The Check In - 04.20.26 - End of Season Special

Jets head coach Scott Arniel and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff held their season-end media availabilities on Monday. Sara and Jamie will look back at what was said and also the players locker clean out avails from Friday.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:11

And I am taking some responsibility for a lot of what went on this year. I'm not falling on the sword. I know that I've had my meetings with the players and I haven't had my meeting with management yet, but at the end of the day, there's lots of things that you know that I have to go back and look at. I got four and a half months to get ready. So first of all, I'll do my homework on what just what we went through, the different things. Um, you know, the the areas that I will be looking at. I'm gonna look at other teams, uh, you know, obviously meet with management, you know, meet with my staff. Uh there's a lot of things that I need to cover. And it's you know, it's that's what happens when you're you're not playing at this time of year. You have to have answers, and the players want answers, management. You guys want answers. Um, you know, I don't have the answers today, but at the end of the day, that's part of my job. And we got to get back to where we were, and it's gonna, it's there's some work to be done.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

So head coach Scott O'Neill talking uh in his final meeting of availability after the 25-26 Winnipeg Jets season, which uh clearly ends without a playoff spot. And uh, especially now with the first two days of the Stanley Cup playoffs out of the way, that itch is like really bad. Like it just it felt weird sitting there the last couple of days, and the Jets are not involved in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

It did. It felt so weird that we forgot to welcome you into the start of the show.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Well, just I'm bringing you a casual conversation.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

It's true. Uh, we are flying by the seat of our pants for this one. Uh you know, we're so happy to see so many of you joining us in the chat already. So we thought that we were done on Thursday's game, game 82, uh the regular season for check-in. But then with everything that happened with player availability at the end, and then Scott O'Neill and Kevin Chevelde have speaking today, we thought, you know what, let's do one more check-in of the season before we tie a bow on it and have the opportunity to hear from you and for all of you in the conversation to be able to have a spot to discuss things as well. We're very much looking forward to having Paul Edmonds join us momentarily, but there has been a lot to discuss and a lot of discussion going on within this fan base and undoubtedly within the organization as well, since player availabilities happened on Friday morning, and it wasn't the same as all the other player availabilities that we have seen um in years past.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

No, and the big difference we'll get to Connor Hellebach in a second, but I think the constant frame, you know, there's a lot of accountability was heard on Friday with the players that were available, and there was some frustration, uh, disappointment. And go down the list of the things. They clearly, obviously, when the season started, we all had high hopes considering what they had achieved the previous season, presence trophy, go to the second round, uh, a couple bounces here and there that could have gone on to the conference final, and then just to not make the playoffs this year was uh I'm sure a lot of people are frustrated about it. But Connor Hellibach kind of he was the last player that spoke on Friday on Friday, and it was a doozy. Um, there was a lot of frustration in the Hart Trophy, Vesna trophy winner uh when he talked about what had happened this past year.

SPEAKER_04 4:16

Yeah, which I think had people looking forward to this availability between Scott O'Neill and Kevin Chevelday off today as well. And look, Connor Hallibug expressed his frustrations. It's understandable in always given that it's the day after the loss, emotions are still raw with it.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

And just came out of his exit meeting as well, too.

SPEAKER_04 4:34

Yeah, yeah. Um, what was it that when you think about whether it be his availability, and we're not gonna play all of it for you, we're not gonna play it for you guys. I think that everybody has pretty much heard the key points of it up to this point. But when you heard some of his frankness, um, his openness with it, which I don't think that anyone in some respect that we can criticize because what's the one thing we always say that we wish that players would be more transparent with how they're feeling. And so this was how he was feeling. Um, what was it that struck you most about maybe Friday as a whole and the comments uh heading into then today?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Well, I I Scott One kind of echoed this today. Very he was very proud of his leadership group because of the amount of accountability and just uh I think what stood out is the frustration, as I said, with what Connor Hellebuck said. You know, he wins a gold medal and he felt that his game isn't any different this year. And you know, yeah, even having the best goaltender in the world and all these elite players didn't get the Jets where they were supposed to go, which is primarily into the playoffs and playing for the Stanley Cup playoffs or for the Stanley Cup. So that pure canonist that came out of Connor Hellebuck's mouth was, I think, set the tone for what we're sitting here today.

