Jets Should Prioritize NHL Readiness With 8th-Overall Pick in 2026 NHL Entry Draft

Long-term projects can be worthwhile and rewarding, but sometimes you just need something that works right off the shelf.

The Jets need the latter when it comes to their eighth-overall pick in the upcoming 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

Good Teams Need Contributions from Players on Entry-Level Contracts — The Jets Got Barely Any This Season

The NHL keeps getting younger and faster, and having players who can make sizeable impacts while on cheap entry-level contracts (ELCs) remains important even as the salary cap rises steadily year over year. The Jets got next to none of that type of production this season.

Just six skaters on ELCs suited up for them — Nikita Chibrikov, Brad Lambert, Elias Salomonsson, Isak Rosen, Brayden Yager, and Danny Zhilkin — and they combined for only 98 games and 15 points. Salomonsson played the most games at 32, while Lambert had the most points with six; the Jets deployed a number of underperforming veterans instead and regressed by 21 wins and 34 points from their Presidents’ Trophy-winning 2024-25 to miss the playoffs.

Canadiens & Sharks Serve as Case Studies

Compare the 15 points of Jets ELC player production to that of exciting clubs such as the Montreal Canadiens or San Jose Sharks, who are on the up and up thanks in large part to young superstars still on ELCs that didn’t require a ton of seasoning in juniors, college, or the minors.

The Canadiens, currently in the second round of the playoffs, have Lane Hutson (78 points in 82 games), Ivan Demidov (62 points in 82 games), Oliver Kapanen (37 points in 82 games), and Zachary Bolduc (30 points in 78 games) all on ELCs.

The Sharks, who missed the playoffs but finished four points ahead of the Jets, had Macklin Celebrini (115 points in 82 games to lead the team), Will Smith (59 points in 69 games to finish second), Collin Graf (46 points in 81 games), and Michael Misa (21 points in 45 games) on ELCs.

Jets Haven’t Had an NHL-Ready First Rounder in a Decade

The pick is perhaps Jets’ general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff’s most important in a decade, especially considering his poor decisions last offseason played a big role in the team’s regression. His first-rounder this June is his highest since 2020, when he used his 10th-overall selection to choose Cole Perfetti, and his first within the top 10 since 2016, when he used his second-overall selection to choose Patrik Laine.

Laine was the last Jets’ first rounder to immediately jump into their NHL lineup and dominate. The Finn potted 110 goals over his first three seasons with Winnipeg while costing just $2.775 million total on his ELC.

Since Laine, their first-round picks either have had to spend entire seasons in juniors and/or the American Hockey League before making the NHL (Perfetti and Lambert), didn’t become high-end NHLers or NHLers at all (Ville Heinola, Chaz Lucius, and Kristian Vesalainen), have not yet made their NHL debuts (Colby Barlow and Sascha Boumedienne), or were traded away (Rutger McGroarty).

Perfetti’s ceiling seems to be a that of complementary player rather than a line driver, Lambert has yet to establish himself as top-six NHL regular, and Yager — included here because he’s the first rounder the Jets got for McGroarty — only just finished his first pro season.

NHL Readiness Should Play Big Role in Cheveldayoff’s Decision Making

Long-term projects can be great, but sometimes there just isn’t time or room for another one. The Jets are at a crossroads: they will either be able to make the moves necessary this offseason to get back to competitiveness next season or will not be able to make those moves and be destined to spend the next few-to-several seasons in the mushy middle or worse.

Unfortunately, getting a non-project player won’t be as easy as it would have been if the Jets were lucky at Tuesday’s NHL Draft Lottery and moved into the top three. Instead, they fell one place (and painfully for Jets fans, a freeze frame reveals that the #8 ball they needed to get the first-overall pick was just below the #12 ball that emerged out of the chute to give the Toronto Maple Leafs the top prize).

It seems most likely Cheveldayoff will select a forward this time around considering the bevy of defensemen in the pipeline, including Salomonsson (second round, 2022), Garrett Brown (fourth round, 2022), Alfons Freij (second round, 2024), and Boumedienne (first round, 2025).

Forwards who could still be available at eighth include Ethan Belchetz, Viggo Bjorck, Wyatt Cullen, Oscar Hemming, Nikita Klepov, and Adam Novotny. It’s unlikely Caleb Malhotra will still be on the board, but drafts can be unpredictable.

While it’s possible none of those players will be NHL ready for next season, Cheveldayoff should select the one he thinks has the best chance of being an NHL regular before their ELC is up such as Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele were. Connor (17th overall, 2015) made the NHL full time in 2017-18 while his ELC was in its second year, while Scheifele (seventh overall, 2011) made the NHL full time in 2013-14 after his ELC slid twice and still had three years on it.

Of course, another way Cheveldayoff could get an NHL-ready player is by trading the pick for someone established — most likely a second-line centre — but that’s a conversation for another day.