ANALYSIS: Winnipeg Jets, 31 other NHL teams looking for same thing in Buffalo

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But the gathering of all 32 General Managers in Buffalo for the draft combine could potentially sew the seeds for some future headline-grabbing activity as well.

Here are a couple of things we do know.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman does not like the league championship series to be “upstaged” by member teams. So, it’s expected that any hiring, firing or transactional business will be put on hold while the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights duke it out for hockey’s holy grail.

And the Winnipeg Jets are far from being alone in their pressing need for a number two centre and/or a top four defenceman. One or both of those components also top the wish list of almost every NHL team.

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So, what we should expect in Buffalo is a lot of “face-to-face intel gathering” to set the stage for what could be one of the busiest entry draft weeks in quite some time.

This summer’s unrestricted free agent class offers very little in terms of an instant fix. Especially if Tampa Bay retains pending UFA defenceman Darren Raddysh and the Sabres do likewise with forward Alex Tuch.

So motivated buyers — like the Jets should be — have two options to address those pressing requirements. Trade or raid, via an offer sheet.

Either way, Kevin Cheveldayoff has his work cut out for him because of the Jets’ popularity, or lack thereof, when it comes to no movement clauses and being on almost every no-trade list.

But Winnipeg has to find a way to be a player this off-season. Cheveldayoff needs to be as creative, courageous, cunning and maybe even cutthroat as every other GM to at least make the effort to improve his hockey team.

It’s appropriate that this is ‘combine week’ because every National Hockey League team is going to be tilling the soil in western New York with the goal of eventually harvesting a bumper crop.