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Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/jets-get-veteran-centre-paul-stastny-from-st-louis-for- two-picks-prospect-475174783.html

Jets get veteran centre from St. Louis for picks, prospect

By: Mike McIntyre and Jason Bell

Blake Wheeler's most important assist of the season might be a play he made away from the rink.

The Jets captain and potential Hart Trophy candidate had a pivotal role in helping his team land a big name at the trade deadline in the form of Paul Stastny. Wheeler called up his long-time friend Sunday night to pitch the idea of waiving his no-trade clause – leaving the sinking St. Louis Blues to aid Winnipeg's drive to the and, possibly, a protracted run in the post-season.

"When I first caught wind of it, that it was a possibility, even just the possibility was really exciting. I think what he brings to our team is something that is going to be really helpful for us. He can plug in a number of holes, awesome faceoff guy, he's put up numbers his entire career, outstanding guy in the room. Just a really great addition to our room," Wheeler said Monday, shortly after the big trade was announced.

Stastny was dealt to Winnipeg in exchange for the Jets' 2018 first-round draft pick, prospect Erik Foley and a conditional 2020 fourth-round pick to St. Louis which only kicks in if Foley – chosen by the Jets in the third round of the 2015 draft – doesn't sign with the Blues once he finishes up playing at Providence College.

Stastny is expected to make his debut Tuesday night when the Jets host the at Bell MTS Place.

Defenceman was the second trade deadline addition, with a 2018 fourth-round draft pick headed to the Canadiens in exchange. Unlike Stastny, he won't step right into the lineup. But he would be an option should injuries hit at some .

St. Louis is picking up 50 per cent of Stastny's remaining contract, which allows the Jets to squeeze him under the salary cap.

Stastny, 32, is a pending unrestricted free agent who is making US$7 million this season. He’s a rental, if the Jets elect not to re-sign him.

He has 12 goals and 28 assists with the Blues, who are quickly falling out of the playoff picture and rapidly moved into sell mode. Stastny has played 805 career NHL games, accumulating 216 goals and 417 assists. He began his career with the , spending his first eight seasons there before heading to St. Louis for the past four campaigns.

"He comes from a pretty strong hockey background and just so knowledgeable about the game. His dad (NHL Hall of Famer Peter Stastny) is as smart a hockey guy as there is out there. I've had the opportunity to sit in a couple of those conversations and it's pretty awesome," said Wheeler.

Wheeler is a friend of Stastny, shares the same agent and played with him during the 2012-13 NHL lockout in Germany. But he downplayed his role in the trade, not wanting to put any focus on himself.

"I didn't want to bother him too much. It was probably a whirlwind for him, when he first caught wind of it. He's been on a team that's been contending for a few years, very much in the mix all year this year. To have to kind of change gears on the fly is a lot for a player to have to go through," said Wheeler. "I think the opportunity to contend was more attractive than anything I was going to say. As a friend, I was more than happy to answer any questions, tell him that we were excited about the possibility. I wasn’t going to sway him one way or the other, it was just to let him know I was there for a sounding board if he needed anything."

But Winnipeg said he's used his captain as a sounding board in the past.

"Blake and I have a very good and professional relationship about being open and candid with each other. It goes back to last summer when Blake and I sat down at the end of last season and talked about some of the pending moves that I was hoping to be able to make in free agency. Blake’s been an ally in that regard," said Cheveldayoff.

Stastny now gives the Jets a loaded group at centre which already includes , Bryan Little, the injured Adam Lowry and Matt Hendricks. has been filling in for Lowry on the third line between and , which might be where Stastny first slots in.

"Very pleased to get a veteran centre iceman, they’re just so hard to come by. I think (he’s) a player that fits our game and how we try to play, that can cover off a lot of areas, faceoffs, killing, power play, play against the other teams’ best by role for an awful lot of years. Real nice vision and creativity, so we get a guy that we can move around with different people. He’s a lot like the other centremen that we have, really versatile, which is important to us because move our wings a fair amount," Jets coach Paul Maurice said Monday. "He’s going to be fun to work with."

Laine, who leads the team with 31 goals, including six in the last five games, likes how the Jets look up the middle.

"All our centremen are really good. Now, when Stastny comes in, it looks really good... It really doesn't matter who I'm playing with," he said. "I didn't know that he had so many points this year. I just checked it. So, he's really good in the (offensive)-zone, and he's just overall a really good player. He can play defence and he's good at faceoffs. He's going to be a really good centreman on this team.

"It looks like we're now really wanting to win the , and now we have a really good chance to do it. That just gives us a better chance to even get there. We were happy with this team we had, but now we're even happier."

Ehlers said knowing management was working hard to improve an already solid roster sent a strong message throughout the locker room.

"I don’t think it sends any other message other than we want to win it this year. We’ve known that from the start of the year. Getting him just says exactly the same," said Ehlers. "Great player, lots of experience, he can help this team really well."

Morrow, 25, is a left-shooting defenceman who has five goals and six assists in 38 games this season. He was a first-round pick in the 2011 draft, going 23rd overall. He has played 103 career regular season games and five playoff games, all with Boston last season. Morrow is a pending restricted free agent currently making US$650,000.

"The thing that impressed us the most is that he played five of six games in the playoffs for Boston (last spring) and I believe he had over 20 minutes played in those games. Those are the types of things that are important. He’s got some experience in big games," said Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. "He can skate, he can move the puck. Those are things that are important. He’s a left and I believe he can actually do a little swing back and forth to left and right. It’s about flexibility and it’s about fit."

THE NEWEST JETS CENTRE OF ATTENTION

Paul Stastny, 32 Born: City Pedigree: Son of Slovakian NHL hall-of-famer Peter Stastny, nephew of Peter’s brothers, former NHLers Anton and Marian Route to the NHL: Played two years at University of ; drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round (44th overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft. NHL locales: Spent eight seasons with the Avalanche and parts of four with the St. Louis Blues. 2017-18 season: 12 goals, 28 assists playing all 63 games for St. Louis, his fourth season with the Blues. NHL totals: 216 goals, 417 assists (633 points) in 805 NHL games. Post-season experience: 14 goals, 21 assists in 55 games split between Colorado and St. Louis. Connection to the Jets: Stastny and Blake Wheeler have been buddies for years, and met up many times in the U.S. hockey development system. They played together in Germany during the 2012-13 lockout and were teammates for the U.S. at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. They also share the same agent.

DEFENSIVE DEPTH

Joe Morrow, 25 Born: Route to the NHL: Played four seasons with the of the ; drafted by the in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft; broke in with the in 2014-15. NHL locales: Spent parts of three seasons (2014-17) with the Bruins before signing one-year, one-way contract with the last summer. 2017-18 season: 5 goals, 6 assists playing 38 games with Montreal. NHL totals: 7 goals, 13 assists (20 points) in 103 NHL games. Post-season experience: 1 assist in 5 games with Boston (2017) Connection to the Jets: Played junior in Portland with current Moose forwards and Chase De Leo.

– Bell https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/eventful-trade-deadline-causes-ripples-throughout- organization-475230793.html

Eventful trade deadline causes ripples throughout organization

By: Jason Bell

There was no escaping collateral damage within the organization after the bombshell acquisition of centre Paul Stastny and depth defenceman Joe Morrow on Monday.

Stastny’s arrival makes things crowded up the middle and could push hard-nosed fourth-line centre Matt Hendricks out of the lineup once Adam Lowry (upper body) returns. The 6-5, 210- pound centre is due back in early March.

Forward Nic Petan and defenceman Tucker Poolman were immediately reassigned to the Moose.

Speaking after practice Monday, Hendricks, a 10-year NHL veteran, said he’ll do whatever’s asked of him as the club pushes for a lofty spot in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs.

"I just want to win. If that means I’m watching the games from the press box, then I’m going to show up for practice every day and push these guys to be the best they can be. I’ve been in these situations before. When you get to the playoffs and you’re winning hockey games, it doesn’t really matter," he said.

Hendricks and Stastny were teammates in Colorado for parts of two NHL seasons (2008-10).

"He’s a great teammate, a great guy to have in the room. He’s got everyone’s backs, sticks up for his teammates, and vocally he feels very strong about the importance of a team and how tight we can be in here, starting in here and moving out onto the ice," Hendricks said. "He’s a great hockey mind, a great hockey player — a true pro."

Jets head coach Paul Maurice wasn’t ready to commit to Hendricks as a press-box regular moving forward.

"I would just say don’t write that yet. Hold that article for a couple of days," he said.

Petan had been playing limited, fourth-line minutes and Poolman, a rookie blue-liner, has been a healthy scratch in 10 straight contests.

Both should beef up a talent-laden squad gunning for its first-ever Calder Trophy.

"They’re very capable players and good options from a Jets perspective to be back at any time," Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said. "They’re going to play some games right now because again, the hardest part for younger players is not playing.

"When Tucker hasn’t been playing, it hasn’t been ideal for us. We feel he’ll be that much better when he gets back into our lineup. It’s not that he can’t be in our lineup. It’s just when you get to this deadline, you have to make some definitive moves based on the roster and based on what you don’t know for the next 20 games."

Once the trade deadline passes, a team is allowed a maximum of four recalls from its minor- league squad, barring emergencies due to injury.

Jets starting goalie got a night off in Dallas on Saturday, but returns to the crease tonight against the Central Division-leading Nashville Predators (38-14-9). Game time is 7 p.m.

It’ll be his 50th start of the season. His last start came Friday, when he stopped 34 shots to blank the St. Louis Blues in a 4-0 Winnipeg win. Michael Hutchinson will back him up.

The Jets (37-16-9), just two points back of the Predators, have chalked up two straight wins and are 7-3-0 in their last 10. But Nashville — with a game in hand — is also on a heater with four straight triumphs.

"Four powerful lines, real good physicality and a back end that everybody talks about for good reason," Maurice said. "This is as dominant a team as there is in the West in my mind. "We’ve played hard against them... (it’s) a real good measuring stick for us."

The clubs split a pair of games in Nashville this season and collide three times, including tonight, before the end of the regular season.

Winnipeg is 11-6-2 against teams from the Central this season.

Hard-luck netminder Steve Mason is cleared to play after being sidelined with his second concussion of the season but remains on the club’s injured-reserved list.

Left-winger (upper body) also skated, but won’t be inserted into the lineup against Nashville. Lowry and winger Shawn Matthias (upper body) are nearing a return, while defenceman Jacob Trouba (lower body) only resumed skating Monday morning and won’t be available for another two weeks minimum.

Tyler Myers was "under the weather" and missed practice, while fellow blue-liner Toby Enstrom had to be helped off the ice after blocking a shot. Both are expected to suit up against the Predators.

"(Enstrom’s) fine. He just wanted to get out of practice. We have a three blocked-shot limit for practices," Maurice said, wryly. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/a-franchise-changing-moment-475229303.html

A franchise-changing moment Stastny agreeing to come to small-market Winnipeg shows hockey world knows Jets are Cup contenders

By: Mike McIntyre

They certainly didn’t win the Stanley Cup on Monday, even if the moves they made might bolster their chances of parading the famous trophy down Portage Avenue later this spring.

The Winnipeg Jets, however, did mark a significant turning point in their history, one that can’t be understated. Franchise-changing, really.

Paul Stastny, a bona fide NHL star and the son of a Hall of Famer, chose to come here. To small-market Winnipeg, the franchise with one measly playoff appearance over six seasons and a grand total of zero post-season wins.

To waive an iron-clad no-trade clause, the sort of anchor many believe has prevented the Jets from being serious suitors for talents who’d seemingly rather play anywhere else.

Not anymore.

Make no mistake: Stastny’s availability would have created a bidding war among NHL general managers. Any contender who wouldn’t try to find a spot for a player of his ilk is merely a pretender.

'I think with the situation we’re in, there’s maybe only a few teams I would have really taken serious consideration. I had no idea one of those teams (Winnipeg) would be seriously interested' – Winnipeg Jet trade deadline pickup, Paul Stastny

And yet this is where he wanted to go. Because Stastny wants to win. And he believes Winnipeg in its current stage gives him the best opportunity. Imagine that.

"Sometimes you’ve got to do what’s best for you and the family," Stastny told reporters in Minnesota Monday after the trade was announced. "I think with the situation we’re in, there’s maybe only a few teams I would have really taken serious consideration. I had no idea one of those teams (Winnipeg) would be seriously interested.

"I’m excited to go somewhere, when I look on paper and when I play against them how quality of a team they have. I think I can help them get even better and maybe be that piece for a long, extended run. To play more hockey for me is a big factor and it’s maybe a decision made a little easier."

Also make no mistake: general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff had to rapidly alter his previous way of thinking to make this deal happen. First, he had to bring his team perilously close to exceeding the NHL’s US$75 million salary cap — particularly when he also added depth defenceman Joe Morrow right before the clock struck 2 p.m. CST.

"I don’t know who in Winnipeg thought we’d be a cap team," Cheveldayoff cracked.

Second, he had to move what had previously been precious commodities to this organization, the bread and butter of how they got to this stage. A first-round draft pick, where Winnipeg has made the most hay since returning to the league in 2011. And a prized young prospect in Erik Foley, a player they’d already devoted significant resources to and had big plans for down the road.

You know that had to hurt, at least a little. But Cheveldayoff did it. The future, which has been talked about, seemingly, forever around these parts, has finally arrived.

"It’s certainly not easy. It’s always a tough phone call. When I talked to Erik (Monday) morning, it was tough. He was drafted as a Jet. He’s very committed and proud to be part of the Jets organization, as we were to have him. When that’s a player that the other team targets and it gets the deal done, sometimes you have to make those tough decisions," said Cheveldayoff.

