
However, Bowness used the veteran of 500-plus NHL games sparingly; Miller only suited up for five games down the stretch and one playoff contest. He will likely get a bigger chance this upcoming season under Arniel with Dillon and Schmidt gone.
On July 6, Cheveldayoff re-signed RFA defenseman Logan Stanley to a two-year deal worth $1.25 million annually. Stanley played 25 games for the Jets this season on a one-year contract worth $1 million, recording one goal and one assist. For the majority of the season, the 2016- first rounder was the seventh or eighth defenseman on the depth chart — continuing a trend from last season where he played just 19 games — but got into more consistent action down the stretch.
Cheveldayoff then re-signed RFAs David Gustafsson, Ville Heinola, and Simon Lundmark to two-year bridge deals.
Gustafsson was in and out of the lineup again in 2023-24, being deployed as a fourth-line centre or winger when he was in. The Swedish product suited up for 39 games, scoring three goals and adding four assists for seven points while averaging 9:16 of ice time and winning 54.6 per cent of his faceoffs. He also played in four of the Jets’ five playoff games, scoring a goal in Game 2.
Gustafsson, now 24, has not had the smoothest NHL career. He has struggled with injuries that have limited him to just 113 NHL games and 14 points over five seasons since being drafted in the second round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.
Heinola played well enough last preseason to make the Jets, Bowness said at the time, but a fractured ankle suffered in the final preseason tune-up quashed the opportunity the defender earned. The Finnish product instead spent four months rehabbing before getting back up to speed with the Moose in the second half. He suited up for 41 games for the Moose in top-pairing and top power-play roles, recording 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists.)
The 2019 20th-overall pick, now 23, has played just 35 NHL games in four seasons, recording 11 points (one goal, 10 assists.) He is cerebral and intelligent defender whose anticipation, reads, passing ability, and skating are all outstanding and the organization still hopes he will develop into a top-four talent.
Heinola has played 152-career AHL games and it’s clear he is too good for the level. He needs meaningful NHL minutes to further develop the defensive side of his game and is no longer waiver exempt, so trying to send him down would be fraught with risk. Nonetheless, he will have to impress a new coaching staff and the path appears open for him to do so with Dillon and Schmidt gone.
Related: 3 Jets Bounce-Back Candidates for 2024-25
Lundmark spent last season with the Moose as a blue line regular, suiting up for 67 of 72 games and recording five goals and 12 assists for 17 points. The now 23-year-old has played 188 games with the Moose during his three pro seasons, recording 12 goals and 36 assists for 48 points.
Cheveldayoff Tinkers With Depth Additions in Free Agency
At the same time he was dealing with his UFAs and RFAs, Cheveldayoff made a couple of minor additions in free agency in early July after the frenzy dust settled to give the organization more depth and flexibility.
He added forward Jarret Anderson-Dolan on July 2, forward Mason Shaw and blue liner Haydn Fleury on July 3, and blue liner Dylan Coghlan on July 10. All are on one-year contracts expect for Anderson Dolan, who got two years. All four should play significant roles with the Moose and will be some of the first players called up to the Jets when injuries arise.
Arniel Hosts Organizational Analytics Summit
In mid-August, Arniel organized an organizational summit in Winnipeg to get all the NHL and AHL coaches, management members, and the analytics team in the same room and on the same page.
“I came out of the last week, after watching their presentations, after listening to them talk, their experiences, whether as players, a team, how they go about their daily business, and I feel so, so confident in this whole group,” Arniel said after the summit wrapped (From ‘Jets head coach Scott Arniel confident after team’s summit wraps,’ Winnipeg Sun, Aug. 9, 2024.)
Related: 5 Must-Watch Winnipeg Jets Games in 2024-25
Arniel has spoken on the need for the Jets to dive deeper into analytics and advanced stats to illuminate their own weaknesses and those of their opponents. Bowness didn’t pooh-pooh the increasing role analytics is playing in the modern NHL in influencing teams’ lines and tactics — in fact, he and Arniel used them to improve the team’s defence upon joining a team that gave up way too many high danger chances under Maurice and Dave Lowry — but was also someone with ‘old school’ values who coached by the eye and gut tests rather than crunched numbers all the time.
“(Analytics) have just become another part of coaching,” Arniel said. “There’s a balancing act. There’s still the eye factor, what you see as you’re watching as a head coach, what you’ve experienced being around the game, the players and how they respond to it.”
Jets Divest of Disgruntled McGroarty in Trade With Penguins
On Aug. 22, Cheveldayoff shipped Rutger McGroarty — the 14th-overall pick of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft who didn’t want to sign an entry-level contract with Winnipeg — to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Brayden Yager, the 14th-overall pick in the 2023 Draft.
The deal ended a summerlong saga that began just before the 2024 Draft in June, when reports surfaced that McGroarty didn’t want to ink a deal with the Jets’ organization to turn pro. McGroarty completely avoided the media, but pundits speculated that a rift had formed because he wanted guarantees he’d be able to jump straight to the NHL — like a few of his University of Michigan teammates did at the end of last season — and did not want to play in the AHL for the Moose.
Cheveldayoff fielded offers at the draft but didn’t find one to his liking, and didn’t have to rush as McGroarty was under team control for two more years. He then reached the “make lemonade out of lemons” deal with Penguins’ GM Kyle Dubas two months later, getting for his “A” prospect another one in Yager, an exciting 19-year-old centre coming off a 95-point season with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors.
A bizarre and shady denouement to the drama came when Cheveldayoff threw cold water on the presumption that McGroarty didn’t want to sign because of a disagreement about his development path. Instead, Cheveldayoff said he spoke to both player and agent and was told by both the fit “just didn’t feel right,” before adding “if there’s a specific reason, Rutger hasn’t told us” and “we never had that conversation (about NHL guarantees) once.”
With the deal done and a disgruntled player divested of, Cheveldayoff and company can focus on where Yager, who will return to the Warriors for 2024-25, will fit down the line.
Perfetti Yet To Sign on Dotted Line
Cheveldayoff still has one box left unchecked on his offseason to-do list even as players have already arrived in Winnipeg and are set to hit the ice for their first official training camp session Thursday. Cole Perfetti has yet to sign a new contract and the organization and the RFA are in “the nicest contract dispute ever,” according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman.
The 2020 10th-overall pick’s 2023-24 was up and down. In the first half, he excelled and his play showed significant leaps forward. Through 41 games, he was a key contributor to the Jets’ surprising dominance: as a fixture on the second-line right wing, he had 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists), just one point shy of his season career high with half the season to go.
However, he fell into an extended scoring drought at about the same time the team started experiencing some second-half struggles. He suffered through a 23-game goal-scoring slump from Jan. 11 to March 23, leading Bowness to bump Perfetti down to the fourth line and into the press box after the team added Toffoli to the forward group.
Overall, he spent 11 games as a healthy scratch, but scored five goals and added two assists for seven points in his final 10 regular-season games to end the campaign on a positive note. He also stayed healthy all season for the first time in his three-season career and set career highs with 19 goals and 38 points.
Perfetti represented the Jets at the NHL’s annual Player Media Tour in Las Vegas earlier this month despite not having a deal and expressed confidence in the negotiations while saying his focus is on being ready for opening night. A deal will get done sooner or later, but whether it’ll be a short-term bridge or something longer-term is still up in the air.
It truly is beginning to feel like hockey season. The Jets’ six-game preseason slate begins Saturday, Sept. 21 when they welcome the Wild to Canada Life Centre.