With the NHL’s trade deadline looming, hockey fans across the country are playing ‘armchair GM’ and coming up with ideas to improve their favourite teams, and Winnipeg Jets fans are no different.
According to longtime sportscaster Leah Hextall, the Jets faithful should expect to see some kind of action from their team today, although it may not necessarily be what everyone is expecting.
Hextall told 680 CJOB Monday morning that the hoped-for homecoming of Winnipeg-born Mark Stone from the Ottawa Senators isn’t necessarily the best play for the Jets.
“Everyone’s talking about Mark Stone, and that’s big game hunting,” she said.
“The fact is that the price point for the Winnipeg Jets on Mark Stone is just too high. It looks like Ottawa is asking for a first-round pick, a conditional first-round pick, and not just a prospect, but a player with relevance.”
Hextall said if the Jets did win the Stone sweepstakes, fans need to understand that the 26-year-old forward would be purely a rental player, without any hope of the team re-signing him after the 2019 campaign.
“The crux is the player they’re asking for in the deal. The Jets are willing to give a prospect, but they’re not willing to give a Jack Roslovic for a rental. As of right now, Mark Stone is off the mat.”
As far as forwards are concerned, Hextall said she thinks the Jets are targeting rugged Philadelphia Flyer Wayne Simmonds, a 30-year-old right-winger.
“He fits the Jets organization,” she said. “He’s exactly the type of player they want to see in one of their sweaters.
“The other part of it is that he can play on the third line. He plays on the third line in Philly, so he wouldn’t be coming in expecting to be in the top six – but Wayne Simmonds is the type of player who can advance up and down your lineup.”
All the talk about forwards might be moot, she said, due to the injury to Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey Sunday night.
“They weren’t looking to add a piece to their defense, but now that may change,” said Hextall.
Whichever position they fill, Hextall said the Jets will definitely be active on deadline day.
“I was told the Jets are looking to make moves… that’s plural,” she said.
“They know that they need to make a move. People talk about the window to win. The window to win may be that they have the ability to be competitive for the next three to four years, but the fact is, when you have a chance to be in the top three teams in the NHL, you have a chance at the Cup.
“When you have that chance, you do not bark or shake your heads at the hockey gods, you go in and get that player.”
The trade deadline expires at 2 p.m. Central time Monday.
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