"And the first-round pick, we built our organization through drafting and developing and retaining, a little bit of trading and a little bit of free agency has gotten us to the point we’re at. I believe we’ve drafted nine first-round picks, and we’ve got one playing in Europe, one playing in junior and still coming (and the other seven playing on the team). So you never take it lightly, but there’s currency that needs to be paid and sometimes you’ve got your fingers crossed that it’s not a first-round and that you can weasel your way into something different and take some time. But sometimes you just have to say this is the price and this is what we’re doing."

To hear Cheveldayoff explain it, this one kind of fell out of the sky. He admitted the Jets had taken a run at some other deals prior to Stastny suddenly becoming available, which quickly became a priority. He also said some of the rumours making the rounds, such as other teams blocking players from landing in Winnipeg, are false.

"We were in some big things that didn’t happen and we landed someone that is again, a tremendous fit for us," he said. "When I found out that Paul (Stastny) was available, I put everything into that basket. So that was, for me, the move that I was willing to let everything else pass by to try and make."

Blues general manager texted Cheveldayoff a few days ago — it’s worth noting Winnipeg thumped the Blues 4-0 in St. Louis Friday in what now might prove to be an even bigger victory than it first appeared. Armstrong mentioned that Stastny may suddenly be on the market. St. Louis was skidding, on the verge of falling out of a playoff spot. No doubt the same text was sent to many other GMs in the league to try to boost the return.

"Now, you’re going to be asking yourself, what if you didn’t make it? Well, if we didn’t make it, we were happy with our group moving forward here. I was fully prepared not to make any moves if there wasn’t that right move we felt was going to be a fit," said Cheveldayoff. "So I could just as easily been standing here when I woke up this morning and coming here, waiting for the questions about why I chose not to make any moves and I would have been able to sit here and look at you all straight in the eyes and say it’s because I like my team. That has not changed one iota. In fact, it’s actually been enhanced. We felt this was a tremendous fit for our organization on many different levels."

'When I found out that Paul (Stastny) was available, I put everything into that basket. So that was, for me, the move that I was willing to let everything else pass by to try and make' – Winnipeg Jets General Manager, Kevin Cheveldayoff

And in true Cheveldayoff form, this one was kept top-secret. Not a single NHL insider had any idea Stastny was available, or that the Jets were about to make what may have been the best move of at all on deadline day.

Listening to the trade-day experts on TV, some almost sounded perturbed they hadn’t caught wind of Cheveldayoff’s horse-trading before Winnipeg’s PR department alerted the masses.

"It’s the sanctity amongst organizations that honestly is quite refreshing. We both knew that this was a person’s family at stake, a person’s decision at stake, and he earned that right to have that no-trade. So, for us there was never going to be any leakage certainly from our side to damage the reputation of that player," Cheveldayoff said of the silence that followed as they awaited Stastny’s decision, which, ultimately, came Monday morning in the form of a thumbs up.

"That’s an exciting thing for us and certainly I believe once he gets here it’s going to be a really exciting thing for him."

It’s worth noting the Jets actually tried to sign Stastny back in 2014 when he hit the free agent market, before finally choosing to ink a deal with St. Louis, the city he calls home.

The Jets were an afterthought then. Not this time.

"We talked about how we were going to build this organization, and I think if you went back over all the transcripts over the course of time, I think the message has been pretty consistent. We’re going to draft, develop and retain. And if and when we felt we had opportunities in front of us to strike at something, we would," said Cheveldayoff, who added the message doesn’t change even with Monday’s blockbuster.

"I think for me it’s just keep playing. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us here. Enjoy the moment for the brief second here, but keep playing. We’ve got 20 games in front of us here, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us," he said.

Winnipeg Sun http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/stastny-admires-juggernaut-jets

Stastny admires 'juggernaut' Jets

By Paul Friesen

Paul Stastny says he’s excited to be joining an offensive “juggernaut” like the Jets.

“Because it’s Winnipeg there’s a lot of excitement there,” Stastny told TSN soon after Monday’s trade. “Just playing against them for the last two, three years for sure, they’ve been a team that plays a high-quality game that’s tough to play against. Offensively, they’re a juggernaut, they put up a lot of shots, create a lot of chances.

“Just looking at the roster, top to bottom, that’s one of the favourites … to potentially come out of the West.”

Things could change, of course, but it appears Stastny will slide in between wingers Patrik Laine and Nik Ehlers, bumping Andrew Copp down a line.

“Those aren’t bad players,” a chuckling Stastny said. “Both guys can fly. Both guys can shoot. Both guys are smart players. I don’t know who I’ll be playing with. I’m just there to be myself and make those players better.”

Stastny is no stranger to playing with talented wingers, as he had been the centre of the Blues’ top line, with and .

“We like to play with the puck, and he can really pass it,” Laine said of himself and Ehlers. “He can make those plays. I don’t know what the lines are going to be like, but all the centremen can make plays.”

Stastny had 12 goals and 28 assists this season.

“I didn’t know that he had so many points this year —I just checked it,” Laine said. “So he’s really good in the O-zone, and he’s just overall a really good player.”

While Copp will likely move back to the wing, fourth-line centre Matt Hendricks’ status is up in the air.

“I just want to win,” Hendricks said. “If that means I’m watching the games from the press box, then I’m going to show up for practice every day and push these guys to be the best they can be.” http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-acquire-stastny-cheveldayoff-deals- 2018-first-rounder-prospect

Jets go all in: Addition of Stastny, Morrow bolsters roster

By Ken Wiebe

Kevin Cheveldayoff made a bold move to bolster his roster and now it’s up to the Winnipeg Jets to show what they’re going to do about it.

By adding versatile centre Paul Stastny and depth defenceman Joe Morrow, the Jets general manager addressed the two big items on his wish list and made a statement to his group that he believes in their ability to potentially go on a playoff run.

After losing out on skilled pivot Derick Brassard to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the Jets had chosen to mostly stand pat and likely add on the fringes of the roster.

But with the St. Louis Blues in the midst of a six-game losing skid that knocked them below the playoff line, Cheveldayoff heard from general manager Doug Armstrong that Stastny, a veteran of 805 career games and an additional 55 in the Stanley Cup playoffs, might be available.

Given some time to ponder the situation, Stastny felt comfortable waiving his no-trade clause and accepted the trade to the Jets, a team he first considered joining as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2014.

“I wasn’t surprised. I think I’ve always been brought up not to expect anything, whether you have one of those or whether they tell you you’re an untouchable,” Stastny told reporters in St. Paul, Minn. “You never know what might happen this late in the season. In the back of your mind when you start losing, it might become a possibility. When we’re losing a little bit, then the possibility came up. With the situation we’re in, there’s maybe only a few teams I would have really taken serious consideration. I had no idea one of those teams would be seriously interested.”

Stastny, 32, is a pending unrestricted free agent whose contract carries an average annual value of $7 million – but the Blues agreed to retain 50% of what’s left.

Stastny is expected to be in the Jets lineup on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators and likely starts on a line with Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers.

The Jets also shipped their 2018 first-rounder (which includes draft lottery protection if the Jets should falter and move up to pick in the top-three), forward prospect Erik Foley and a conditional fourth-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft to the Blues.

The Blues only receive the fourth-round pick in 2020 if Foley (who has 15 goals and 34 points in 32 games with the Providence College Friars of the NCAA) doesn’t sign a contract with them before Aug. 16, 2019.

There is a belief that Foley, who helped Team USA win a gold medal at the world junior hockey championship in 2017, was ready to turn pro this spring following the completion of his junior season.

Dealing a first-round pick for the first time since the franchise relocated from Atlanta in 2011 wasn’t easy, but it’s the cost of doing business for a contender looking to add an impact player.

“It goes back to what we felt fit and I was fully prepared not to make any moves if there wasn’t that right move we felt was going to be a fit,” said Cheveldayoff. “So I could just as easily been standing here when I woke up this morning and coming here, waiting for the questions about why I chose not to make any moves and I would have been able to sit here and look at you all straight in the eyes and say it’s because I like my team. That has not changed one iota.

“In fact, it’s actually been enhanced. We felt this was a tremendous fit for our organization on many different levels on both of these trades.”

Morrow is a left-handed shooting defenceman who can play on either side.

Known as a puck-mover with strong skating ability, Morrow has been in-and-out of the lineup this season with the Montreal Canadiens, who received a fourth-round pick in 2018 in the trade.

Morrow, 25, was chosen in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2011 and has some playoff experience, suiting up in five playoff games with the Boston Bruins last spring, while averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time per game.

The Jets also assigned defenceman Tucker Poolman and forward Nic Petan to the of the American Hockey League.

Already one of the powerhouse teams in the Western Conference, Monday’s moves solidify the Jets’ roster – giving them three dangerous scoring lines and another effective checking group to go along with a goalie in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy and a deep defensive corps, especially after the return of Jacob Trouba next month.

“I don’t think it sends any other message other than we want to win it this year. We’ve known that from the start of the year,” said Ehlers. “Getting (Stastny) just says exactly the same. We want to make it far this year and getting a guy like him is definitely going to help.” http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-land-stastny-out-of-the-blues

Jets land Stastny out of the Blues

By Paul Friesen

It was a shocker that nobody saw coming — not even Kevin Cheveldayoff, the GM.

And certainly not captain Blake Wheeler.

The Winnipeg Jets’ acquisition of Paul Stastny at Monday’s NHL trade deadline came right out of the Blues.

“When I first caught wind of it, that it was a possibility, even just the possibility was really exciting,” Wheeler said. “Obviously his name wasn’t even out there so I was surprised to hear it. But my fingers were crossed.”

Not a single talking head had Stastny on their list for potential rental players, and for good reason.

The Blues were in the thick of the wildcard race in the West. Not exactly in selling position.

Then they hosted the Jets on Friday and lost their fifth in a row, by an embarrassing 4-0 count.

Two days later, they did it again, by a 4-zip count, against Nashville.

Two games against the top teams in the division, and two spankings with the proverbial measuring stick.

Sometime around or between those two games, Blues GM Doug Armstrong texted Cheveldayoff, who’d been having trouble landing a centre to bolster his playoff-bound Jets.

The deal was done quietly and quickly.

But the final say would go to Stastny, who could nix it with the no-trade clause in his contract.

Cheveldayoff told Wheeler the deal was pending, and Sunday night Wheeler called Stastny.

The two have a history, through USA Hockey programs and camps, through the agent they share and through a stint on a German team during the 2012-13 NHL lockout.

On Tuesday, two of Munich EHC’s top scorers for the early part of that season will be reunited.

“Yeah, I talked to him briefly,” Wheeler said. “I didn’t want to bother him too much. It was probably a whirlwind for him, when he first caught wind of it. To have to change gears on the fly is a lot for a player to have to go through. Any questions he had I was more than happy to answer.

“I wanted him to know we were excited about the possibility. From there, the rest was up to him.”

Not exactly the Tourism Winnipeg sales pitch.

But the Jets don’t have to try to sell the shopping or the nightlife or the weather – I mean, who’s kidding whom?

What they have to sell is on display in the NHL standings, and on the ice through 62 games.

“The opportunity to contend was more attractive than anything I was going to say,” is how Wheeler put it.

Not only did Stastny join a team on most players’ no-trade lists, he agreed to leave the city he grew up and lives in.

“That’s an exciting thing for us,” Cheveldayoff said. “And certainly I believe once he gets here it’s going to be a really exciting thing for him.”

After dealing with the shock, Stastny did get fired up at the possibilities.

“I think I can help them get even better and maybe be that piece for a long, extended run,” he told reporters in St. Paul, where the Blues are to play Minnesota on Tuesday.

That’s a far cry from the “pump the brakes” language used by Wheeler recently.

The trade itself signals the Jets are playing a whole new ball game: from also-ran to contender, in seven years.

“It wasn’t going to ruin my season if it didn’t happen,” Wheeler said. “For me, just seeing the appetite for it was enough for me.”

Stastny’s two-way talent fits like a glove. The only risk in making a bold move was upsetting the chemistry in a room that seems pretty tight.

“No brainer,” Wheeler said. “That’s almost maybe as exciting as what he brings to our team on the ice, is just that leadership in the room. Just another confident, veteran guy to maybe settle things down a little bit when we need to settle them down.”

If Cheveldayoff swung and missed at others, like Ottawa’s Derick Brassard, as was reported, a pretty nice Plan B seems to have fallen in his lap.

“When I found out that Paul was available, I put everything into that basket,” Cheveldayoff said. “So that was the move that I was willing to let everything else pass by to try and make.” http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/five-keys-to-jets-vs-predators-2

Five keys to Jets vs Predators

By Ken Wiebe

Winnipeg Jets vs Nashville Predators

7 pm CT, MTS Centre TV: TSN3. Radio: TSN 1290

THE BIG MATCHUP

Connor Hellebuyck vs It’s fitting to put two candidates for the Vezina Trophy under the spotlight in this battle for top spot in the Central Division. Hellebuyck has a 2.32 goals-against, a .924 save % and a career- high 32 wins in 51 games, while Rinne has 32 wins, a 2.27 goals-against average, a .929 save % and recently picked up his 300th career victory.

KEYS TO THE GAME

Welcome aboard The Jets are expecting newcomer Paul Stastny to be in the lineup on Tuesday. The versatile centre was fourth in scoring with the St. Louis Blues, picking up 12 goals and 40 points while averaging 18:41 of ice time per game. Stastny has six goals and 23 points in 42 career games against the Predators.

Byfuglien on a roll Jets defenceman Dustin Byfuglien had three assists in Saturday’s 5-3 win over the and has been playing some of the best hockey of the season of late. During the 12 games since Jacob Trouba left the lineup with an ankle injury, Byfuglien has two goals and 15 points and he’s eclipsed 24 minutes of ice time in 10 of those contests.

Beware of the dynamic duo Since returning from a six-week absence, Jets centre Mark Scheifele has settled into a rhythm, picking up four goals and 11 points in eight games while linemate Blake Wheeler has four goals and 10 points during the same period of time.