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Yeah, uh, and look, the struggles that this team had had defensively and in front of it and especially becoming two Welling Jennings trophies of the best offensive team. 100%. So last year, I mean, what is it that I have here? Last year they gave up 190 goals, uh, this year 256. And so the it certainly changed a lot with it. Um, one of the things that struck me with it was that he I felt like he echoed a lot of the comments that we have heard from people, whether it be in the chat here or the narratives across that you know what the the roster construction changed this year. It obviously didn't work out the way that the Winnipeg Jets had hoped.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

Um, and that the things need to be assessed in this offseason when you go from winning the president's trophy to um being on the outside looking in with the playoff picture.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Somebody that is, yeah, he's saw every game, called every game.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

And he is an absolute fan favorite here on Check In.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah, so let's love him. Besides the suit master, he is the voice of the winner. Paul Edmonds joining us. Great introduction. Uh I I think Connor Hellbach's the great, great place to start, Paul, from what he said last Friday. What did you take from that? And do you feel like there's a little more pressure on the organization after what Connor said on on Friday?

SPEAKER_03 7:01

Well, uh, what I'll do is I'll answer that question by answering a question that Chevy had to answer today about that. And so the question was posed with regard to the 10-minute dissertation from Connor Hellebuck on Friday to the general manager of the Winnipeg Jets and Kevin Shevill Dayoff. Did he put you on notice? And Kevin's response to that was, we're on notice every day, basically, is what he said in paraphrasing. You know, we're self-assessing every single day. What Connor Hellebuck for me did was, and certainly there was some shock value about what he said, because normally and atypically, we don't see this kind of truth be revealed to the media, and certainly by extension to the fan base from the players. A lot of that stuff is internal. Uh, but Connor was pretty upset and frustrated. So we got the rawness, and I think we can appreciate all of that. The bottom line for me on this and the topic of Connor Hellebuck and his 10-minute media availability in the in the exit aspect was that it was a cry for help. It was we were not good enough, and we were not good enough in certain areas as we had been in the last couple of years. So, in order for us to get better, we all need to be better, the ones that are returning, but we also need some help. So that is my take on it. That uh certainly there's responsibility from within from the player standpoint to be better. And I'm sure that Connor would say that uh if he was uh uh another minute or two and a question that way, do you need to be better? He would say sure. Having a sub-900 save percentage is not what he would like, certainly, on his resume in in this year. But that's the bottom line, and there's a number of different reasons for that. And it could be tip goals, it could be the fact they spent more time inside their own zone. But for me, it was Connor Hellebach telling the organization that overall we need to get better, and and running this back and being complacent was another word that he used. Yeah, being complacent in this is just not going to get us back to the place that we want to get to.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Scott O'Neill also was asked about Connor Hellebach's comments, and here's that answer it's about winning, it's about getting back to our standards of where we were last year.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And we we we took a deep breath, and as we took that breath, a whole pile of the league, a whole bunch of teams in the league went right by us. And so this is us recognizing it, him recognizing it, and he's not alone. Everybody, you know, everybody there's frustration from everybody, and it should be because we need to be playing at this time of year.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

So, Paul, like uh when when you hear what Scott O'Neill said, and like a lot of comments earlier in the year is that the Jets were slower, and I think you know, the league like with Anaheim, with San Jose for, for example, seemed to get faster. How much did that bite the Jets in the butt earlier on the year and put them in that hole where they're you know that they couldn't eventually get out of?

