The trade deadline can energize a hockey club with fresh new blood, or it can announce a team is dead on arrival.
The 2020 NHL trade deadline did neither for the Winnipeg Jets.
Monday saw multiple trades made, but the Jets weren’t in on any of them. Instead, the team made two trades prior, acquiring defenceman Dylan DeMelo and forward Cody Eakin.
Not headline-making moves, but additions that can help the team moving forward.
While some fans may be disappointed as they watch other teams add substantial names to their rosters, the fact that the Jets were buyers and not sellers at the deadline is quite an achievement.
Between the revolving door of injuries and the handcuffs clasped on GM Kevin Cheveldayoff all season due to the Dustin Byfuglien saga, the Jets still have the ability to make the playoffs.
In fact, the acquisitions that will aid the Jets’ playoff push are internal, with the return of injured forwards Adam Lowry and Matthieu Perreault return to the lineup.
The trade deadline is a time for teams that have a chance to make noise in the playoffs to make a move – it’s not the day you can reconstruct a hockey club.
Each trade comes at a price, a sacrifice to the future of a franchise that may or may not pay off.
Often, it’s the teams that do nothing at the trade deadline that end up winning the day.
Monday saw several clubs get better, including the Jets.
The next few months will tell the tale of the trade deadline, and only then will we see the true winners and losers of the day.
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