Turris makes impact Predators centre Kyle Turris has been an excellent addition since coming over in a November trade, chipping in seven goals and 25 points in 45 games. The arrival of Turris has also sparked left-winger Kevin Fiala, who has 20 goals and 33 points in 46 games since the deal was made.

Subban shining Predators blue-liner P.K. Subban leads his team in scoring with 15 goals and 48 points this season while averaging just over 24 minutes of ice time per game. Subban has three goals and 12 points in 21 games against the Jets during his career.

Sportsnet.ca https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/trade-deadline-signals-changing-times-winnipeg/

Trade deadline signals changing of the times in Winnipeg

By Dimitri Filipovic

In one tidy chess move, Kevin Cheveldayoff went ahead and toppled some preconceived notions that had previously been percolating in NHL circles for years. By going out and making a splash prior to Monday’s trade deadline, acquiring Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues for a trio of future assets, the Winnipeg Jets made something of a statement to the rest of the hockey world.

It’s remarkable how winning really can seemingly cure all. Long considered a place that players would preferably avoid going to – or in many cases outright refusing to go to – that tide appears to be shifting, with Stastny notably waiving his no-move clause to go to Winnipeg in the pursuit of a Stanley Cup. It’s hard to fault his logic, since this certainly looks like the best chance he’s had in his 12-year career to win one (aside from a spirited march to the conference final by the Blues in 2015-16).

The trade similarly signals an important changing of the times for the aforementioned person pulling the strings behind the scenes as well. Once the brunt of countless jokes poking fun at his conspicuous inactivity in the trade market, this about-face for Cheveldayoff must be a sweet one. After years of sitting out of the action, accruing assets while waiting for his opportunity to pounce, he’s finally found the right time to push his chips in to the centre of the playing table. Especially after being blocked out of the running for Derick Brassard’s services a few days prior, leaving few impactful options down the middle to be had.

The fit between the player and team appears to be a sound one here. It’s been challenging to fairly evaluate Stastny’s abilities as an on-ice contributor during his time in St. Louis because of what the Blues paid when he hit the open market in the summer of 2014. At $7 million per season, the criticisms of whether he was worth the money he was receiving were fair. As was the resulting place in the lineup he was slotted in, being forced to be a de facto top flight pivot based more so on price tag rather than actual skill.

In reality, he’s perfectly suited for more of a supporting role, on either a second or third forward line. That’s exactly what he’ll be asked to do in Winnipeg, with the Jets already having the likes of Mark Scheifele and Bryan Little firmly entrenched ahead of him on the depth chart upon his arrival.

It remains to be seen how Paul Maurice will choose to use his new toy, but the most obvious landing spot appears to be a cushy gig sandwiched by Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine. On paper, it seems like a match made in heaven. Whereas Stastny has never been mistaken for the most flashy player (which may be partly why it feels like he’s been unfairly critiqued for years), he should get propped up in the style points department playing alongside two of the most exciting young offensive dynamos in the game.

That’ll leave Stastny with the task of falling back and doing much of the dirty work positionally that allows those two to get the puck more easily in positions where they can do the most damage, something he’s always been great at. Having spent plenty of time playing with Vlad Tarasenko – including north of 400 minutes this season – he should have no trouble recognizing the value in feeding Laine the puck in shooting positions and getting out of the way.

Even if it’s been a while since Stastny has had jaw dropping point totals, he’s still been a good playmaker, and an even better 5-on-5 weapon territorially (with his teams routinely enjoying better results with him on the ice than otherwise). Those traits will presumably help him blend in quite nicely with the Jets, especially with the lowered expectations and demands.

That trio will be technically considered to be the Jets ‘third line’ on paper (although it’s certainly fair to quibble with the semantics of alternating them with Little’s unit), which goes to show the type of depth and lethal firepower the Jets suddenly boast. It also bumps Andrew Copp back down to the fourth line, reuniting him with Adam Lowry (once he returns from injury) and , who, in their limited time together, have turned heads with their surprising effectiveness.

Now that the goaltending is finally holding up as Connor Hellebuyck has elevated his play into the league’s elite, it surely feels like all of the puzzle pieces are starting to fall into the places they were designed to go into. Aside from a Nashville Predators team that looks daunting from top to bottom, the Western Conference is as wide open as it’s seemingly been in some time. Vegas has been a great story and won a ton of games thus far, but there’s reasonable concerns about how their success will translate to the post-season. The likes of the Dallas Stars, the California teams, and even the all have great things going for them, but they also all have flaws that can be exposed and taken advantage of.

For the Jets, this looks like a good time to be going for it and making a push. It’s taken a while, but they appear to have finally arrived this season after years of falling short of expectations. Their actions at the trade deadline spoke loudly, marking just the latest reminder of that in a campaign chock-full of them. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/goes-brown-nhl-trade-deadline-winners-and-losers/

Down Goes Brown: NHL Trade Deadline winners and losers

By Sean McIndoe

Well that was fun.

After a busy deadline day that saw 16 deals involving 31 players, it’s going to take some time to sort it all out. [Takes a few minutes to sort it all out.] Yep, that’ll do it, let’s get to the winners and losers.

Winner: Kevin Cheveldayoff He did it. After nearly seven years, Cheveldayoff finally got up on the bar and danced.

The narrative of Cheveldayoff’s nearly non-existent trade record has been beaten to death over the years, including in this space. And rightly so, given how glaring his inactivity was when compared to what guys like Bowman, Armstrong and Poile were doing. But the defense was always that he wasn’t timid, he was simply biding his time until the moment was right. And sure enough, with the Jets looking like Cup contenders, Cheveldayoff made his move.

Stastny didn’t come cheap, and it’s certainly possible that this is one of those deals like last year’s and Martin Hanzal acquisitions where you look back and think “oops.” That’s hindsight, and it’s usually pretty accurate. But without that benefit right now, this looks like the right move, especially in this year’s West. The Predators are still scary, but with the Hawks and Blues folding, the Stars and Wild standing pat, and an expansion team leading the Pacific, there’s a lot of open field here if the Jets can hit the right holes.

Also, Cheveldayoff got lottery protection on the first-round pick, even though his team is on pace for 110 points. I’d give up a conditional sixth just to obtain the rights to a recording to that portion of the negotiation. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/stastny-hardly-believe-jets-wanted/ (VIDEO LINK)

STASTNY COULD HARDLY BELIEVE JETS WANTED HIM

Paul Stastny spoke about preparing to adjust for life in Winnipeg, why he sees them as contenders, and his shock that they wanted him in the first place. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/stanley-cup-contender-improved-around-nhl-trade-deadline/

Which Stanley Cup contender improved most around the NHL trade deadline?

By Andrew Berkshire

It was undeniably slow, but most of the big time contenders for the Stanley Cup this season ended up making moves to bolster their lineups at the NHL trade deadline. There’s no way to get a complete picture of what kind of impact these new players will have on their teams in the playoffs, but at a glance we can look at which teams are most likely to see big improvements due to their additions.

Based on a variety of criteria, the teams I came up with as the biggest contenders for the Cup this season are, in no particular order: Tampa Bay, Boston, Winnipeg, Nashville, Vegas, and Dallas. Five of those six teams made additions, so we can look at those moves specifically to see what to expect.

Starting with the forwards, here’s the general offensive impact that can be expected from the contenders who added players.

The Predators paid a steep price for Ryan Hartman, whose 25 points this year undersells his offensive impact. Not only is he a very impressive possession driver, but he gets to the slot way more than the average Predators forward, and makes passes there more often as well.

He was sheltered in Chicago, but won’t be asked to play high quality minutes in Nashville either; he’s likely going to be on their third line where he’ll bring some physicality and net front presence with significantly above average playmaking to boot. Considering Hartman is just 23 years old, you can sort of understand why GM felt it was worthwhile to pay the heavy price to bring in a piece that could help Nashville for years.

Rick Nash doesn’t finish at the rates he used to, but he’s an offensive powerhouse at 5-on-5, as only 12 players put up more high danger scoring chances per minute than Nash. His shots also create a ton of scoring chances for his teammates — only 15 players create more than Nash. A little bit of regression in Nash’s percentages could see an avalanche of goals for the Bruins, even though they gave up a really good player in to get him.

Paul Stastny isn’t a big-time shooter, but he’s an excellent playmaker who creates high-quality scoring chances for his teammates, and joins a Jets team that’s already very good at creating pre-shot movement. By adding to an already existing strength the Jets aren’t addressing a weakness, but by getting even better in a spot they were already good, while adding depth at an important position down the middle, Winnipeg becomes an even tougher out.

Tomas Tatar is having a down season for himself, and while he’s still an above average shooter, he doesn’t look like a huge impact player for the Golden Knights. However, over the past three years he ranked as the 14th-best left winger in the game based on my comprehensive rankings project from September. Offensively Tatar is more of a second liner, but he’s a brilliant transition player and extremely underrated defensively. With three more years left on his contract after this one, Vegas is thinking about more than just this year.

The last trade to go through on deadline day was the paying a huge price to get Ryan McDonagh, and also getting J.T. Miller (this detail came along too late to add to the previous look at forwards). McDonagh isn’t above team average offensively, but Tampa’s average is mostly driven by Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev putting up incredible numbers — McDonagh is still a huge upgrade over the rest of the roster.

In transition, McDonagh brings a lot of great passing to the table, but isn’t as big on carry outs as his smooth skating would have you believe. Luckily for Tampa, he’s also a stalwart defensively, facing top attackers every night, beating them to loose pucks and effectively limiting chances against. The Lightning’s biggest weakness as a team were the minutes in their own zone at 5-on-5 played by anyone other than Hedman or Anton Stralman. This move is of incredible value because it gives the Lightning an instant second pairing that can compete with almost any team in the league, provided Jon Cooper doesn’t saddle McDonagh with Girardi like the Rangers did.

Joe Morrow is actually a pretty decent transition player, and can contribute offensively by joining the rush, but he is extremely porous in the defensive zone. This leads to tons of shots, chances, and high danger chances against while he’s on the ice, despite the fact he’s sheltered. He’s particularly open to being beat by passes to and through the slot, and his ability to win pucks in dangerous areas is not great. Positioning and gap control are a consistent problem.

I’m not sure I see the upside of the Morrow acquisition for Winnipeg other than being sparingly used in a depth role, but the McDonagh trade, especially considering the Lightning also added the speedy and versatile Miller up front, has to be the ultimate winner of the day.

Global Winnipeg https://globalnews.ca/news/4047840/winnipeg-jets-swing-trade-for-paul-stastny/

Jets GM on trade for Paul Stastny: ‘We felt this was a tremendous fit for our organization’

By Mitch Rosset Reporter/Anchor

The Winnipeg Jets landed veteran forward Paul Stastny in a deal with the St. Louis Blues just a few hours before Monday’s NHL trade deadline. In exchange, the Jets gave up forward Erik Foley, a first-round 2018 draft pick and a conditional fourth-round 2020 draft pick.

Stastny has registered 12 goals and 28 assists in 63 games this year. Over 12 seasons in the NHL, the 32-year-old has 633 points in 805 games. Stastny also has 14 goals and 21 assists in 55 career playoff games.

The two-time NHL All-Star is currently playing in the final season of a four-year, $28-million contract. Stastny was selected in the second round of the 2005 NHL Draft.

At an afternoon press conference, Jets’ General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said he had a number of trades in play before the deadline, but he wasn’t about to settle.

“I was fully prepared not to make any moves if there wasn’t a right fit,” Cheveldayoff said. “We felt this was a tremendous fit for our organization on many levels.”

“We were in some big things that didn’t happen, and we landed someone that is a tremendous fit for us”.

Foley was drafted by the Jets 78th overall in 2015. He’s in the third year of his college career, having scored 15 goals and 19 assists in 32 games.

Cheveldayoff said parting with the draft pick was not an easy choice.

“It’s certainly not easy. He was drafted as a Jet. He was proud to be a Jet. Sometimes you have to make those tough decisions,” he said. “There is currency that needs to be paid.”

Canadian Press http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets-paul-stastny-st-louis-blues-1.4552179

Jets acquire Paul Stastny from Blues St. Louis picks up 2 conditional picks, forward Erik Foley

By Judy Owen

When captain Blake Wheeler was told the Winnipeg Jets were trying to add veteran centre Paul Stastny, he picked up the phone on Sunday and called his old teammate.

The pair had played together in Germany during the NHL's 2012-13 lockout season, have the same agent and crossed paths in their teens while playing for U.S. squads and attending camps.

"I was really excited," Wheeler said Monday after the Jets acquired Stastny in a trade with St. Louis.

"I've known him for a while, just the type of guy he is, the type of player he is. Obviously his name wasn't even out there so I was surprised to hear it, but my fingers were crossed."

Stastny, 32, was traded to Winnipeg in exchange for forward Erik Foley, a first-round draft pick in the 2018 NHL draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft.

Winnipeg later acquired defenceman Joe Morrow from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in the 2018 draft.

Stastny, a 12-year veteran in the last year of a four-year contract, waived his no-trade clause. The Blues are retaining half his salary, which averages $7 million per year.

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said he got a text from St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong a few days ago telling him he might make Stastny available. Cheveldayoff had tried to get Stastny in free agency in 2014.

He let Wheeler know when it was a pending deal because he's the captain and knows Stastny.

"When I found out that Paul was available, I put everything into that basket...," Cheveldayoff said. "If we didn't make it, we were very happy with our group moving forward here."

What the Jets get with Stastny is a veteran with a top-notch hockey pedigree. His father, Peter, played 977 NHL games. The younger Stastny has racked up 805 career games with St. Louis and Colorado. In 63 games for the Blues this season, he has 12 goals and 40 points.

Experience matters Stastny also brings the experience of 55 playoff games — now the most of any player on the Jets' roster. Defenceman Dustin Byfuglien is next with 43 and won the Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2010.

Experience means a lot, Byfuglien said.

"You've gone through a little bit of it and you can kind of just say something that can help the guys go along," he said.