SPEAKER_03 10:03

So let's go back to, and this was mentioned today in the availability as well, to Nikolai Ehlers leaving the organization after a decade.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Certainly, I don't believe that it was anything to do with Winnipeg. I don't think it had anything to do with Canada, I don't think it had anything to do with other than Nikolai wanted a different place to play and he wanted to be closer to some family members in Florida, and it was just a good fit. And these players have earned that right. Chevy talks about that all the time. Players earn the right to become free agents. So now you're missing a 30-goal guy, a guy that on that second line drives, a guy that certainly I think can be a one-man entry. He's also very good on your power play. And what I think was missing this year in terms of our analysis is when you look at the 12 shootout losses and overtime losses, Nikolai Ehlers was always a presence in that environment for the Jets as the second layer. Sure, you're going out and having Mark Scheifley, Kyle Carter, and Josh Morrissey is your first layer. Nikolai Ehlers was always the second layer. They missed him there. So, in saying all of that and having that grandiose introduction to this answer, I would say that what they tried to do was piece things together. And Kevin Cheveldeoff talked about that. They thought they had enough to have a few goals from here and a few goals from there to make up the 30 and the absence of Nikolai Ehlers. And I don't know that there was anybody, myself included, that was critical of the way they assembled those players to fill that role. It was going to be by committee. And in the end, it didn't work out. It became painfully clear by the end of November, going into December, when you know they were in the midst of losing 11 in a row, that that was not the right move. And they were slower because of it. Well, then they realized they had to get better, they had to get quicker. And as Kevin Cheveldeoff mentioned today as well, that the changes begun, as he said, at around that moment. So they realized that they had to get quicker. They brought some guys in that certainly were from the moose aspect uh during during the trade deadline. They they divested themselves, they got a little quicker with some pieces and some youth. Uh, they also figured out that Kole Kepke was a guy that was real fast, and they started to get him into the lineup more, and he became more of a presence. So, you know, the organization understood where they were. I think by looking at some past performance sheets of some of the playoff teams getting a little bit older and saying, well, we've got a really good core here. We're going to score some goals, we're going to defend, we got the best goalie. We need a little bit more experience. They went out and grabbed that with all those cups that they certainly brought in. It just didn't work out. So hindsight's always 2020, but I think that this can be the beacon of what you're going to look at and what you want to avoid this coming offseason, where I do believe everybody to a person within the organization understands that the Jets need to tweak to get a little younger and certainly faster.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

Yeah, Scott O'Neill, you know, he spoke to the media for probably about 33 minutes. And so keep in mind that when we're playing these answers, I mean, we do encourage you to go to the Winnipeg Jets website to be able to listen to the entire availability because we can't replay all um 35 minutes of both Scott and Kevin. But uh Scott O'Neill was also asked by Mike McIntyre of Winnipeg Free Press about roster construction and the fact that, you know, so much of the team or so much of the league has gone the way of youth and speed and um how he felt really about the roster construction of his group this year.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

But I am saying my job is to coach what's in front of me. And this isn't a shot at management, this isn't a shot at our players. I have to coach what's in front of me, and hopefully with the best um game plan to do that. Yeah, I want to, I would love to be a 100-mile-an-hour team. I really would. It but you do have to coach what's in front of you. And at the end of the day, yes, this league is about youth. This is about, you know, there is about uh it is about young guys getting opportunities and and and doing that. I mean, we came off of the president president trophy year, hopefully just adding to it, you know, getting stronger, heavier, maybe whatever. And maybe that was right, wrong, or indifferent. The the the decision we made, maybe it wasn't right. The end of the day, now we've got to we've got to shift, we've got to figure out, okay, and that's part of that next four and a half months. And that's what management's gonna do. That's what I'm gonna do. What gives us the best chance to compete against these teams in the West, first and foremost, and then the rest of the league. And so we're still in the toughest, toughest division in the league. And um, we got some teams that you know that we're gonna have to make sure that not just those Colorados and the Dallas and Minnesota, there's there's other teams in our division, and we have to make sure that we improve.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

I think of you know, I even think of the last four games, Paul, after we hear what Arnie just said there. There are a lot of young, quick teams the Jets face. And I know Philadelphia is an out of conference opponent, but they're younger, faster, always big. But then Utah's throwing in there. Utah's on the way up. And we saw them play their first playoff game in franchise history last night in Vegas. That's what the Jets have to contend with, is those types of teams. What did you think of the comment that Arnie just made there?

