Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets terminated defenseman Dustin Byfuglien's contract Friday, making the veteran blueliner a free agent.

According to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, Byfuglien's release was part of an agreement between the two sides to settle the grievance Byfuglien filed against the Jets after the Jets suspended him in September.

Winnipeg suspended Byfuglien after he failed to report to the team during training camp while considering retirement.

Byfuglien did not report to the team at any point before the 2019-20 season was suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 35-year-old is a 14-year NHL veteran who has also spent time with the Chicago Blackhawks and Atlanta Thrashers, who later relocated and became the Jets. He spent eight seasons in Winnipeg and nine in the Jets organization counting his one season in Atlanta.

Byfuglien is a four-time All-Star and a one-time Stanley Cup champion who has been one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL over the past decade. The Roseau, Minnesota, native has racked up 177 goals and 348 assists for 525 points in 869 career regular-season games. He also finished with a plus rating in each of his past five campaigns after failing to do so in eight of his first nine seasons.

Entering the 2019-20 season, Byfuglien had appeared in at least 66 games in seven of the previous nine seasons. He reached the 45-point mark in each of those seven years.

While Byfuglien did spend some time at forward earlier in his career, he has primarily been a defenseman, which adds to the impressiveness of his seven career seasons with at least 15 goals, including two 20-goals seasons.

Byfuglien has excelled in the playoffs as well, registering 21 goals and 29 assists for 50 points in 66 postseason games.

When the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, Byfuglien played a major role, as he finished with 11 goals and 16 points in 22 playoff games.

Even without Byfuglien in the picture this year, the Jets own the No. 1 wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 80 points. It is unclear whether the NHL will attempt to finish the regular season or go straight into the playoffs if the 2019-20 season resumes.

While Byfuglien could decide to step away from the game for good, the fact that his contract with the Jets was terminated means he might intend to find a new home for the 2020-21 campaign and beyond.

The Winnipeg Jets have suspended defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who is on a leave of absence to consider his NHL future, for failing to report to training camp.

TSN's Bob McKenzie, who reported Byfuglien's leave of absence and news of his suspension, provided context behind Winnipeg's move in a series of tweets:

"If he doesn't report by opening day, WPG loses his cap hit until he does report.

"Not nearly as ominous as it sounds. WPG still wants Byfuglien back but needs to protect roster and cap flexibility until they know his intentions.

"The paperwork has been filed but it can be reversed at any time and it's not something that would come as any surprise to Byfuglien. In the meantime, WPG waits while he ponders his future."

The 34-year-old defenseman registered four goals and 27 assists in 42 games for the Jets last season. He's been with the franchise for nine years, including the Jets' final season as the Atlanta Thrashers before they moved north in 2011.

Byfuglien won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, posting 17 goals and 17 assists in the regular season and an impressive 11 goals and five assists in the playoffs.

The four-time All-Star is one of the league's more productive defensemen, but ankle injuries and a concussion forced the Jets' longest-tenured player off the ice for nearly half of last season.

Winnipeg could use him back to lead a young defensive core wherein the average age is 25. The first-line pairing figures to be the 22-year-old Sami Niku and the 24-year-old Josh Morrissey if he does not return.

It's unclear which way Byfuglien is leaning, but Jets head coach Paul Maurice told reporters Friday that he had a "wonderful conversation" with the team's alternate captain the day before.

Byfuglien signed a five-year, $38 million deal in 2016. If he returns to the team, he's due $8 million in 2019-20 and $6 million in 2020-21, per Spotrac.

The Jets open the regular season at the New York Rangers on Oct. 3. They are three games into a preseason slate that ends on Sept. 29.

Winnipeg finished last season with a 47-30-5 record, good enough for second in the Central Division and a postseason berth. The Jets lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in the first round. 

The New York Rangers confirmed the trade of center Kevin Hayes to the Winnipeg Jets ahead of Monday's deadline in exchange for a 2019 first-round pick, forward Brendan Lemieux and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft.

Bob McKenzie of TSN first reported the deal.

Hayes, 26, was one of a number of Rangers on the block as the team looks to rebuild. He has posted 42 points (14 goals, 28 assists) in 51 games played this season and will be a free agent this summer.