Stastny joins centres Mark Scheifele, Bryan Little, Matt Hendricks and injured Adam Lowry. Andrew Copp has been filling in for Lowry on a third line flanked by Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers. That could be where the newcomer is plugged in.

"I think [Stastny's] a player that fits our game and how we try to play," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "[He] can cover off a lot of areas — faceoffs, penalty killing, power play, play against the other teams' best by role for an awful lot of years."

Ehlers and Laine viewed the trade as a boost.

"It looks like we're now really wanting to win the Stanley Cup and now we have a really good chance to do it," Laine said. "That just gives us a better chance to even get there. We were happy with this team we had, but now we're even happier."

Stastny will likely have to choose a new jersey number. Wheeler wears the same No. 26 Stastny wore with the Blues.

"I offered it," Wheeler said with a smile. "Be a lot of pressure. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, I threw that in there as a joke, but if he wants it he can have it."

Winnipeg (37-16-9) is second in the Central Division behind its Tuesday opponents, the Nashville Predators.

CBC Sports http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/wharnsby/nhl-trade-deadline-analysis-tim-wharnsby- 1.4552888

Jets' surprise deal for Stastny a coup for GM Cheveldayoff Cup contenders add key components as NHL's trade deadline passes

By Tim Wharnsby

The top six teams heading into the final six weeks of the NHL season played an impressive game of Keeping Up with the Joneses in the days, hours and minutes leading up to the trade deadline.

After the Boston Bruins (Rick Nash, Brian Gionta) and (Tomas Plekanec) beefed up over the weekend, the Nashville Predators (Ryan Hartman), (Tomas Tatar), Tampa Bay Lightning (Ryan McDonagh, J.T. Miller) and Winnipeg Jets (Paul Stastny, Joe Morrow) improved their respective lineups on Monday.

The biggest deal of the day, one that saw 18 trades involving 37 players, was the McDonagh and Miller move from the to the Lightning in exchange for Vladislav Namestnikov, junior prospects Brett Howden and Libor Hajek, a 2018 first-round pick and a conditional 2019 second-round selection.

But the most intriguing move was the Jets landing Stastny from the St. Louis Blues for a 2018 first-round pick, a conditional 2019 fourth-round choice and Providence College third-year left wing Erik Foley.

St. Louis will receive a fourth-round pick if Foley doesn't sign an entry-level deal with the Blues before Aug. 15, 2019.

The hockey world was abuzz the last week or so with names that could be on the move, such as McDonagh, — who wound up with the — and defencemen Mike Green and Erik Karlsson, both who stayed put in Detroit and Ottawa, respectively.

But nobody mentioned Paul Stastny, especially with the Blues still in the hunt for a playoff spot despite only winning three of their past 11 outings entering Monday night.

According to Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong sent his Winnipeg counterpart a text over the weekend to measure his interest if Stastny was made available.

Waived no-trade clause Sure, the 32-year-old Stastny is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but he had a full no-trade clause in his contract. The Jets and Blues worked out the particulars of the trade on Sunday evening. Now the big question was would Stastny want to leave home in St. Louis for a chance to move to a contender in Winnipeg?

He said yes. His friend and Jets captain Blake Wheeler played a role in convincing Stastny. They played together during the 2012-13 lockout in Munich and on the 2014 Olympic team.

"The opportunity to contend was more attractive than anything I was going to say," said Wheeler, trying to downplay his contributions.

Stastny and Wheeler could end up linemates, but in the meantime, the new addition not only strengthens the Jets up front, his presence gives this rather green playoff team some post- season experience. Stastny has played in 55 career playoff games, including a trip to the West final two years ago.

It was four years ago that McDonagh pushed the Rangers into the Stanley Cup final against the . Among the finalists, McDonagh played the second-most minutes per game at 26:49. Only Chicago's Duncan Keith was on the ice more at 27:49.

McDonagh's arrival in Tampa Bay addresses its weak spot, its depth on defence. He's only 28 and will be a nice fit anchoring the Lightning's second pairing behind Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman.

The move was yet another solid one in Hockey Hall of Famer 's career as an executive.

He has won a world championship as Canada's GM in 2007, a Stanley Cup as vice-president of the 2007-08 and two Olympic gold medals as Canada's executive director in 2010 and 2014.

In Tampa, he made a deft trade in moving a disgruntled Martin St. Louis four years ago and convinced Steven Stamkos to re-sign with the Lightning two years ago when he was on the verge of becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Now we'll see if the moves from Yzerman or Cheveldayoff, or someone else at the deadline, will be enough.

St. Louis Post Dispatch http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/an-emotional-goodbye-for-stastny-to-his- teammates-and-his/article_fa568c27-08d1-535e-a100-a13777af0ecd.html

An emotional goodbye for Stastny to his teammates and his city

By Jim Thomas St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. PAUL, MINN. • On Sunday, Paul Stastny stood in the visitors’ locker room at Bridgestone Arena, trying to explain the Blues’ sudden freefall to reporters after a 4-0 loss to Nashville.

Twenty-four hours later he was in a hotel lobby in Minnesota, hugging teammates and saying goodbye. Ex-teammates, we should say, because Stastny was traded Monday to the Winnipeg Jets.

“It’s tough,” Stastny said. “It’s been emotional. A lot going on in my head for the last, I don’t know, 20 hours or whatever. Lots of pros and cons when I think about all that. I think it’s tough leaving these guys, some of the closest guys I’ve ever been with.

“But I’m excited to go somewhere, when I look on paper and when I play against (the Jets) how quality of a team they have. I think I can help them get even better and maybe be that piece for a long, extended run.”

The Jets look very much like a team that can make a deep Stanley Cup run. But it wasn’t easy saying farewell to the Blues, his NHL home for nearly four seasons. Or to St. Louis, the town he grew up in.

“We had some good teams and I still think that two years ago, that was our best chance to win,” Stastny said. “Top to bottom, I think we had it all going.”

The Blues reached the Western Conference finals that season, only to lose to San Jose in six games.

“It just shows how hard it is, whether you’re the top seed or the bottom seed, just to get in,” he said. “You have a chance. But I loved my time here. Like I said, I don’t want to close any doors. I never know what’s going to happen next year, but for these next couple months I’m going to a new team and I just want to win.”

Stastny, 32, is an unrestricted free agent after this season. So in theory, he could return to St. Louis, although that doesn’t seem likely. If the Blues ever win a Stanley Cup, it almost certainly will be without him.

“The hardest part is everyone knows how passionate St. Louis fans are,” Stastny said. “I was one of those guys growing up and I still am. I think everyone wants to do everything they can to build a winner with the St. Louis Blues and with the Cardinals having done it for so many years.

“It’s only a matter of time. For the city I grew up in and I was raised in, family lives, I always want to see the best for it.”

One of the toughest goodbyes Monday was with Alexander Steen. Stastny was Steen’s best man last summer when Steen was married in Sweden.

“Yeah, it makes it very hard,” Steen said, getting a little choked up. “You know we’ve become really close. His family, my family — we live across the street from each other. That’s definitely the tough part of the business. The guy’s my best friend, and it’s tough.

“At the same time he’s going to a new situation, and like you do with the people that you care about, you want him to succeed and do well. And that won’t change from me to him. I want nothing but the best for him and his family.”

SCHENN SURPRISED BY TRADE With 19 games to play in the regular season and with the Blues just one point out of a wild-card playoff spot, Brayden Schenn was surprised to see Stastny traded.

“Really one or two points out and move a guy that does a lot for us,” Schenn said early Monday afternoon. “I didn’t expect Stastny to be moved, but I guess with his contract expiring, them getting picks to be used elsewhere or to draft, you kind of just go from there and we’ll see what happens in the next hour here.”

But the trade deadline came and went Monday with no additional moves by the team, meaning the Blues subtracted instead of added at the NHL trade deadline.

“Maybe it will fire guys up, give guys more opportunity to do more and that’s one way you can look at it,” Schenn said. “Teams that are one or two out are kind of loading up right now and we’re one or two out and we kind of ... went the other way.

“As a team right now, we’re obviously struggling, there’s no doubt about that. Maybe this shakes things up and who knows? I still believe the mood in that locker room after we made that trade is still going to fight the last 18 or 19 games we have left here to make the playoffs and that’s not going to change.”

The Athletic https://theathletic.com//254573/2018/02/26/why-the-blues-said-goodbye-to-paul-stastny-and- what-the-surprising-trade-means-for-the-spiraling-club/?redirected=1

Why the Blues said goodbye to Paul Stastny and what the surprising trade means for the spiraling club

By Jeremy Rutherford

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Paul Stastny walked to the front desk at The St. Paul Hotel to settle up his room tab Monday, and Alexander Steen said, “I'll pay it.”

“No, I've got it,” Stastny told him.

All square moments later, Stastny hugged a few of his former Blues teammates and was off in a car to join his new club, the Winnipeg Jets.

“The guy is my best friend, and it's tough,” said Steen, choking up a bit about the person who was the best man in his wedding last summer.

Stastny might have paid for his hotel incidentals Monday, but the Blues are paying for his departure because of their six-game losing streak. The decision to trade Stastny to one of the team's Central Division rivals was made after a 4-0 loss to Nashville on Sunday because, despite being just one point out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference, general manager Doug Armstrong wasn't confident in the club's chances.

“Two or three weeks ago I didn't envision this being an option today,” Armstrong said. “We were, I don't want to say comfortably in (the playoffs), but we were in the top portion of our conference and our division, and the last couple of weeks we haven't played to a level that kept us there. I started to look at what was best for us moving forward.

“I talked to Paul on Thursday and said, 'I hope that we play well on Friday and Sunday and this isn't an issue, but if we don't turn it around, I have to do my job also,' and he was a pro about it and he understood. We didn't have the results we needed on Friday and Sunday, so an opportunity came to gain two valuable assets in a first-round pick and a young prospect, and we decided to go that direction.”

The Blues, who will be retaining 50 percent of Stastny's remaining salary, received a conditional 2018 first-round pick and prospect Erik Foley, a 20-year-old winger who's playing at Providence College. The pick has lottery protection, so if the Jets somehow end up with pick Nos. 1-3 in the NHL draft next June it would transfer to 2019. But with them having the fourth-best record in the league, it's almost assured the Blues will be using it this summer.

It's a sizeable return, but parting with Stastny, who would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer, signals the Blues have given up on their season. They made a similar move in 2016-17, dealing defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to Washington at the deadline, but while they still made the playoffs, even advancing to the second round, this one is different. Stastny was the No. 2 center, ranked fourth on the roster with 40 points; on a team that has been shutout in back-to-back games and not scored a in 140:24, offense won't be any easier to come by.

“Well, that was the hardest part and that's why I hoped we wouldn't get to this point,” Armstrong said. “But how we're playing right now was an indicator that there was no guarantees that if we just kept the status quo that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. It's one thing when you believe you're playing well and then not getting the results. There's puck-luck, there's bad luck, there's the other team is just on a roll. But we haven't been to the level of competitiveness on enough nights recently to think that we were just a slight tweak away from getting it back.”

Stastny could see it coming and wasn't surprised when he was asked to waive his no-trade clause to go to Winnipeg. The Jets were one of the teams he was interested in, and after speaking Sunday with captain Blake Wheeler, whom he played with during the 2012-13 NHL lockout, the move made sense.

“It's been emotional,” Stastny said. “A lot going on in my head for the last, I don't know, 20 hours or whatever. Lots of pros and cons when I think about all that. I think it's tough leaving these guys, some of the closest guys I've ever been with, but I'm excited to go somewhere, when I look on paper and when I play against them, how quality of a team they have. I can help them get even better and maybe be that piece for a long, extended run. To play more hockey for me is a big factor and it's maybe a decision made a little easier.”

Stastny's teammates were happy for him but stunned by the news. An hour before the deadline at 2 p.m. CDT, Brayden Schenn said, “Yeah, crazy. Really one or two points out and move a guy that does a lot for us, but at the end of the day, that's their decision and I guess we'll see what happens here in the next hour. I didn't expect Stastny to be moved, but I guess with his contract expiring, them getting picks to be used elsewhere or to draft, you kind of just go from there and we'll see what happens in the next hour here.”

Steen voiced a similar sentiment early in the afternoon: “We'll see what else happens throughout the course of the day.”

But the deadline came and passed, and the Blues were done for the day, still without a top-six scoring winger and still holding onto the contracts of Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka, who were available.

The club had talks with Ottawa and Montreal regarding Mike Hoffman and , respectively, and the pool of potential targets grew Monday when Armstrong included the first- rounder from Winnipeg in a potential package. But nothing materialized because none of those clubs budged off their asking price for one of the Blues' top four forward prospects — Klim Kostin, Jordan Kyrou, Tage Thompson and Robert Thomas.

“Going into the process of trying to improve our team, there was no shortage of phone calls on four particular players,” Armstrong said. “We weren't going to move one of those players for something that was a 12-18 month stop-gap situation, and so that took us out of the market on a lot of the players that moved today. When we got that first-round pick, we included that into the equation of players with more term to see if there was a way that we could find someone … We had some dialogue with some teams, (but) we just couldn't find the sweet spot.”

As far as Berglund and Sobotka, and even Jay Bouwmeester, whose name came up in trade circles Monday, there just wasn't suitable interest. Berglund and Bouwmeester both have no- trade clauses and Armstrong acknowledged that no conversations got far enough to request those players to waive them.

The Blues, who have $14 million of projected salary cap space for the 2018-19 season, now must wait until the summer to resume those talks. In the meantime, they'll play the final 19 games of their season, beginning Tuesday in Minnesota, severely shorthanded up the middle. Schenn remains their No. 1 center, but now Berglund, who has just six assists and 14 points in 39 games this season, could be their No. 2 and either Sobotka or as their No. 3.