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Well, it's true. I mean, he has to direct what he has in front of him, and then let's not forget that there is a lot of conversations that take place between the coaching staff and management about the players that they're going out and trying to acquire or sign or or just in player personnel overall. But in the end, the coach coaches what he has to his availability. The other aspect to this is as Scott Arneal has talked about, uh certainly today, and then in those comments, uh, you know, there's there's going to be some deep dives taken into where they need to improve. He would love to coach a team that gets into fifth gear right away and away they go. And I think that there's opportunities to certainly make this team faster. I believe some of the younger players that they have coming in that we're going to push in have made the team already faster. But as they said, there's no one priority singled out right now on where they're going to improve this team. They're not ready to turn the page. There's a lot of dissection that still needs to go on into this season. But I do believe to go back to the last question that we talked about in the topic, that they're going to look at how do we get faster, how do we move and maneuver a lot quicker on the ice so we can really compete with the Utahs, the Philadelphia's, the Anaheims, the San Jose's, in terms of at least those members that are over in the Western Conference of those teams that I just mentioned, so that we don't look that we are as slow as we were out of the gate. And I will say this the Winnipeg Jets did improve their speed element as they got further into the season. And the last three or four games certainly for me would be an outlier. Of course, the the emotion that's expended after you get uh, you know, a week ago tonight in Vegas, you get you get bounced out of the playoffs or you're out of playoff contention. The last couple of games are really hard to pick up that level of intensity again, not to mention the fact that you're playing without Morgan Barron, Alex Ayafolo, Neil Piong, Vladislav Nemestikov. I mean, there was a host of injuries that they suffered near the end of the year. So their team wasn't exactly their team by the time they got here on Thursday night and played San Jose. I mean, they had their core for sure, but it wasn't exactly their main team. I'll I'll just bring you back to something a coach said to me a number of years ago. And and sometimes when you listen, there's very poignant remarks that get made that you can make applicable from year to year. And this coach said, you can have teams that are really good, and you can suffer and absorb one injury to a key player, a second injury to a key player. You get into three and four injuries to key players, it changes the whole dynamic of what you're trying to do and what you're trying to ice. I'm not suggesting that that injuries were a major excuse for what went on, but Winnipeg absorbed a number of them this year and for for long periods of time to key players. And I just didn't feel like they they had their whole group together, including at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

Well, and I feel that, although it's, I mean, not to use it as an excuse, but when they did come back from injuries, especially when you look at the players at the start of the season, I mean, you had no Adam Lowry to start, you had no Cole Perfetti. When they came back, it wasn't as if they were just able to jump back in and have the types of seasons that you would have expected from them. I mean, it took a long time for them to be able to get back to the level that they wanted. And something that I thought, you know, we heard Scott O'Neill mention it, and I know that Josh Morrissey did in his availability and several players as well, with the compressed schedule this year, too, the impact that not having the ability to practice um had on this group, that they keep pointing to the Olympic break and how you come out with those seven days of practice. They were able to tweak some things. Josh talked about how, you know, throughout the season that they weren't able to practice the way that you typically would to be able to make some adjustments. Uh, how much of a role do you think that played, uh, Paul, in some of the struggles that we saw this season? Again, not making excuses for, but just the fact that it did play a part in it.

SPEAKER_03 19:31

Yeah, look, we aren't here holding water and carrying water. The team needs to get better for next year. That is extremely the bottom line of all of this. But you have to look at the anatomy of this season and why it broke down. And those are going to be things that I think are further analyzed within the organization over the course of, as Scott O'Neill said, the four and a half months to get ready, right? It was interesting because Scott's opening address today, he talked about how they were nine and three to start the year, and he didn't like the way that they were going. He didn't like the way they were playing. He said there was there was analytical uh saber metrics aspects of their game that they just they just were not performing at the level that he liked them. And I mean, they analyze all of these metrics and put the math together to the game. And even at nine and three, he could tell that they were sustainable. So, from that standpoint, I mean, when you have these guys come into the lineup and you think, okay, well, I've got Cole Perfetti back, you know, 19 and 20 goals, I've got Adam Lowry back. He's gonna be my 52% face-off guy next to what ended up being 62% for Jonathan Taves. Uh, they just don't come back and immediately have the impact that they normally would have if they are 100% healthy. So, yeah, you miss them. You're right, sir. You miss them when they're not in the lineup, but then they're not 100% and playing to the level that you need them to play at to say that everybody's healthy on your team. That was impactful. They had three of them that uh started the year that way, and it was perfetti was Lowry, and add-on Dylan Sandberg, and then you've had Neil Pianc in and out twice this year. It it was good in the one aspect that it opened up some opportunities for some others to come in from the Moose. We got to see the Jokins and the Lamberts and um the Fords again and the Salamonsons on the back end, and and these are all great. That's I think one of the big takeaways on a positive side that you can say from this season. But the injuries were a problem for the Jets, and they had lots of them to key players for extended periods of time, and not a lot of organizations would be able to absorb that on the ice. And that's why, going back all those years, I'll repeat myself that coach mentioned it to me. It wasn't to make an excuse, it was just reality.