"I'm excited to get to Winnipeg and play tomorrow," Hayes told TSN (h/t ESPN). "I'm a forward who likes to pass first and make the guys around me a little better.

"I've been in New York five years and have made some pretty good friendships here. I'm sure Winnipeg will be just as fun."

Lemieux, 22, has put up 11 points (nine goals, two assists) in 44 games played. The 2014 second-round pick is in his second NHL season but was averaging just seven minutes and 25 seconds of playing time.

The Rangers are currently seventh in the Metropolitan Division with 63 points and will need a turnaround to make the postseason. 

The Jets are in first place in the Central Division and are looking to build on a conference finals appearance last season. Hayes should slot into their second line and fortify the center position for a deep playoff push. 

The Winnipeg Jets announced Tuesday that they signed winger Blake Wheeler to a five-year, $41.25 million contract extension.

Wheeler has spent the past eight seasons with the franchise after beginning his NHL career as a member of the Boston Bruins.    

The 32-year-old veteran is coming off his best season, as he scored 23 goals while adding a league-leading 68 assists for a career-high 91 points.

Wheeler was also a driving force in Winnipeg's run to the Western Conference Final with 21 points in 17 playoff games.

The Plymouth, Minnesota, native has topped the 70-point plateau in three consecutive seasons, and he has 23 or more goals in five straight campaigns.

Selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2004 draft by the then-Phoenix Coyotes, Wheeler declined to sign his rookie contract before joining the Bruins as a free agent in July 2008.

Wheeler spent parts of three up-and-down seasons with Boston before the team dealt him to the Atlanta Thrashers in 2011 along with defenseman Mark Stuart in exchange for forward Rich Peverley and defenseman Boris Valabik.

That trade paid big dividends for the Thrashers/Jets franchise, as Wheeler has developed into one of the NHL's top right wingers.

Wheeler was named an All-Star for the first time last season, and he has 605 points (fourth among right wings since his rookie season in 2008-09) in 778 career regular-season games.

He is as reliable as they come with just six missed games over the past seven seasons.

By signing Wheeler to an extension, the Jets ensured that he will not hit free agency next offseason and locked him up through the 2023-24 campaign.    

Mark Scheifele can't be stopped.

The Winnipeg Jets center, who has been on a tear throughout the 2018 postseason, continued to light the lamp at historic rates Wednesday night when he scored his 13th and 14th goals of the playoffs in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Thanks to his tally 18 seconds into the third period at T-Mobile Arena, Scheifele captured sole possession of the NHL's road postseason scoring record with 11 goals.

The Calgary Flames' Joe Mullen (1989) and Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (2009) owned the previous record at 10 road goals, per Sportsnet Stats.

Needless to say, Scheifele's looking like the clear Conn Smythe Trophy front-runner.

Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun reported Wednesday that the Winnipeg Jets and forward Nikolaj Ehlers agreed to terms on a seven-year, $42 million contract extension.

The 21-year-old Ehlers is set to enter his third NHL season, and he is coming off a 2016-17 campaign that saw him set career highs with 25 goals and 39 assists for 64 points.

By signing Ehlers to a new deal Wednesday, the Jets prevented him from hitting restricted free agency during the offseason and avoided the possibility of an offer sheet.

With a cap hit of $7 million per season, Ehlers will become the Jets' highest-paid player annually beginning in 2018-19, according to NHL Numbers.

The Jets selected Ehlers with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft after the Denmark native racked up 49 goals and 55 assists for 104 points in 2013-14 with the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads.

After spending 2014-15 with the Mooseheads, Ehlers made the leap to the NHL and was an instant contributor with 15 goals and 38 points in 72 games as a rookie.

Ehlers improved in all areas last season, and he is a key part of a stacked Winnipeg forward group that also includes Patrik Laine, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler.

The Winnipeg Jets have made an upgrade at goalie after reportedly agreeing to a deal with free agent Steve Mason. 

Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press reported the Jets are expected to announce Mason's signing Saturday. Details are not yet known under terms of the collective bargain agreement, which doesn't allow teams to discuss contracts or signings until free agency officially begins at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Mason's career started with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008-09. He made an immediate impression as a rookie with 10 shutouts en route to winning the Calder Memorial Trophy.