“I have thought about and started drawing up some combinations, but we'll wait till (Tuesday) to reveal the line combinations,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “Obviously that's a big void. It's a penalty killer, it's a power play guy, it's a key faceoff … offensively, defensively, against top lines. What I can tell is that not one player is just going to step up and fill in his role and do what he does. We're going to need a real committee effort, but certainly, we still believe that we're capable of that.”

The challenge will be getting the most out of a group that, while it hasn't played like a team deserving of staying together or earning upgrades, saw a good friend go and likely had its postseason hopes stripped away.

“Teams that are one or two out are kind of loading up right now and we're one or two out and we kind of went the other way,” Schenn said. “We're obviously struggling, there's no doubt about that. Maybe this shakes things up and who knows? I still believe the mood in that locker room after we made that trade is still going to fight the last 18 or 19 games we have left here to make the playoffs. That's not going to change.”

Added Steen: “We need to get back to work. There's a lot of work to be done and I don't think this changes our mindset with our group, or the group's mindset in any way. I'm sure we'll meet tonight and tomorrow morning and go over everything, where we're at. But looking at the way that we've been playing this last six games or whatever, we've got some adjustments to make.”

Overall, the Blues made far fewer transactions Monday than many hoped for, and the one move they did make wasn't the one anyone expected.

“The way that I sort of look at it is, when the dust settles and the emotion is gone, it's like an injury,” Armstrong said. “If we had done nothing and the player gets injured tomorrow, I'm not really sure that we were going to just not play the rest of the season. So what we need to do now is just go ahead with the group we got. I think it's going to galvanize the team to understand that we have to play closer, we have to play tighter, we have to play more of that style that we played earlier in the year. So I'm hoping to see that resolve in our group. (But) obviously, it's going to be a test of their resolve on how they respond to this. I expect them to respond well because I have big belief in the guys that are in there.”

THORBURN STAYS The Blues learned that Chris Thorburn cleared waivers Monday, and with rosters expanding after the trade deadline, Armstrong said the 34-year-old will remain on the team.

Thorburn has been a healthy scratch in 30 of the team's 63 games, but Yeo sounded as if he would play again at some point.

“What I can say is that a lot of the best games that we've played lately, 'Thorbs' has been in,” Yeo said. “He brings an element, a physical element, he brings speed, he brings character. What I'd say is part of why he's not in the lineup on a night-to-night basis is because we're having trouble scoring goals. If we were scoring more goals, it'd be an easy decision to keep him because he's not hurting us defensively. (But) as far as going forward, I'm not really sure.” https://theathletic.com/254563/2018/02/26/paul-stastny-is-a-great-bet-for-an-already-formidable- winnipeg-jets-team/

Paul Stastny is a great bet for an already-formidable Winnipeg Jets team

By Murat Ates

You can forget about Jets history – for Winnipeg, the time is now.

I’ve advocated for Winnipeg to go all-in for the 2018 playoffs. Monday's deadline trade by Jets' GM Kevin Cheveldayoff accomplishes just that.

Officially, it’s Paul Stastny from St. Louis with 50 per cent of his $7 million salary retained for prospect Erik Foley, a lottery protected first-round pick in 2018, and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2020 should Foley not re-sign with the Blues.

On the surface, this is a tremendous deal for the Jets. In a wide open Western Conference where Winnipeg's rivals in Nashville and Las Vegas have also bolstered its lineups, the Jets' suddenly overpowered centre depth should give them a chance to compete late into spring.

That said, this piece is about more than the surface. It is my attempt to dig deeper into Stastny’s strengths, weaknesses, results, and the context behind those results. Once a full picture has emerged, we can project Stastny’s level of success as a Winnipeg Jet.

Let’s begin by discussing what Winnipeg gave up.

Foley is an interesting prospect. In our Jets prospect rankings, Scott Wheeler ranked him second – one spot behind Jack Roslovic and ahead of Nic Petan, Sami Niku, and Kristian Vesalainen. That’s an incredible endorsement of Foley, currently in finishing his third year at Providence College.

Wheeler thinks Foley will probably play out his fourth year at Providence in 2018-19 and is a good bet to step right into the NHL in 2019-20.

I’m not so sure.

You may have read this post in which I used NHL equivalencies (NHLe) to project Roslovic’s big league success. Using NHLe, here is how Foley compares to Roslovic, Petan, and :

As you can see, Foley’s success is relatively new. He was outclassed by all three current Jets in his draft season and as a freshman at Providence. He took a major leap forward in 2016-17 – his draft + 2 season – and has run in place a little bit in 2017-18.

What does this mean? First, the math says Foley is a tier below either of Connor and Roslovic, Winnipeg’s two most promising young players. He is also a step below Petan, whose offensive success was superlative until his draft + 3 season, where Petan was buried as a Jet and modestly productive in the AHL.

We can take this one step further. Using Byron Bader’s research into NHL equivalencies vs. age, we can project Foley’s NHL success based on each year of his development.

2017-18 has been Foley’s most impressive season, both in terms of his NHLe and based on how Foley’s NHLe compares to his age. Still, Foley is not nearly a sure thing: his NHLe of 33 points gives him a 45 per cent chance of busting, a 40 per cent chance of reaching 200 NHL games, and a 15 per cent chance of achieving offensive stardom (defined in this case as scoring more than 0.7 points per game in his NHL career.)

For contrast, Vesalainen, whose NHLe is almost identical to Foley's but is doing it in his draft + 1 season, projects with a 19 per cent chance of busting, a 46 per cent chance of growing into an NHL regular, and a 35 per cent chance of becoming an NHL star.

This should come as a relief to Jets fans, although I will offer a word of warning: Foley’s is also a clear case of math disagreeing with Wheeler’s eye test. And, as always, context is paramount.

All of this said, was Foley a steep price to give up? In a word: no.

The Jets are good now and are rich in young stars like Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine, Nik Ehlers, Connor, and Roslovic. If any team can trade away a player whose future in the NHL is 50/50, it’s the Winnipeg Jets.

Speaking of coin flips, the Jets’ first-round pick in the 2018 draft is a good bet to land somewhere between 26th and 31st.

Here is Scott Cullen’s projection of value for picks in that range. The full article explaining the methodology, can be found here.

Based on this table, Winnipeg’s pick will have approximately 50 per cent odds of playing more than 100 games in the NHL, 20 per cent odds to become an impact player, and a 75 percent chance of peaking on the fourth line.

Winnipeg traded two 50 per cent shots at an NHL regular – and a fourth-round pick which disappears if Foley re-signs with the Blues – for Stastny. Based on what Toronto paid for Tomas Plekanec and what Pittsburgh paid for Derick Brassard, this seems like a reasonable price for the Jets to pay. But what about the player Winnipeg got in return?

It’s time to talk about Stastny’s value to this season’s Jets.

First, here my projected lines with Stastny in the lineup and the Jets at full health:

Connor – Scheifele – Wheeler Perreault – Little – Roslovic Ehlers – Stastny – Laine Copp – Lowry – Armia

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the unique murderer’s row available to a team whose prospects are good enough (and have been developed well enough) to play feature roles.

We’ve talked about mathematical evidence that two play drivers and a passenger can work since the season began. Now that Connor and Roslovic are not just passengers but contributors to Winnipeg’s first and second lines, their success gives the Jets the added advantage of playing Laine and Ehlers – ranked 1st and 2nd on the Jets in goals – on the third line. That’s the job Stastny is walking into.

What will he be able to do with it?

Paul Stastny at 5-on-5:

Here’s Stastny’s with-or-without-you from St. Louis:

You knew Stastny’s reputation was as a strong two-way player, but did you think his impact was this good? He’s like the of centres – every single Blue does better by score adjusted shots/60 with Stastny on the ice. And that’s with Stastny playing tough minutes (according to this chart at Hockeyviz.com Stastny has been playing disproportionately against top forwards and top defence pairings.)

Offensively, Stastny’s 2.05 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 tie him with Vladimir Tarasenko for second on St. Louis and would rank him fifth on the Jets – just behind Blake Wheeler and ahead of Ehlers. If you’d prefer real numbers, Stastny has scored 29 points at 5-on-5 this season. That would put him third in Winnipeg.

Contextually, we know Stastny plays predominantly with and against top players. This adds some shine to his excellent possession numbers: 55 per cent on-ice shot attempts, 53 per cent on-ice high danger scoring chances, and 54 per cent expected goals.

Here is a visual representation of the Blues’ 5-on-5 offence, both with and without Stastny on the ice:

With Stastny, the Blues get most of their chances almost everywhere in the offensive zone except on the ’s lap. Without him, they’re limited to the periphery and don’t fare nearly as well.

One damper to all of this 5-on-5 fanfare is that Stastny’s 55 per cent offensive zone starts. He was not getting thrown to the wolves in St. Louis like Plekanec was in Montreal. That said, 55 per cent is not extreme usage and would put Stastny in the same range as Scheifele and Little on the Jets. I wouldn’t worry about it at all if I were Winnipeg.

When I made the case for Ryan McDonagh in Winnipeg, I cited his top pairing usage alongside poor partners – I thought there was an opportunity to improve his results on Winnipeg’s second pair. With Stastny, part of that opportunity still exists. He had first class linemates – even Ehlers and Laine are not an upgrade over Tarasenko, for example – but played first class opposition.

In Winnipeg, Stastny is set to make his home on the “third” line – or, if we can dispense with that kind of designation on a team this deep: a secondary scoring line. I see every reason to believe he will have success at 5-on-5.

Stastny on the penalty kill:

With Stastny on the ice at 4-on-5, the Blues have given up substantially fewer shot attempts, high danger scoring chances, and expected goals against per 60 minutes than Winnipeg has with Matt Hendricks and Brandon Tanev. This should represent a major portion of Stastny’s value to the Jets.

As I’ve mentioned before with these charts, systems and teammates mean it’s dubious to assume that a player’s numbers on the PK will follow him to his new city. At the very least, Stastny has proven he is a capable penalty killer while Hendricks and Tanev – the warriors they might be – have fared poorly in that same role.

When Adam Lowry returns to full health and resumes top PK duties with Andrew Copp, Winnipeg should have the confidence to scratch Hendricks and run Stastny on the PK in his place.

What of his partner? I value Joel Armia’s contributions more highly than Tanev’s in all three disciplines of the game and, as you see in that chart, Armia has outperformed Tanev in the same system. As a result, Stastny/Armia would be my choice as a secondary PK duo.

There’s one more advantage to Stastny’s experience killing penalties. Notice that, with him taking on secondary PK responsibilities, Little, Scheifele, and Wheeler are freed to play more minutes in other areas.

If Winnipeg chooses to use Stastny on its penalty kill, the acquisition will have a ripple effect in all disciplines of the game.

Stastny on the power play:

Stastny has averaged just over two minutes per game on the Blues’ power play, posting just five points or an abysmal 1.84 points per 60 minutes of 5-on-4 time. In St. Louis, that scoring rate ranks Stastny 10th among skaters. In Winnipeg, it would rank him 13th. If you expand the same to his past three seasons, Stastny's production rate increases to 3.9 PP pts/60.

In short, I see no reason to allocate power play minutes to Stastny. Both of Winnipeg’s units are fire emoji this season – the system is good and the Jets are ranked third overall. Also, as a left- handed shot, there is no room for him on Winnipeg’s first unit – he’s not displacing Connor – and the best left-handed gig on Winnipeg’s second unit belongs to Ehlers.

Power play stardom is not on its way for Stastny in Winnipeg but, given his strengths at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill, that is no problem at all.

What about Derick Brassard?

As as basic point of comparison, here are each player’s offensive totals over over their past three seasons:

Stastny: 129 points in 193 games, 0.67 pts/game, 2.0 5-on-5 pts/60, 3.9 power play pts/60 Brassard: 128 pts, 215 games, 0.60 pts/game, 1.8 5-on-5 pts/60, 3.4 power play pts/60

For a deeper look, here’s Bill Comeau’s SKATR comparison tool on each player’s underlying numbers:

Stastny is the better player by most metrics including shot attempt percentage and expected goals percentage. He’s been the beneficiary of better linemates in St. Louis, but he’s put up the possession based results to back that up.

Stastny’s underlying numbers are very good and, while I still believe Brassard would have been an ideal fit, Winnipeg went out and found a better one.

Takeaway points: Cheveldayoff found a valuable player in Stastny and made a trade no rival GM could block.

In Foley and Winnipeg’s first round pick, he gave up two coin flips at an NHL regular. Based on Byron Bader’s work with NHLe and Scott Cullen’s work projecting draft picks, odds are good that one of the two assets turns into a non-impact NHL regular.

In Stastny, Winnipeg gains a player ideally suited to helping its murderer’s row of forward talent. His possession and scoring metrics all speak to a player who can have a significant impact between Ehlers and Laine or whatever his job may be.

It’s worth acknowledging that part of the reason Winnipeg can ice such a deep forward roster is the success of two 2015 draft picks – Connor and Roslovic – inside its top nine forwards. That alone may give you pause when I say Winnipeg got good value in this trade but, at the same time, Connor and Roslovic aren’t going anywhere. Winnipeg is well positioned to be young and skilled for a long time to come.

In the end, it’s a case of a team realizing that it was a) legitimately good and b) ready to take advantage of a uniquely advantageous window of opportunity. If Stastny were signed for one more season at the $3.5 million AAV that will apply to Winnipeg’s salary cap this spring, the trade would be a walk off home run.

As it stands today, it’s a clear win. https://theathletic.com/254514/2018/02/26/duhatschek-in-central-arms-race-with-predators-jets- make-big-move-for-paul-stastny/

Duhatschek: In Central arms race with Predators, Jets make big move for Paul Stastny

By Eric Duhatschek

So how to assess the Winnipeg Jets’ addition of Paul Stastny at Monday’s trade deadline? It definitely deviates from general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff’s playbook, but if there was ever a reason to deviate from the playbook, this was it. The Jets have the second-best record in the Central Division, where there is an arms race going on between Winnipeg and the Nashville Predators, while it looks as if the St. Louis Blues have raised a white flag on their season. More on the Blues later.