SPEAKER_04 22:01

I was just going to say that if we want to go to another Arneal clip, he was asked about the team facing adversity that they haven't really faced before. Jeff Hamilton from Canadian Press asked about it. And just basically about the core as well facing this adversity.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

My first question to the players, I know I had my one-on-one meetings. Well, how was I different this year, last year? How can I help you this year? What would you, if you had something for me, what would you say? And that was that was the best first 10-15 minutes of conversation. It really was. And for me. And that's kind of the where I'm already starting on. I I our leadership group, I still believe in that leadership group. And that has been a big part of these last four years, extreme expects, excuse me, especially the last uh two years for me, because I'm the head coach. But that has been help very, very helpful. But they also are the guys that are the first guys to take responsibility, which you would hope would happen with your with your leadership group. And um for me, they are as much interested in you know having a say, also asking and what asking me what's what I think is gonna happen. I know they had a chance to speak with management to do that. Um, so it's for me, it's you know, there's there was frustration. There was, you know, um you know, a situation you're you're trying to figure out what you can do that maybe is different that it gets us out of this funk. I think certainly was it felt a lot better in the second hour of the last 30 games or 25 games then than it certainly did in the first uh two-thirds of the year. So um, yeah, that's kind of how I looked at that.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Okay, so I mean there's lots to take in from there, and then that's there's the accountability word. And I don't think anybody can say that watch this team the effort wasn't there, that there was clearly this team cared about what was happening, they were as frustrated as everybody else is. So you you add in some younger players, Paul, at the end part of the year because of injuries and get some key minutes. So, how does Aaliyah Salamonson and Isaac Rosane and Brad Lambert and Nikita Chiberkov in your mind kind of fit into maybe what the Jets are doing are getting younger and getting faster next season? They have to be part of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

And I think the organization knows that. Uh, the interesting part, too, today was uh that Scott O'Neill, um, you know, his his situation is going to be reviewed, and and Kevin Cheveldeoff mentioned that. It was a question that was directly asked of Kevin Chevaldeoff about the status of the coaches, and there was no endorsement there. You know, this is going to be something else that's going to be sorted out here at this point. So um, I mean, look, uh, Scott Arneal talked like uh he was fairly confident that he'll be back and we'll be part of fixing this. And I will say this you know, uh I I do believe that that you hope that this is an outlier, a one-off when it comes to this season and the 34-point decline and and where they were with goals for and goals against and their goal differential after leading the entire league last year and and finishing at NHL 500. But, you know, this group was the same group in a lot of respects that won the president's trophy last year, and not everybody was paid a five million dollar bonus because they they got to that point, right? So I'm not necessarily now believing that you just wipe everybody out and there's mass firings here because the team didn't get to where you want to get to. I think that there's an opportunity in the in the middle of all of this to find their way to saying you get one more chance, and then we're going to see where this goes after that. Um, but that will be for the the determination, certainly, of the organization. Um, but Scott was talking about the leadership group as we just discussed uh a few moments ago. Uh, he was talking about certainly the way that they need to defend. Uh, they also want to get better in in other areas. Look, the especially teams, the power play was a huge drop-off this year. That has to get better, was essentially the same personnel with the exception of Nikolai Ehlers. Uh, so there's really a lot to unpack here, but I think that there was uh what I liked about it today, too, was there was some contrition, a lot of it, in fact. Uh, both the head coach and the general manager said that there was responsibility on where this whole thing lies at their feet. And collectively they're going to try to assemble uh all the information that they can to make this get better. But to circle back on the young guys that you asked, JT, they need to play next year. And and I think that you'll see uh it needs to have a youth movement. Every team does, right? You you just uh guys will age out, people will age out, they they get past the a certain point where they are really the keen players that drive your organization, and you have to keep filling your funnel, uh, to use a sales term. And those young guys need to play, and they've made some opportunities and some spots for them. The next key will be to making sure that around the core, you've got some supplementary pieces that can help you win now while you're putting some tread on the tire when it comes to those young guys that you are you're integrating into your roster on a full-time basis for next year.