After five seasons with the Blue Jackets, Mason was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in April 2013. He was a stable presence in goal for the Flyers, allowing an average of 2.47 goals with a save percentage of 91.8 in 231 games.

The Jets needed to boost their goalie depth after allowing the fourth-most goals in the NHL last season. Connor Hellebuyck just finished his second season, and his goals-against average climbed from 2.34 in 2015-16 to 2.89 in 56 games played last season.

Winnipeg Jets winger Patrik Laine tallied two goals in Tuesday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, setting the franchise record for most goals as a rookie, per Sportsnet Stats. Ilya Kovalchuk previously held the record of 29 from when the club was the Atlanta Thrashers in his rookie 2001-02 season.

Laine also became just the ninth player in NHL history to total 30 goals before turning 19 years old, per Sportsnet Stats. Laine, who turns 19 on April 19, sits behind just superstar Sidney Crosby (33) for the league lead in that category, but his 24 assists don't measure up to Crosby's 33 thus far.

The youngster squared off with fellow rookie star Auston Matthews for the second time this season Tuesday. He has notched five goals on seven shots between the two contests. Matthews hasn't lit the lamp in the two matchups but did dish out four assists and recorded eight shots on goal.

The two have clearly separated themselves as the leaders in the race for the Rookie of the Year. Laine's offensive stats have slightly outpaced Matthews' so far, but the Toronto Maple Leafs' first overall pick is generally regarded as a better all-around player than the one selected right after him.

Regardless of the outcome of that race, Winnipeg should be pleased with Laine's early results. A year after finishing with the second-worst record in the NHL, the Jets now sit just two points out of a playoff spot with 19 games remaining.

All this marks a step in the right direction for the franchise. Laine's presence up front—along with a couple other young contributors like Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers—puts the club in good position for years to come.

The NHL suspended Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba two games for his hit on Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone in Winnipeg's 3-2 win Sunday, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Monday.

In a video explaining the punishment, the department argued Trouba illegally targeted Stone's head:

"It’s a clear hit to the head with the shoulder," Senators coach Guy Boucher said of the play, per Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "It’s one of the best players in the league, so, I mean, I think everybody saw the same thing."

Both TSN 1290's Jim Toth and TSN's Gary Lawless contrasted the league's handling of Trouba's hit with its response to a similar check by Evgeni Malkin on Mark Wheeler:

The Pittsburgh Penguins star hit Jets forward Blake Wheeler high during the Jets' 4-3 overtime loss last Thursday. The NHL declined to hold a hearing on any retroactive punishment for Malkin. 

Winnipeg has two more games to close out February. It faces off with the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night and then takes on the Minnesota Wild a week later. The Winnipeg Free Press' Jeff Hamilton believes Trouba's absence exacerbates the team's current situation:

The Jets sit a point back of the Calgary Flames, who have played three fewer games, for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Although there's still over a month left in the regular season, Winnipeg can ill afford to drop too many points while Trouba is out.

Trouba's punishment arguably fits the crime, but Jets fans are right to be critical of the NHL opting against levying a similar suspension toward Malkin.

Winnipeg Jets winger Patrik Laine posted his third NHL hat trick in Tuesday's game against the Dallas Stars. At 18 years and 302 days of age, Laine became the youngest player in league history to post a trio of hat tricks, per the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info).

Laine has 47 points—26 goals and 21 assists—through 51 games this season. The rookie out of Finland was selected second overall in the 2016 NHL entry draft and has paid immediate dividends for Winnipeg.

The Jets ended last season with the worst record (35-39-8) in the Central Division and third-worst mark in the Western Conference. The club has displayed some signs of improvement just a year later, possessing a 26-29-4 record early in the second half of the season.

Winnipeg sits ahead of the Stars and Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division and still stands an outside shot at a playoff berth.

While 2016-17 may not be the year Winnipeg makes its return to the postseason, the club appears to be trending in the right direction. The team's biggest downfall comes on the defensive end of the ice. Through 59 games this season, the Jets have allowed the third-most goals per game (3.15) in the NHL.

Still, the Jets have some young pieces—including 23-year-old goaltender Connor Hellebuyck—that could make them contenders in the future. Laine remains under contract for at least three more seasons before potentially becoming a restricted free agent. With other young guns such as Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele under contract for the foreseeable future, the club should have a solid presence on the offensive end for years to come.