Of late, Jets’ coach Paul Maurice has been playing Andrew Copp at centre on the third line, with two absolute studs on his line – Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers. Can you imagine what a nightmare matchup the Jets become if Stastny is centering Laine and Ehlers at even strength? Maurice wouldn’t commit to doing that, sensibly so, since you never know how chemistry is going to evolve. But really, it really doesn’t matter how you order your lines, if you plan to roll all four, which is what Winnipeg is now capable of doing. If Stastny settles in with Ehlers and Laine, that becomes your de facto second line, while Bryan Little’s unit as it is currently constituted – with Mathieu Perreault and Jack Roslovic – drops down and becomes your third line.

The Jets had arguably the best top nine even before the deal and now they have more depth up front than any other team in the league, outside of maybe Nashville, which went out and added Ryan Hartman from Chicago, also for a first-round pick. But Hartman is a different sort of a transaction. He is a 23-year-old who was a first-round pick not so long ago — in 2013, 30th overall. So, Hartman can expect a future in Nashville beyond this year, where Stastny could just be a rental. He is on an expiring contract, worth $7 million, with St. Louis agreeing to pick up half the tab between now and the end of the season.

Acquiring Stastny was an all-in move designed in the hopes of making a deep playoff run, which will require the franchise to do something that it has never done since it was hatched in Atlanta back in 1999-00, as the Thrashers – and that is to win an actual playoff game. They’ve only ever made the playoffs twice in the past – once in Atlanta, once in Winnipeg – and both times they were swept in the opening round. Their most recent playoff setback came in 2015, when the Jets played hard against a deep, tough Anaheim team, but had no answer for the Ducks’ skill and maturity.

Now, some three years later, as the Jets’ nucleus has become older and more experienced, they are a team on the rise. I remember asking Maurice at the start of the year, what’s different about this group? He was in his office, the day before training camps opened and his answer was: “I see more men walking by my door,” as they went out for their informal skates. That’s not something you think about too often – how physical maturity plays into a team’s plans, short and long-term. Sometimes, as a manager, you need to assess your team’s capacity to win, and do it in a sober realistic way.

Cheveldayoff has long been criticized for his conservative approach, but that’s more a function of being prudent and waiting for the Jets’ window to compete for a championship to legitimately open.

Or to put it another way, yes, teams that just barely qualify for the playoffs occasionally catch lightning in a bottle once they get there – Ottawa, last year, the best recent example. But mostly what you want to do is become a team that makes the playoffs every year and then has a chance, depending upon all the other variables that come into play — injuries, your draw, and how it’s all coming together at any given time.

This year, the Jets are hanging their hats, first and foremost, on goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who had made giant year over year gains. If Hellebuyck falters in the playoffs, then no amount of playoff reinforcements will overcome that. But Hellebuyck is a confident young man and this year his overall play convinced the Jets that what has been an organizational black hole for a long time, has, through patience and development, been remedied.

Up front, they are as deep as any team in the league, and will be even deeper when Adam Lowry returns. Most teams that actually win a Stanley Cup do so because they get production out of three lines. Pittsburgh will often use on the third line at even strength because it creates matchup issues. Winnipeg now is a match-up nightmare. The Jets will likely be able to roll four lines.

The only area of concern might be defence, where Jacob Trouba remains out (but will be back in lots of time for the playoffs) and Toby Enstrom seems to get hurt a couple of times a year. To that end, the Jets added Joe Morrow, a left-shot defenceman, for a fourth-round pick from the Montreal Canadiens, just in case. The reinforcements on the blueline this year, Ben Chiarot and Tucker Poolman, have been called on frequently because of injuries to, among others, Dustin Byfuglien, and have been OK. But generally speaking, one more stabilizing veteran couldn’t hurt, especially on the left side, where they were a little vulnerable.

Of course, what may create the most drama of all is that Nashville, last year’s Stanley Cup finalist, a team with arguably the best top four in the league, is also flexing its muscles as well.

Hartman is a useful piece, and essentially replaces Pontus Aberg, and adds some additional grit. Mike Fisher officially signed his contract Monday, so he’ll be available soon for depth at centre.

There has been a little separation finally in the Central, with Nashville atop the standings, with 85 points, followed by Winnipeg at 83. They play each other Tuesday night in Winnipeg and with the six points back in third, it stands to reason they will finish one-two in the division, which potentially sets up a second-round playoff matchup.

There is a tendency to write off St. Louis, because they gave up such an important piece, but the Blues gave up an important piece at last year’s trade deadline, too – Kevin Shattenkirk, and still made the playoffs and still won a round.

But they are in a deep funk – six losses in a row, with goaltender Jake Allen struggling miserably again, just as he did for a portion of last year – so it may well be that this move hedges the bets for GM Doug Armstrong. If the standings dive continues, at least they will have something to show for this year – a first-rounder. The last time they had an extra first-rounder, they turned it into Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers. Schenn was unhappy with Stastny’s exit, maybe because the Blues, at the Christmas break, led the Central with 48 points. Funny how fortunes can change in two months. Once Jaden Schwartz went out of the lineup, the Blues have never been the same team – and even his return didn’t spark them the way you thought it might.

The theory that a GM has to make a splashy trade deadline move to show his players that he has confidence in their ability to go far in the playoffs – is, 90 per cent of the time, a false narrative.

Generally speaking, if a team is going well, it is because they have great chemistry already and that everybody likes each other and everybody’s been playing for each other all season long. Suddenly, you bring in an important piece and somebody who is making a contribution is about to see his role change and diminish.

Accordingly, there’s some genuine risk attached to altering a lineup that is succeeding. Last year, Minnesota did it with Martin Hanzal and Washington did it with Shattenkirk and neither team could sort of their roles in the final month and into the playoffs.

In Winnipeg’s case though, I don’t see an issue. The Jets have been playing the long game for so long that making a splashy deadline move falls into the other 10 per cent, where a message to the dressing room from the GM is a good thing – and may resonate more than it might elsewhere. You could tell from team captain Blake Wheeler’s reaction that Stastny will be welcome with open arms. Wheeler was genuinely and enthusiastically supportive of the deal, and has a friendship with Stastny that predates this move.

The Jets have always liked Stastny because of his hockey sense. He is the son of Hall of Famer Peter Stastny and has proven over the years to be the sort of versatile player that coaches love. I’m sure that’s why Maurice didn’t want to be locked into a “slot” for Stastny right out of the gate. He will undoubtedly experiment with him in different parts of the lineup to see where he fits best.

The year Colorado unexpectedly made the playoffs as division champs – 2014 – Stastny had a monstrously successful opening round, 10 points in seven games, even as the Avalanche lost. Two years later, when the Blues got to the conference final, he was solid too – 13 points in 20 games. In ’15 and ’17, it wasn’t as good, though injuries have sometimes been a factor with Stastny. This year, he’s gotten into 63 games already for the Blues, scoring 40 points, but the last two years, he’s been limited to 66 and 64 regular-season games respectively.

So, injuries have been an issue for him in the past and if there was a red flag on Stastny, that’s probably it. For the Jets to get value for the first-round pick they surrendered, they need him to be healthy and productive.

If the playoffs started Monday, the Predators would open against the Dallas Stars and the Jets against the Wild. Neither series would be a pushover. If both the Jets and Predators advanced, they would meet in the second round. That’s two teams that went all in this year and only one can get even as far as the Stanley Cup semi-final. Parity may be commissioner Gary Bettman’s dream, but if you’re an NHL GM that pushed all his chips into the middle at the trade deadline – and it doesn’t work out for you – that’s a nightmare. You can cue the second-guessing right now.

National Post http://nationalpost.com/sports/hockey/nhl/lightning-jets-set-themselves-apart-from-the-pack- with-nhl-trade-deadline-deals

Lightning, Jets set themselves apart from the pack with NHL trade deadline deals

By Michael Traikos

The road to the Stanley Cup is going through Tampa Bay.

Or is it Winnipeg? Or Pittsburgh? Or Las Vegas, Boston or Nashville? Or maybe it’s San Jose?

It’s tough to say after the significant improvements made by the NHL’s top contenders before Monday’s 3 p.m. ET NHL trade deadline. Every team got better. Almost ever player who was rumoured to be on the move is wearing a different jersey today.

While Erik Karlsson remains with the and Max Pacioretty will finish the season as the captain of the Montreal Canadiens, this was one of the busier trade deadlines in terms of impact. There were a total of 18 trades involving 37 players and 18 draft picks. Some were short-term rentals. Some deals included players who had years remaining on their contracts. Some, like trades involving the Blues’ Paul Stastny and the Blackhawks’ Ryan Hartman, were complete surprises.

It was hard to find a team that wasn’t going for it. General managers parted with first-round picks like Oprah Winfrey giving out automobiles. Almost every team got one.

With six weeks to go to the playoffs, the balance of power hasn’t really shifted. If anything, the gap between the contenders and the pretenders has widened.

Tampa Bay, which made the biggest splash in acquiring Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller from the Rangers, still looks like the team to beat. But the first-place Lightning always was the team to beat regardless of what occurred on Monday. Getting McDonagh and Miller simply put them over the edge — for this year and next considering neither was a rental player.

And yet, this isn’t the NBA. Stanley Cup favourite is a plural — not singular — term.

The reportedly “won” last year’s trade deadline when they acquired defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk. But at the end of the playoffs, it was Pittsburgh hoisting its second straight Cup after picking up depth defenceman Ron Hainsey for a second-round pick and a minor-league prospect.

That’s usually the way it goes at this time of year. It’s the little trades that tend to have the biggest impacts. Justin Schultz was proof of that in 2016, as were deals for Antoine Vermette in 2015, Marian Gaborik in 2014 and Martin Handzus in 2013.

If that’s the case, maybe Toronto’s acquisition of fourth-line centre Tomas Plekanec turns out to be the steal of the year. Or perhaps Dallas and Philadelphia made the right moves in doing absolutely nothing.

Then again, it’s hard to give a failing grade to the teams that mortgaged their future and tried to buy a ticket to the final.

The Penguins set the tone days before the deadline when they acquired Derick Brassard to give them the best centre corps in the NHL. The Bruins then addressed their need for secondary scoring by trading for Rick Nash and Tommy Wingels. From there, it was like watching a high- stakes poker game, with each and every team raising the ante.

San Jose rolled the dice on Evander Kane, who cost them practically nothing, and Nashville pried 23-year-old Ryan Hartman out of Chicago for a King’s ransom. Vegas, which has been playing with house money all year, pushed in its chips and gave up a first-, second- and third- round picks for underachieving winger Tomas Tatar.

Even Winnipeg, which in the past has hit the snooze button on this day, decided to go all-in and give up a first-round pick and more for Stastny, a 32-year-old rental player with 12 goals this season.

The Winnipeg Jets acquired Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 26. Kevin King / Postmedia Network So who put themselves in the best position to win the Cup? Well, practically everyone.

From the East, it’s hard not to like Tampa Bay. The team was already filled with all-stars, including Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. And while they didn’t land Karlsson, the duo of McDonagh and Miller might make even more sense.

It didn’t come cheap. The Lightning parted with forward Vladislav Namestnikov, a couple of top- end prospects in Brett Howden and Libor Hajek, as well as a first-round pick and a conditional second-round pick. But McDonagh gives the Lightning a top-four defence group that rivals Nashville’s as the best in the NHL, while Miller could end up becoming a better two-way fit than the one-dimensional Namestnikov.

In the West, things are a bit more wide open with only three points separating the top three teams.

At the same time, Winnipeg sent a pretty big statement that it plans on avoiding another first- round sweep with the acquisition of Stastny. Giving up a first-round pick and more for another top-six forward might have seemed unnecessary for a team that already has Blake Wheeler (72 points), Patrik Laine (51), Mark Scheifele (49), Nikolaj Ehlers (46) and Kyle Connor (40). But excess was the name of the game at this year’s deadline.

The again, don’t sleep on Toronto and Dallas. They didn’t do much. Of course, you don’t always have to in order to win a Cup.

SINGING THE BLUES Not all the playoff-bound teams got better at the deadline. Some, like the St. Louis Blues, got noticeably worse.

It was a strange to see the ninth-place team in the Western Conference standings trade Paul Stastny to the Winnipeg Jets for a package that included a first-round pick, a college-level prospect and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2020. After all, the Blues are only one point out of a playoff spot.

“(It’s) crazy,” Schenn told The Athletic in St. Louis. “One or two points out, move a guy that does a lot for us. But at the end of the day, you know, that’s their decision.”

Part of the decision was due to the fact that the Blues had lost six straight games. With Stastny’s contract set to expire at the end of the season, the team decided to turn the page rather than try to sneak in as a wild-card team.

Toronto Star https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/2018/02/26/rating-nhl-trade-deadline-winners-and- losers.html

Rating NHL trade deadline winners and losers Hard not to like the Winnipeg Jets even more after Monday's addition of centre Paul Stastny, while the Lightning paid a lot for Ryan McDonagh. They need to go far to make it worthwhile.

By KEVIN MCGRAN

When late June comes and the Stanley Cup is hoisted, perhaps it will be written that the NHL trade deadline decided How The West Was Won.

The best of the West — the Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights — used Monday to bolster their lineups while only one heavyweight in the East, the Tampa Bay Lightning, made a bold move by acquiring Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller.

“They acquired a great player in Ryan McDonagh,” said Maple Leafs GM . “Everyone has an opportunity to do something and they made a big splash today.”

Lamoriello acknowledged he inquired about McDonagh, but was reluctant to surrender a player off the Leafs’ roster.

Tampa sent Vladislav Namestnikov to New York with some high-end prospects in forward Brett Howden and defenceman Libor Hajek, plus high draft picks.

For the Leafs, Sunday’s addition of veteran Tomas Plekanec was the only counterpunch to their biggest rivals in the Atlantic Division: Tampa and Boston — which did little Monday after reeling in big fish Rick Nash over the weekend.

“We have confidence in our team,” said Lamoriello. “Right now we’re still in a process of where we want to be and where we want to go. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”

Here’s a closer look at the winners, losers and risk-takers on trade deadline.

Winners

WINNIPEG JETS: Adding Paul Stastny — a versatile, veteran centre — might make the Jets the powerhouse in the West. Their top nine forwards are as good as, or better than, any other group in the conference. “When I found out that Paul was available, I put everything into that basket,” said Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. “I was willing to let everything else pass by to try to make (that move). If we didn’t make it, we were very happy with our group moving forward.”

EVANDER KANE: The enigmatic right winger got himself out of a terrible situation in Buffalo, where his reputation as a troublemaker dogged him, and joins the San Jose Sharks for the playoff race. The Sharks get a much-needed scorer with little risk. Buffalo gets a first-round pick if Kane re-signs in San Jose, a second-rounder if he leaves as a free agent.

KEN HOLLAND: His job with as general manager of the Detroit Red Wings was probably not in doubt, but getting a first-round pick (in 2018), a second (in 2019) and third (2021) from Las Vegas for Tomas Tatar seems like a fleecing. He’ll take some heat, though, for not moving defenceman Mike Green.

Risky Business

STEVE YZERMAN: The Lightning GM seems to have his own pipeline with New York, certainly when it comes to acquiring American-born Rangers captains named Ryan. Adding McDonagh to bolster his blue line and Miller to help at forward simply makes a deep team deeper. Adding high-end players at the end of the season, however, doesn’t always translate to playoff success. He lost one roster player, but is mortgaging a big part of his future. Howden and Hajek should be NHLers soon. A Stanley Cup would make it all seem worthwhile.

JEFF GORTON: The Rangers GM took a big risk when he announced to his large fan base that some name players would be gone in the interests of rebuilding long-term. Out in the last week: Nash, McDonagh, Miller and Michael Grabner. In: Namestnikov, Ryan Spooner, Matt Beleskey, top prospects Howden and Hajek, mid-range hopefuls Yegor Rykov and Ryan Lindgren, two first-round picks, two second-rounders and a seventh-rounder. If the prospects pan out, Gorton is a big winner. Otherwise, the Rangers will be hard to sell on Broadway.

Losers

ERIK KARLSSON: The biggest name on the trade market stayed put in Ottawa. GM said he would offer Karlsson an extension this summer “if Erik Karlsson is here July 1.” The key word is “if.” Karlsson has dodged reporters recently, but now faces a new round of questions about his future and could face them for a long time. His deal expires in the summer of 2019.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Canucks GM had some pieces to peddle, but didn’t get much in return. Ex-Leaf Brendan Leipsic arrived from Vegas for defenceman . Thomas Vanek went to Columbus for veteran Jussi Jokinen and prospect Tyler Motte. The rebuilding Canucks had wanted picks. They held onto Chris Tanev and Erik Gudbranson.

ST. LOUIS BLUES: A six-game losing streak took a team that looked like a Cup contender in the fall and turned them into sellers. GM Doug Armstrong has talent to work with, but might not have done enough to change their fortunes. They’ll be an interesting team to watch come the draft and free agency.

NHL.com https://www.nhl.com/news/paul-stastny-raises-winnipeg-jets-to-stanley-cup-contenders/c- 296394572?tid=278542340

Stastny trade proves Jets are Cup contenders GM Cheveldayoff acquiring versatile forward shows time to win is now for Winnipeg by Tim Campbell @TimNHL / NHL.com Staff Writer

WINNIPEG -- The Winnipeg Jets' approach has been a patient one, which has not always gone over well.

Since becoming general manager June 8, 2011, Kevin Cheveldayoff has taken a conservative approach. It's not always exciting, but it's a plan that has the Jets a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

"I've talked about how we're going to build this organization, and I think if you went back over all the transcripts, I think the message has been pretty consistent, that we were going to draft, develop and retain," Cheveldayoff said Monday after the NHL Trade Deadline passed. "If and when we felt we had opportunities in front of us to strike at something, we would."

Did they ever.

The Jets pulled off perhaps the most surprising move of deadline day, acquiring forward Paul Stastny in a trade with the Central Division-rival St. Louis Blues for a first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, and forward prospect Erik Foley.

Stastny has 40 points, (12 goals, 28 assists) in 63 games this season. The 32-year-old can become an unrestricted free agent July 1 and wavied a full no-trade clause to come to Winnipeg.

The Jets (37-16-9) are two points behind the Nashville Predators for first in the division. They play at Winnipeg on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-TN, NHL.TV).

The trade appeared to break the mold of Cheveldayoff being conservative.

"I think that you can label whatever people want to label," he said.

He said he didn't feel conservative when the Jets traded captain , a pending unrestricted free agent, and defenseman and forward to the Chicago Blackhawks for a first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft and forward Marko Dano on Feb. 25, 2016.

Cheveldayoff said the same applied Feb. 11, 2015, when he traded forward Evander Kane, defenseman and goalie prospect Jason Kasdorf for forward prospect , forward Joel Armia, forward , defenseman and a first-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (forward Jack Roslovic).

"I think it's just about what realistic options you have in front of you," Cheveldayoff said. "Do I have to get the adrenaline rush of making a trade or reading my name? No, I don't."

Cheveldayoff decided to strike when Blues general manager Doug Armstrong texted him in the past two days to suggest some kind of trade might be possible.

Winnipeg added Stastny to an already strong forward group that includes captain Blake Wheeler, who was second in assists in the NHL with 54 (Jakub Voracek of the Philadelphia Flyers had 56) entering play Monday, and forward Patrik Laine, who led the NHL with 16 power- play goals.

In addition to Stastny, the Jets have eight forwards with 10 or more goals, led by Laine, who has 31. Winnipeg also improved its strength at center, with Stastny joining Mark Scheifele, Bryan Little and Adam Lowry.

"All our centremen are really good," Laine said. "Now when Stastny comes in, it looks really good. It looks like we're now really wanting to win the Stanley Cup, and now we have a really good chance to do it. That just gives us a better chance. We were happy with this team we had, but now we're even happier."

Laine was glad Cheveldayoff made it a priority to keep the Jets' chemistry intact prior to the deadline.

"I think we have a good thing going on here in the locker room," he said.

In other years, the Jets had been quiet or made minor moves around the deadline.

Last season, the only trade the Jets made was to move pending unrestricted free agent forward Drew Stafford to the Boston Bruins for a sixth-round pick on March 1, 2017.

In 2015, the only time the Jets qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since relocating from Atlanta prior to the 2011-12 season, Cheveldayoff added depth by trading for forwards Jiri Tlusty and in the two weeks prior to the deadline.

Cheveldayoff has said repeatedly over the years that it was important to accumulate depth and assets, and that there might come a time to use some of that to shore up his roster for a run.

"We're very close to the [NHL salary cap] right now," he said. "I don't know who in Winnipeg would have thought we would be a cap team. I think any general manager has to evaluate what's in front of them and make decisions."

He also said there comes a time to believe in what you have built.

"I go back to that conversation I had with (defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, Feb. 8, 2016) when I signed his (five-year) extension," Chevaldayoff said. "I said, 'Buff, why do you want to stay here? You can leave in six weeks or whatever.' And he said, 'I like what we have going here. We have some young players that are exciting and I want to be a part of it.'"

Above all, the fit, Cheveldayoff said, was a must.

"I wouldn't have acted if the fit wasn't right," he said. "I was fully prepared, if there was not the right fit, we would have been having this conversation about not making a move." https://www.nhl.com/news/behind-the-numbers-paul-stastny-provides-versatility-for-jets/c- 296397910?tid=278542340

Stastny provides versatility for Jets Ability to score, defend, win face-offs gives Winnipeg deployment options by Rob Vollman / NHL.com Correspondent

The Winnipeg Jets made a strong move toward Stanley Cup contention with the acquisition of Paul Stastny, a versatile two-way center who should provide a boost in terms of scoring and shot-based metrics, and help solidify the performance of the power-play and penalty-kill units.

The St. Louis Blues traded Stastny to the Jets for a conditional first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and forward prospect Erik Foley on Monday, the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline.

Stastny could be used in a variety of ways in Winnipeg, given his versatility.

The most intriguing possibility is that he will replace Andrew Copp as the center on a high- scoring line with Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers, who lead the Jets with 31 and 24 goals.

In this situation, Stastny can be expected to score at a rate close to his peak, which he set early in his NHL career with an average of 0.96 points per game through his first four seasons (2006- 07 to 2009-10), all with the Colorado Avalanche. Since, he has averaged 0.69 points per game, including 0.63 this season.

Stastny has also proven capable of handling tough minutes against top competition. This season, his most frequent opponents among forwards include Johnny Gaudreau (20:37) and Sean Monahan (19:13) of the Calgary Flames, (20:34) and (20:13) of the Dallas Stars, Ryan Johansen of the Nashville Predators (19:46), and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers (19:06), according to Natural Stat Trick.

Independent of his role, Stastny can help boost shot-based metrics for Winnipeg, which is tied for 14th in the NHL with an SAT of plus-127 (2,785-2,658) at 5-on-5.

Since 2009-10, teams have outshot opponents 8,257-8,036 with Stastny on the ice at 5-on-5, for an SAT of plus-221. In relative terms, Stastny has boosted his team's share of shot attempts from 48.74 to 50.68 percent, for a Relative SAT of plus-1.94 percent. This season, his Relative SAT of plus-5.23 percent ranks 38th among those to play at least 20 games.

Winning face-offs is one of the ways Stastny helps give his teams the advantage in shot attempts. He has a face-off winning percent of 53.4 in his NHL career, and his 55.2 percent this season is tied for 20th among those to take at least 200 face-offs.

Stastny can also help bolster Winnipeg's special teams, which are already among the League's best. The Jets are second in the NHL on the power play (24.4 percent) and tied for fifth on the penalty kill (82.8 percent). In his NHL career, Stastny has averaged 3:00 per game on the power play and 1:25 killing penalties. This season, he has averaged 2:44 and 1:09. https://www.nhl.com/news/eight-stanley-cup-contenders-load-up-before-nhl-trade-deadline/c- 296401530?tid=278542340

Eight contenders load up for playoff run before Trade Deadline Teams strengthen Cup chances by adding key pieces by Nicholas J. Cotsonika @cotsonika / NHL.com Columnist

In the days, hours and minutes before the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline on Monday, rivals traded with rivals, first-round draft picks went flying, and the best teams got even better.

Each of the top six teams in the NHL standings made significant improvements. So did the Pittsburgh Penguins, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions and the top team in the League since Jan. 5. Don't forget the San Jose Sharks, the runners-up in 2016 either.

Here is look at eight teams that loaded up for the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Winnipeg Jets Paul Stastny is a good No. 2 center on most teams and should be an excellent No. 3 for the Jets behind Mark Scheifele and Bryan Little. Better yet, he waived his no-trade clause to leave the St. Louis Blues. He wants to be in Winnipeg for this run.

Stastny, 32, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, is a smart, dependable, two- way player. He adds valuable playoff experience to a team that doesn't have much, with 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 55 NHL playoff games.

TSN.ca https://www.tsn.ca/tradecentre/video/has-jets-top-nine-surpassed-the-maple-leafs~1335195 (VIDEO LINK)

Has Jets' top nine surpassed the Maple Leafs?

There was a lot of speculation but in the end, Erik Karlsson remained with the Senators. That's Hockey discusses how close Ottawa came to dealing its captain and debate whether or not the Jets have surpassed the Maple Leafs in terms of their top nine. https://www.tsn.ca/tradecentre/video/tradecentre-winners-and-losers~1335047

TradeCentre winners and losers

The TSN Hockey panel discusses which teams are the winners and losers from the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline, singling out the Jets, Penguins and Lightning as the big winners.

The Hockey News http://www.thehockeynews.com/news/article/jets-make-major-splash-landing-stastny-from- blues-for-foley-first-round-pick

JETS MAKE MAJOR SPLASH LANDING STASTNY FROM BLUES FOR FOLEY, FIRST-ROUND PICK

By: Jared Clinton

The Winnipeg Jets missed out on two of their reported targets in the days leading up to the trade freeze, but made the first big splash of deadline day by landing center Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues.

First, Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff chased after Derick Brassard, only for that attempt to be blocked by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights. Next, the Jets reportedly took a look at Mark Letestu, but any potential deal for the center went up in smoke when he was acquired by the Nashville Predators and subsequently moved along to the . Back to the drawing board again, though, Cheveldayoff put together a package that resulted in the first major splash of deadline day.

In a shocking deal — with a division rival who only just fell out of a playoff position, no less — the Jets went out and landed Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a 2018 first- round pick, 2020 conditional fourth-round pick and 20-year-old prospect Erik Foley. The Blues retained 50 percent of Stastny’s salary in the swap.

It's a significant acquisition for Winnipeg, one that most certainly fills the void at center that Cheveldayoff seemed dead-set on addressing. On a number of teams, Stastny, 32, would likely enter the lineup as a second-line center and it is possible he skates those kind of minutes for Winnipeg at some point before the playoffs. Ideally, though, Stastny will play in a third-line role, which would give the Jets spectacular depth down the middle and a 1-2-3 punch of Mark Scheifele, Bryan Little and Stastny. That’s no doubt a group that can compete with the toughest groups in the Central Division and Western Conference, and once Adam Lowry returns, he can slide onto the fourth line and provide even more matchup trouble.

What gives the Stastny deal even more potential to be a success is that the current lineup structure in Winnipeg could see the veteran pivot play between Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers. Over the past several games, Jets coach Paul Maurice has had Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor on either side of Scheifele, Little between Perreault and Jack Roslovic and Andrew Copp centering the “third” unit with Laine and Ehlers. It would seem Stastny is the perfect option to replace Copp in that rotation, and putting a pure playmaking center with Laine and Ehlers — who are first and second in goal-scoring for the Jets with 31 and 24 tallies, respectively — stands to make that line all the more lethal.