SPEAKER_04 27:24

Well, I think a number of whether it be several players or even the questions to um Kevin today were talking about how the most success that this organization has ever had was in 2018 when they went to the Western Conference final. And so when you look at the construction of that roster, how you had that core group of veterans, but then you had the young players that were coming up that are now your veteran core. So you need to be able to supplement, um, supplement it. Because I think, as you said, Paul, and I think a lot of people feel this way that the concern is that with the core aging, it's naturally that you have to have um that next movement come up if you are going to be able to compete. And you know, you see a number of people in the comments here that are talking about their frustrations that they have that there haven't been opportunities for young people, for young players. And I know that that's been a narrative that's gone around this or that surrounded this organization for a number of years. And I do think that whether you whether you like it or not, Kevin's comments about when opportunity presents itself, be ready. I think is has to be true because as easy as it is to say, yes, you need to have young people.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Well, you're a first pick, your first round pick, he has to play kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 28:37

He has to play right away. Short of Patrick Liney, you haven't been, it's not like you've been selecting players first or second overall here. They have been further down. And so it's great to say, well, yes, you just need to interject youth, but if the youth can't play at the level that you need them to at the NHL game, then is it really that much and you don't want to hurt their confidence either and stunt their development? I mean, it's it can be a fine line. Not saying that it's always been handled the best way, but I do think that it has to, it's not as simple as just saying, hey, we've got someone that's 22 years old, bring them up and and put them in the lineup. If this is a team that you're looking to be able to have deeper success in the postseason, is that fair?

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Uh totally. And it's understandable you want to put people in a position to succeed. And just because they might be a first-round draft pick doesn't necessarily mean that they're ready to step into the National Hockey League and be an impactful player where they're not having the erosion of their confidence, as JT mentioned. Here's the thing, too. They've also divested themselves of some draft picks over the years to try to remain competitive in the playoffs. And that has come back now to hurt them here, as they knew it was going to. And that's why I look at this first-round draft pick this year as being uber important to the organization. There's always been the mantra here that you want to select the best player available, and I'm great with that, whether that's a center, a right one, a right wing, a right shot defenseman, whatever it is. But I think the caveat to that this year has to be in the first round. Let's get the best guy that we can get, and let's see how quickly he can get into our lineup, especially with what we've seen across the National Hockey League with the injection of these 18 and 19-year-olds that have come in. And you mentioned it, Sarah. The last guy that we remember coming in at 18 was Patrick Line. And he's not really playing in the league right now, so you know, for different reasons. But I think what you are looking at is a first-round drop pick of filling a role in a hole of where you feel that you need to get better in your organization, and that being the best player available, but also projecting how long before you can get him into your lineup to be part of what is uh not necessarily a youth movement here, but again, an integration of some younger, faster players to complement what's going on with your core.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Biggest hole period right now, and has been for some time is the second center spot. Yep. It is it is not the clearly it is not that easy to do so, or else they would have done it a long time ago. How do you how do you think they begin to attack that situation right away here, Paul?

SPEAKER_03 31:34

I've thought about this a lot, and they've tried to fill over the years some holes there, right? Yeah. Uh we go back to Sean Monaghan, we go back to Pierre-Luc Dubois, we even look at this year in Jonathan Taves. I I believe that instead of just looking at a 2C and saying that's exactly what the Jets need right now, I think what you can broader based look at, say, how do we acquire a top, another top six forward? Okay, so stick with me for a second here. If Cole Perfetti is going to remain on your left wing side, and you don't know necessarily if you felt that that Adam Lowry and a healthy Adam Lowry coming out of hip surgery is good enough to play in that spot, then you want to add something maybe on the right wing side. Okay. If you deem that now maybe Adam isn't that guy, you want to bring him back to be that checking line center on your third line to go with what we saw last year and need a rider and appleton and create some sort of an Apple uh uh line like that that's Lowry and and maybe Lambert and and uh Ayofalo on the left-wing side, then you need somebody that's going to fill in that top six. How about a Morgan Barrett? Does he get an opportunity to be a center on that line? Is that now an option for the Winnipeg Jets? And if it is to go along with Cole Perfetti, then you need to find a right winger that's going to play in that spot. That's going to be impactful when it comes to the offensive side. And how they go about doing that, I'm not so sure. But what I'm saying here is let's not pigeonhole ourselves into just trying to find maybe a two C, because maybe the two C exists already in the roster. He just needs to get a chance. But what you do need to do is augment your top six by getting another top six forward that you can fit into that second line. Whether he's a left shot, a right shot, doesn't matter. Somebody that's going to come in and inject something so that you've got a one-two, you know, one-two punch and then a checky line, just like when the Winnipeg Jets have been so successful, that's exactly what they've had.

SPEAKER_04 33:46

What for you, Paul, would be, and I mean, maybe it is the the top six forward, what for you is the number one storyline now going into the offseason surrounding this team?

SPEAKER_03 33:56

Well, I I think certainly uh how they're going to get uh a little faster, how they're going to find some of these pieces. Now, let's just for everybody that that is viewing here or tuning in, we have been told that the the free agent pool isn't that robust this year. If that's the case, okay, how are you going to go if you don't have that that player that you really need that you covet within your organization? How do you go about then acquiring that player to your roster? So for me, I'll be watching to see the upgrade, where it happens, how it happens, where it comes from. There might be a trade that has to be involved here, and it might be moving some of a younger player or two or drop pick out the door for somebody, and this was key with term. We heard that today as well, with term. So you're not looking for just some sort of a rental for one year, you want to get somebody in here that can play for a couple of years because once we've we've discovered, and this goes back to 1.0 and it's it's now carried over to 2.0. Once players get here, they like playing here. Yep. And so it's just getting the person here. And so for me, it would be how are they going to maneuver and navigate the improvements that need to be made? And then certainly, I think uh what's going to happen with some of the question marks on some of the staff that again, uh, a few minutes ago, we didn't get an endorsement on from the general manager.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Uh, one last before I let you go, buddy. There's no question you and Mark Shafley have had a great relationship over his years here. Uh, the the opportunity to play for Canada, uh, you know, the sucks they're not in the playoffs, but the opportunity that he gets to play for Canada at the World Championships, how huge of a moment is that going to be for him uh going forward?

SPEAKER_03 35:50

I think Mark's riding a high with over a hundred-point season in the way he played. Uh, we've talked about this uh on your program. We've talked about it certainly on the radio program over the years. Uh, maybe one of the best things that happened to Mark Scheifley was Scott O'Neill and Rick Bonas coming in and Rick having that frank conversation with with Mark about being a two-way player. And Mark was always wondering why he wasn't uh into the same verbal category as you know, Nathan McKinnon or Connor McDavid or or some other players like Steve Stamkos or Nikita Kucharov. And the the reality was the answer that came back to him is you have to be just as good in your offense in your defensive zone as you are in the offensive zone. And Mark dedicated himself to that, and we are seeing the fruits of that. You know, go back, be defensive, get the puck, track back, stick lift somebody, and then come back through that neutralized with speed. You can do whatever you want once you've played the game the right way on the defensive side. And and he's turned that around the last four years, he has become a 200-foot player. So now he's riding a high and he wants to continue to play hockey because he's disappointed the way that this ended. And he's also, I'm sure, been frustrated by the last two snubs when it came to the Four Nations and the Olympics on Team Canada. This is an opportunity for him to say, Hey, I'm not bitter with Team Canada at all. I'm gonna go play in the world championships, I'm gonna absorb the experience, and I believe I can help this team try to win a gold medal over in Europe. So good for him, great for him. I'll be watching. I hope he has a great tournament.

