According to Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press, “There are some significant NHL trade winds blowing in the direction of the Winnipeg Jets once again.”
After landing Paul Stastny from the Vegas Golden Knights just hours before the free agent market opened up, the Jets have relatively busy signing free agents. They added Derek Forbort and re-signed Dylan Demelo, Luca Sbisa and Nathan Beaulieu for their blue line, while acquiring C.J. Suess and Dominic Toninato at forward (both depth players). Now, it’s a matter of shuffling roster pieces around to make everything work.
According to the article, two sources told the Free Press on Sunday the hockey club is in talks to move restricted free agent forward Jack Roslovic and the Jets are seeking a high-end defenseman, preferably a left-shot.
With all the additions, the Jets still didn’t add a top-four who could slide into a top-four role along with Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk and Dylan DeMelo. That’s what the team badly needs and they’re plan is to use a potential top-six forward to acquire it.
In Winnipeg, Roslovic is playing under what many believe his ceiling is. He’s been stuck in the bottom-six but many believe he has top-six potential. If a team sees this and is willing to take on the RFA, possibly getting him to sign a team-friendly deal, he could pay dividends as a value signing.
Roslovic just completed his entry-level deal and had 12 goals and 17 assists in 71 games last year, He has 26 goals and 41 assists in 180 career NHL regular-season games.
Who Would Be the Jets Target?
The Vegas Golden Knights are rumored to be ready to move defender Nate Schmidt. He’s part of the Alex Pietrangelo puzzle and it’s likely the team clears out his salary to make room for the big-ticket free agent.
Buzz is that Florida is somehow involved in all of this, but LeBrun shot that down… at least, he shot down the notion that a trade to the Panthers was already a done deal.
But, if the Jets add Schmidt, they’ll need to make other moves to clear space for his salary.
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