While true that this hasn't been the greatest year of Stastny’s career statistically speaking, he is on pace to crack the 50-point plateau for the first time since 2013-14. And Stastny isn’t necessarily being brought in to be a top point producer, anyway. Rather, he’s expected to chip in, which he almost certainly will do if he plays between Laine and Ehlers, while providing the extra depth that could help Winnipeg get over the top in a division that is as hotly contested as any in the league.

Make no mistake, either, this is a sign the Jets are all-in. Winnipeg has been excellent this season in almost every facet, with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck’s resurgence after last season’s struggles the backbone of a Jets team that could legitimately challenge for the top seed in the West by the time the campaign closes. Stastny seems to understand that, too, as he waived his no-movement clause to head to Winnipeg. The Jets definitely had the cap space, the assets and the foundation in place to make such a trade, too, as they boast one of the league’s deepest prospect pools.

From the Blues’ perspective, the trade is somewhat surprising in that St. Louis is only a single point out of the final wild-card spot in the West. However, with offensive struggles plaguing the team, GM Doug Armstrong seems to have decided that it’s in his team’s best interest to sell what rentals he may have and take another run next season. That’s actually a rather astute move considering all signs point to a Winnipeg-Nashville showdown for the Central crown come the playoffs.

To be sure, Stastny was the Blues’ top rental as he entered the final months of his four-year, $28-million contract, and St. Louis did manage to get a significant haul for moving the center and retaining half of his contract. The first-round pick, which the Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe reported is lottery protected, will likely fall in the bottom-third of the round, but it replenishes one of the picks that was lost in the Blues’ acquisition of Brayden Schenn in the off-season. And, in the very off chance Winnipeg misses the playoffs and nets the first, second or third overall pick in the upcoming draft, the selection will shift and give St. Louis two first-rounders come the 2019 draft. Meanwhile, Foley is an intriguing pickup. While he wasn’t ranked among the Jets’ best prospects, he has had a good season at NCAA Providence, registering 15 goals and 34 points in 32 games. He was a third-round selection of the Jets, 78th overall, at the 2015 draft. The condition on the fourth-round pick pertains to Foley signing with the Blues this summer.

TSN 1290 (AUDIO LINKS) https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/cheveldayoff-paul-stastny-is-a-tremendous-fit-for-us- 1.1011997

Cheveldayoff: Paul Stastny is a tremendous fit for us

Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff joins Andrew Paterson and Rick Ralph on the Afternoon Ride. They discuss the Jets acquisitions of Paul Stastny and Joe Morrow at the trade deadline and how the deals came together. https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/kelly-paul-stastny-is-one-of-the-league-s-premier- passers-1.1011973

Kelly: Paul Stastny is one of the league’s premier passers

Hockey analyst Mike Kelly spoke with Andrew Paterson and Rick Ralph about the Jets addition of Paul Stastny. They also discuss Tampa Bay’s trade for Ryan McDonagh and JT Miller, Vegas acquiring Tomas Tatar and the rest of the deadline deals. https://www.tsn.ca/radio/winnipeg-1290/ates-stastny-makes-his-teammates-better-1.1012010

Ates: Stastny makes his teammates better

Murat Ates of the Athletic discusses the skills Paul Stastny brings to the Jets and the new look of the lineup with Stastny at centre.

TSN 1050 Toronto (VIDEO LINK) https://www.tsn.ca/video/cheveldayoff-on-acquiring-stastny-jets-stretch-run~1335235

Cheveldayoff on acquiring Stastny, Jets' stretch run

OverDrive host Bryan Hayes and co-hosts Jeff O’Neill and Jamie McLennan are joined by Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and they discuss the Jets acquiring Paul Stastny at the trade deadline and how it sets the Jets up for the rest of the season. www.winnipegjets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/stastny-trade-a-sign-jets-ready-to-contend/c-296391454

Stastny trade a sign Jets ready to contend by Ryan Dittrick @ryandittrick / WinnipegJets.com

WINNIPEG - From the very outset of the season, the Winnipeg Jets felt they were ready to make noise.

But now, more than ever, the message is clear:

They're going for it.

In the hours leading up to Monday's NHL trade deadline, the Jets made one of the biggest moves of the day, acquiring veteran centre Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a 2018 first-round pick, prospect Erik Foley and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2020.

"I think we've been all in, all year," said captain Blake Wheeler, who is a friend of Stastny's and spoke with him on the phone late Sunday prior to the trade being finalized. "Even our comments in training camp, you could see the veteran guys were ready to take the step and our young guys were ready as well. Our team has been ready to take that step all year. You want to play for organizations that when the time is right, they care about winning. Even the year we made the playoffs we made some additions to get into the playoffs to help us get over the hump, but you want to just be given that opportunity.

"There's nothing set in stone. But you have an opportunity and that's what's exciting."

Stastny and Wheeler have the same agent and were teammates in Munich of the German League during the 2012 NHL lockout. Stastny, 32 and a UFA at year's end, waived his no-trade clause to come to Winnipeg, but Wheeler wasn't taking credit for any convincing.

He just wants to win.

"Anything (General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff) or Paul (Maurice) say, it will be flattering," Wheeler said. "This all came from (Stastny). The opportunity to contend was more attractive than anything I was going to say."

Wheeler suggested a while back that that the media "pump the brakes" on the contender talk considering how tight things are in the West, but at 37-16-9 and with only 20 games left in the regular season, the Jets are proving they're a force to be reckoned with.

"He knows this league as well as most, so he'd have a real good understanding of what we have here," said Head Coach Paul Maurice. "It's an affirmation that winning's important and he thinks that our team is in a position to do that.

"We've put ourselves in a pretty good position through the three-quarter pole this year to be a pretty good team in this league."

The announcement of the trade had a ripple effect in the dressing room, with players young and old sharing in the excitement of adding a player of Stastny's caliber, and what this means for the team as we head down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Patrik Laine, in particular, pulled no punches when asked what a move like this means to the team.

"It looks like we really want to win the Stanley Cup and I think we have a good chance to do it," he said. "This gives us a better chance to get there. I think we were happy with this team that we had, but now we're even happier."

Nikolaj Ehlers, who is likely to flank Stastny, with Laine on the opposite wing in his first game, agreed with that assessment. The Jets, after all, are on a 104-point pace and should be excited about the group they have.

Channeling that and making the most of it is their task the rest of the way.

"I don't think it stays anything other than we want to win it this year," Ehlers said. "We've known that from the start of the year and getting (Stastny) says exactly the same. We want to make it far this year and getting a guy like him is only going to help.

"The way we've played this year, we've been going for it from the start."

Stastny has 12 goals, 40 points and is 55 per cent on the dot this season. He'll add considerable depth and scoring punch to an already lethal Winnipeg lineup that currently sits only two points back of the Nashville Predators for first in the Central Division.

And wouldn't you know it?

The Jets host those very same Preds on Tuesday with Stastny in the fold for the first time.

Buckle up.

- Ryan Dittrick, WinnipegJets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/cheveldayoff-finds-the-right-fit-with-acquisitions-of-stastny-and- morrow/c-296390896

Cheveldayoff finds the right fit with acquisitions of Stastny and Morrow Jets make two deals prior to Monday's NHL trade deadline by Mitchell Clinton

WINNIPEG - One text message a couple of days ago changed everything for Winnipeg Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff.

It came from Doug Armstrong, the GM of the St. Louis Blues, and it was about a player Cheveldayoff had pursued in free agency a few years ago - Paul Stastny.

"He said depending on how some of the outcomes go in the direction for them, he may look at doing something," said Cheveldayoff. "I immediately responded that I'd be very interested if it ever got to that point. Then things progressed from there."

Did they ever.

After the Blues dropped two 4-0 decisions to the Jets and the Nashville Predators over the weekend, the two sides reached a verbal agreement that would send the 32-year-old centre to the Jets in exchange for a 2018 first round pick, prospect Erik Foley, and a conditional fourth round pick in 2020.

There was only one thing in the way, and that was Stastny's no-trade clause. The veteran of over 800 games in the NHL would have to waive that clause to make the deal work.

"Obviously the player had a decision to make. These are players and players' families decisions," said Cheveldayoff.

Stastny reached out to Jets captain Blake Wheeler. The two played together at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and with EHC Munchen of the during the 2012-13 lockout.

"Paul chose… to waive the (no-trade) in his contract, and leave his home to come play in Winnipeg," said Cheveldayoff. "That's an exciting thing for us, and certainly I believe once he gets here it's going to be an exciting thing for him."

But unlike many deals around the trade deadline, this one didn't leak out prior to both teams sending press releases. That was important to Cheveldayoff, and the Blues.

"We both knew that this was a person's family at stake. This was a person's decision at stake," Cheveldayoff said. "He earned the right to have that no-trade. So for us, there was never going to be any leakage, certainly from our side, to damage the reputation of that player."

While Cheveldayoff admitted the Jets were in on some negotiations with other teams regarding other available players, once the text from Armstrong came, the Jets GM was confident enough to focus solely on just that negotiation.

It was aggressive, as he was willing to let all the other deals go, even if it meant this one falling through as well.

"I would have been able to stand here and look you all straight in the eyes and say 'because I like my team,'" said Cheveldayoff, adding his confidence in the players that he has in the dressing room hasn't waivered. "In fact, it's actually been enhanced. We felt this was a tremendous fit for our organization on many different levels, on both of these trades."

The second deal the Jets made, shortly before the 2 pm CT trade deadline, was acquiring defenceman Joe Morrow from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

Morrow has played in 38 games for the Canadiens, scoring five goals and adding six assists. The Jets will be his third NHL team since being drafted by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft.

"The thing I think that impressed us the most is he played five of six games for Boston in the playoffs, and I believe he had over 20 minutes played in those games," said Cheveldayoff. "He can skate, he can move the puck, he's a left shot. I believe he can do a little swing back and forth to left and right. It's about flexibility.

"We've talked in our due diligence of the person and found all the great things from a person standpoint, which is extremely important from our perspective, bringing into our group at this period in time."

Cheveldayoff said the trade deadline is also the acknowledgement of the hard work the team's scouts put in, especially in the final few weeks.

Through the many scouting reports, the due diligence, and all the behind-the-scenes conversations, there was one thing Cheveldayoff wanted more than anything:

The right fit.

"We like our group. We liked our group going into these couple of days. We like it a lot," he said. "We were very cognizant that any thing that we were going to do was going to come with that measure of fit, both on the ice and off the ice.

"We feel very excited with what we've accomplished over the course of this trade deadline." https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/wheeler-jets-excited-to-welcome-stastny-to-winnipeg/c- 296386016

Wheeler, Jets excited to welcome Stastny to Winnipeg 32-year-old centre acquired in trade with St. Louis by Mitchell Clinton @MitchellClinton / WinnipegJets.com

WINNIPEG - Practice was still in session for the Winnipeg Jets when the news broke of the acquisition of Paul Stastny from the St. Louis Blues, but Blake Wheeler had more than an inkling that it may be happening.

"I talked to him briefly last night," said Wheeler. "Any questions he had, obviously I was more than happy to answer. I was excited about the prospect and wanted him to know that we were excited about the possibility. From there, the rest was up to him.

"Obviously his name wasn't even out there, so I was surprised to hear it, but my fingers were crossed."

Crossing his fingers worked, as Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was able to acquire the 32-year-old centre in exchange for a 2018 first round pick, prospect Erik Foley, and a conditional fourth round selection at the 2020 NHL Draft.

"Kevin, like he does every year, explored every option," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "This one fits specifically to what we need. We're pretty excited about that, that we have a chance to get better. "

Wheeler and Stastny played with Team USA at the 2014 Olympics, and with EHC Munchen of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga during the lockout in the 2012-13 NHL season, but they go back much further than that.

"We've had the same agent for a long time. Way back to when we were teenagers doing USA stuff, and went to a couple camps in Minnesota together too," said Wheeler, who has spent a lot of time around the Stastny family.

He's good friends with Paul's brother Yan, and has spent time with Paul and Yan's father Peter, who played 977 career games in the NHL, scoring 450 goals and amassing 1,239 points.

"His dad is as smart a hockey guy as there is out there. I've had an opportunity to sit in on a couple of those conversations, and it's pretty awesome," said Wheeler. "He's just a guy that has been around the rink his whole life, and been through a ton in his NHL career, played a ton of games, played in big games - just another guy to come in, bring confidence, and some leadership to our group."

Stastny has 12 goals and 40 points through 63 games with the St. Louis Blues this season, and has played in 805 career games between the Blues and the Colorado Avalanche.

Veterans like that are valuable for a young Jets team, says head coach Paul Maurice.

"We have experience in terms of young guys that have played some games," said Maurice. "A guy in the middle of the ice that's played 800 (games), that's taken a ton of face-offs, that knows the other teams, that knows the other players. All the real coaching on the bench goes between players.

"All those little subtle things, that's where those guys are worth their weight in gold."

Maurice said he still has two or three different possibilities for what line Stastny will play on, but adds he can play in all situations, including the power play and penalty kill.

He was valuable in the middle of the ice for St. Louis, as he was the centre that took the most defensive zone draws on the team (270). His 55.2 per cent face-off win percentage is also a welcome addition to the Jets, who are already the fifth best team in the dot this season.

"He's played against the other team's best by role for an awful lot of years. He has real nice vision and creativity," said Maurice. "We get a guy that we can move around with different people. He's a lot like the other centremen that we have, really versatile, which is important to us because we move our wings a fair amount."

Wheeler can't wait for Stastny to arrive, especially with another Central Division tilt on the schedule for tomorrow night, as the Jets host the Nashville Predators to open a quick two-game home stand.

"What he brings to our team is something that's going to be really helpful for us," said Wheeler. "He can plug into a number of holes, awesome face off guy, he's put up numbers his entire career. (He's) an outstanding guy in the room."