SPEAKER_04 37:26

Well, and he'll be able to have Gabriel Villardi is gonna be there. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

There's his right winger.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

Billy Hanela uh for their respective countries as well. So uh looking forward to it. Look, Paul, we could go on for hours really uh for a debrief on this season. And I'm sure maybe some point in the summer or heading into training camp, we will do a longer check-in where we kick off next season and maybe look at some of the moves that have been made or some of the adjustments. But uh we're gonna have to wrap it for today.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Unfortunately, you know, you you know where to find me. So I'm gonna remind you of that this summer.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

Yeah, yeah. Okay. You said that we could call anytime. Anytime, yeah. But call and uh, you know, they've always everybody always loves seeing you in the in the chat as well. So uh thanks so much for being on check-in with us, not only today, but throughout the entire season.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

My pleasure, and uh thanks everybody for uh tuning into this program and certainly our radio program. And uh it'll be an interesting offseason. And uh frankly, I think a lot of us are looking forward to it. So yeah, anytime. Thanks for having me. Thanks so much, Paul. Thanks, Pauly.

SPEAKER_04 38:38

Yeah, I think as we um wrap between when you look at the UFAs that the pending UFAs that the Winnipeg Jets have, you look at some of the RFAs. I mean, Cole Perfetti is up and he has arbitration rights. I think that'll be interesting too. Uh the number of storylines that exist going into this offseason now in the summer, I think that you could make the argument that this is going to be the biggest and most important offseason for this Winnipeg Jets organization. Or is that taking too much? No, no, no. I think it is. I just think with the core being what it is, yeah, the age that they are at, and when you look at I look at it, I don't see that next wave coming up that's going to have the same impact as what this core did when they were young.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

So that's a yeah, the the way that's the way that roster was constructed, and this is how it is.

SPEAKER_04 39:25

So, what is going to happen? What's going to happen? Um, you know, there weren't a lot of answers from Kevin Chevelde off today. Uh a lot of talk about how evaluation is really just going on right now. Um, so they have not closed the book on this season. So we will see what changes might be made. I think that the draft, obviously, May 5th is the lottery, draft lottery. Keep an eye on that. You can keep your fingers crossed that it'll be one of the top two picks for the Jets. I think it's around a 13, 12, or 13% chance that it'll be one of those top two.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

You don't know.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

I haven't looked.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

Okay. I think that it's I think that it's on there. Um, that they could move up to it.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

But um they've done it before in 2016, so why not know?

SPEAKER_04 40:04

So you certainly you hope for that. Uh and then of course, what sort of trades or uh I mean free agency, July 1st doesn't usually yield a lot at not a great crop, I don't know. Uh no. So it'll be interesting to see though from a trade perspective. Look, this the you can tell from the chats for um everybody in the chat, as well as the questions that they're facing um and the discussions that are circling around this team that changes need to be made. Nobody is happy with going from the president's trophy season of last year to missing the postseason this year. So, how do you make sure that it stops at one? Um, a lot of accountability from players, and you know that there'll be motivation for them coming into it uh for what will be a longer season next year, not as compressed, right? But it'll be longer.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

It starts the end of September, too. So I mean, I I look what Craig Button said. That's what the core here. This is very similar to Washington. A lot of people thought that team was done and they turned the corner.

SPEAKER_04 41:00

Yeah, so lots to talk about lots to talk about. Uh, we appreciate you guys so much for joining us and on very short notice today. Uh, it's great to see so many of you here and so many of you in the chat. Uh, we will hope to give you more notice the next time if we do one in the offseason or or the start of uh training camp. But uh I know that there will be a lot of discussion going on in Winnipeg Sports Talk. I know Kenny and Rennie are doing their show later on today as well. So lots of opportunities for you to still discuss it. And look, there's a lot of reasons to um be excited, as we always are. When if you are a fan of a sports team, regardless of what sport, regardless of what team. You're mad for an hour, you're frustrated when it doesn't end well, but then uh, you know, hope springs eternal that uh maybe in the fall things will be different.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Right. Okay. Appreciate you guys as always.

SPEAKER_04 41:48

Appreciate you so much. Have a fantastic off season and summer, everyone. Uh, make sure to go to Winnipeg Jets website. You'll be able to see Scott O'Neill, Kevin Chevill Dayoff's availability, and of course, throughout all the social channels, we'll keep you up to date throughout the offseason as to any changes um or additions that may be made to the Winnipeg Jets roster uh and organization.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Yeah, well, we'll do that for the website. I got some I still have a job to do. Yeah, he's she's got the rest of the summer off. I gotta I gotta work. Yeah, that's true in September.

SPEAKER_04 42:19

Have a great day, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

See you later.