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Home
Free Agents

Jets May Not Get Their RFAs Signed in Time

By Declan Schroeder August 15th, 2019

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As the old adage goes, “talk is cheap, but actions are priceless.” So, take Kyle Connor’s comments this week with a huge grain (or block) of salt. Before teeing off at The Players Cup golf tournament at Southwood Golf & Country Club in Winnipeg on Wednesday, questions about when he would ink a new contract — and if he’d sign in time for training camp — inevitably arose.

Kyle Connor is hopeful of signing a new contract with the Jets prior to the opening of training camp in September. "Yeah, that's definitely the plan," the 22-year-old restricted free agent forward said Wednesday https://t.co/81IeokVy5V

— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) August 14, 2019

“Yeah, that’s definitely the goal for sure,” the 22-year-old restricted free agent said, in reference to getting a deal done before camp opens. “The player never wants to miss time in training camp. It’s tough not getting that preparation and time with teammates in practice.”

Kyle Connor Jets
Kyle Connor says it’s his goal to sign a new deal before training camp. (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

If you asked Patrik Laine — the Jets’ other unsigned RFA — the same question, you can bet he’d give a similar answer.

Fool Me Once, Shame on You…

But fool me twice, shame on me.

Connor’s comments are pretty boilerplate — standard stuff agents coach their players to parrot to keep their cards close to the chest while looking committed to the teams that pay their salaries. However, when big figures and negotiating them are involved, it’s best not to believe the same old lines.

The situation with Connor and Laine is identical to Josh Morrissey’s a year ago. Last summer, the defenseman was what Connor and Laine are now — an RFA at the end of his entry-level contract deserving of a big raise.

Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey
A similar scene played out around Josh Morrissey last summer (Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports)

By this time a year ago, Morrissey hadn’t still hadn’t signed and many were getting antsy — especially in the wake of the Jacob Trouba arbitration situation — for the heady blueliner to ink a new deal. Some, including yours truly, feared a holdout akin to Trouba’s in 2016.

Related: Jets’ Options with a Morrissey Holdout

“There’s no reason for panic yet,” now-retired Winnipeg Free Press columnist Paul Wiecek wrote last summer. “There’s lots of players every year in Morrissey’s situation who have headed into September unsigned, only to get a deal done in the days leading up to training camp.” (from “No More Mr. Nice Morrissey,” Winnipeg Free Press, 08/07/18.)

Early last September, Morrissey said, “from my standpoint as a player, my agent, and from our conversations with the team, everything’s been going great. Everyone’s confident it will be handled and done, definitely in time for the season.” General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff echoed similar sentiments. (From “GM expects Morrissey to be signed by training camp,” Winnipeg Free Press, 09/04/18).

Despite all these guarantees, The deal was not done in time for training camp. Morrissey ended up not signing a new deal until Sept. 16.

Winnipeg Jets Morrissey Niku Little
Morrissey (left) did end up signing before the season started, but missed the beginning of training camp. (James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports)

Wiecek even warned in advance Morrissey might hold out, writing “he does not seem the holding-out type, but he also didn’t seem a cross-check-you-in-the-face kind of guy either — until, of course, he was.” (That referred to Morrisey’s check on Eric Staal in the first round of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs.)

Morrissey didn’t end up holding out, but it got awfully close. Connor and Laine do not seem like the type of guys to hold out either — unlike Trouba, they seem to enjoy playing in Winnipeg. However…

…Don’t Expect Contracts to Come Easily

Given what’s currently going on, league-wide, concerning RFAs, it’s time to seriously consider the possibility Connor, Laine, or both, will remain unsigned by the time camp opens, and perhaps into the 2019-20 as well.

Winnipeg Jets Patrik Laine Chicago Blackhawks Gustav Forsling
Patrik Laine is among the laundry list of RFAs who won’t sign for anything less than they think they’re worth. Right now, they have the leverage. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)

Massive contracts for players coming off their ELCs are the norm now; gone is the era where players felt they had to prove themselves over longer periods.

The Jets are far from the only team struggling to sign their young stars: the current list of unsigned RFAs reads like War and Peace. It’s clear none of them will accept a dollar less than they think they’re worth and want to dictate term as well. For example, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner — the NHL’s highest-profile RFA — reportedly rejected GM Kyle Dubas’ offer worth $11 million per season over eight years, wanting a shorter term.

UNSIGNED RFAs:

Mitch Marner
Brayden Point
Mikko Rantanen
Patrik Laine
Matthew Tkachuk
Kyle Connor
Brock Boeser
Zach Werenski
Charlie McAvoy
Marcus Pettersson
Ivan Provorov
Travis Konecny
Colin White
Kevin Fiala
Ivan Bapbashev
Jesse Puljujarvi
Pavel Zacha

It's August 14th.😳

— Coach Travis (@iCoachHockey) August 14, 2019

“According to a handful of hockey agents I spoke to,” the Winnipeg Free Press’ Mike McIntyre wrote recently, “don’t hold your breath waiting for deals to get done. There appears to be a giant, league-wide game of chicken going on between high-profile RFAs and their respective general managers, with neither side wanting to be the first to blink.” (from ‘Laine, Connor contract talks a high-price game of chicken, Winnipeg Free Press, 08/07/19.)

McIntyre went on to explain that nobody — neither players or GMs — “wants to be the first to take the plunge and essentially set the market for their colleagues.”

To be clear, players aren’t bad for trying to get the most they can from their respective teams. Hockey is a business and players want to earn as much as possible while they’re hot commodities to ensure comfortable post-hockey lives.

Prepare for the Worst

The Jets desperately need their two young guns — the team is coming off a season in which they limped into the playoffs, were bounced out in Round 1, and profoundly failed to live up to expectations.

There are already huge question marks regarding the Jets’ 2019-20 squad’s capacity to succeed; without the American and Finn for even a game — the pair combined for a huge chunk of the Jets’ offence last season, with 64 goals and 116 points — those question marks become even bigger.

Winnipeg Jets Patrik Laine Kyle Connor
A Jets team without Connor and Laine would be in tough to compete — the two are two of the team’s main offensive weapons (Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports)

Although Connor said the right things to try and assuage Jets’ brass and fans — and McIntyre recommends “(saving) the worrying until after Labour Day” — it’s obvious from the landscape that signing an RFA is now exceedingly complicated and the worrying should start now.

It’s telling Connor let it slip that even he’s not even sure when he’ll sign a new contract, saying “but things happen, so we’ll see. I’ll be prepared if it (‘it’ referring to not getting a deal done in time for training camp) happens.”

Again, talk is cheap; neither Connor or Laine have signed on the dotted line and neither appear close to picking up a pen. Things — league wide, not just in Winnipeg — are at a virtual standstill.

You’d be best to mentally prepare yourself for the very real possibility Connor and/or Laine will be absent from Jets’ training camp, and perhaps even absent from their season opener less than two months away.

  • Tags
  • 2019 NHL Free Agency
  • Kyle Connor
  • Patrik Laine
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