How the Jets’ long-term commitment to their core has allowed them to be successful in 2024-25
The Winnipeg Jets are still seeking their first Stanley Cup – but if they get that in the near future, it’ll likely be because they stuck to their guns.
GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has never really blown things to the ground since becoming the team’s first boss. Much of the group’s core has been with the team for years – including some, like Mark Scheifele, since the team’s first draft in 2011.
In a recent chat with Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli in an episode of Frankly Speaking, Cheveldayoff talked about how having familiar faces in the dressing room has allowed the team to remain competitive:
Frank Seravalli: “You mentioned the continuity and how that’s been important, not just from a coaching staff perspective, but a lot of the faces that are the faces of this team have been there for quite a while. How much do you think that’s helped just in terms of the overall success that you guys have had year in and year out?
Kevin Cheveldayoff: “Well, I think one thing that in this league, it’s tough to change 180-degree directions too often. I’ve seen over the course of time when you study teams and you study when they make changes, whether it’s at the coaching level or the managerial level or ownership level, and they try to shift the philosophy too fast, it’s almost like a whiplash. You can’t bring it around fast enough for everyone’s expectations, and sometimes then, you overcorrect, or you overcompensate for different things.
“So I think that for us, it’s been fortunate. Our philosophies haven’t changed, but we have had to tweak things. We’ve been fortunate that over a period of time in our early years when we were drafting in the teens or the tens, that we were able to get some very good players that have developed over the course of time. But even more importantly, committed to us through their prime years. Whether they all commit like Scheifele and Hellebuyck into their career years, we’ll wait and see.
“The thing that has happened organically is most of those players grew up together and are trying to win together. That was a real common theme when I sat down with Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck before we got their contracts done. First and foremost, they wanted to win, and they wanted to win with this group. Mark Scheifele was our very first pick in the draft. Some people say maybe we stepped up to take him, but for us, there was a strong desire if he was there, he was going to be our guy. But even more understated is Adam Lowry was our second pick. Even though it was a third-round pick, he was our second pick of that draft, and now here he is, the captain. Josh Morrissey, who again has just worked so hard to put himself into the situation that he is as a player in this league. You can go on and say Kyle Connor, we drafted him. Nick Ehlers, Cole Perfetti, Dylan Samberg, all good players.”
You can listen to the full episode below: