
Almost two weeks removed from the NHL Trade Deadline, some teams are starting to see the effects from their transactions, or lack thereof.
The Winnipeg Jets have been one of the positive stories all season. After their unceremonious exit from last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, Scott Arniel’s team has been battling for first place in the league standings, let alone the Central Division, for the majority of the campaign.
However, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was pretty quiet around the deadline, though he made a couple of decent trades. The Jets acquired forward Brandon Tanev from the Seattle Kraken, defenseman Luke Schenn from the Pittsburgh Penguins and goaltender Chris Dreidger from the Florida Panthers.
Yet, some wonder if the team could’ve done more to bolster the roster in the hopes of having a long playoff run.
On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, former Jets forward Nate Thompson joined guest host Jonny Lazarus to discuss if Winnipeg did enough at the trade deadline.
Nate Thompson: I think the Winnipeg Jets are positioned where they should have done more. In their last 10 games, they are 5-4-1. They’re not lighting it on fire … I think they’ve slowed down a little bit. You look at the Florida Panthers, they make the trade for Seth Jones … Has he been fantastic? No. But at the same time, they lose Aaron Ekblad, they don’t have Matthew Tkachuk. They don’t have Brad Marchand. What is that going to do for Seth Jones when those guys come back into the lineup, it’s probably going to help, right?
I look at the Winnipeg Jets, and I see a guy like Neil Pionk. He’s out week to week. Do they have the depth of guys to carry that weight of him being out? When you make these trades you make them for depth, too. You make them for guys that, if your top guys do go out, you’re able to withstand that. And I don’t know if the Winnipeg Jets are able to do that. I know they’re going to make the playoffs, but what’s going to happen in the first and second rounds when they don’t have the next guy to step up in that depth that they didn’t make for that trade, or they didn’t make that trade to help their team in the long run. … You look at a team like Winnipeg, are they one injury away from being completely depleted?
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…
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