Is there a future for Neal Pionk with the Jets?

Neal Pionk has had an excellent season for a Winnipeg Jets team amidst an incredible season, with 9 goals and 28 assists for 37 points in 65 games. He’s cooled off after a hot start that saw him get 17 of those points in the first 16 games, but it’s still his most productive season since his innaugural season with the Jets that saw him 45 points in 71 games.

But with Pionk’s contract up this season, and not a lot of chatter surrounding an extension, is there a future with the Jets for Pionk? Murat Ates of the Athletic joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about Pionk’s contract status and whether or not the Jets will re-sign him.

Murat Ates: I’ve talked to Neal Pionk about this, even recently, and I think he’s comfortable with how things are going. “That’s why I pay my agent”, that sort of deal.

And I think that the Jets have been in touch with all the key agents, not just with him, but he routinely shares Dylan Sandberg as his defense partner, [and he’s a] restricted free agent this summer. So that pair, I expect both of them back, and I expect Pionk is somebody that the organization values quite a bit.

What that number is going to be, it could be high given the offensive ability that he has. Few guys are actually as good as he is at getting that wrist shot, a soft shot through that first layer of defenders, that gets you tips, that gets you chaos in front. He’s really good at that. It leads to a lot of points. So I think he will be back. I think the price could be a little bit high based on the point production.

But yeah, I’m not sitting here thinking that there’s any major red alarms here because he hasn’t signed as of this point.

You can watch the full episode here…