‘Considering anything and everything’: Cheveldayoff in wait-and-see mode ahead of NHL Draft Friday

The Winnipeg Jets are looking ahead to the NHL Entry Draft, which begins Friday.

Between Friday and Saturday, the newest members of the Winnipeg Jets organization will have their names called.

The first round of the NHL Draft is set to get underway Friday at 6 p.m. and Winnipeg has the 28th overall pick.

It will be a decentralized draft—meaning team executives will be staying home and announcing the picks virtually, compared to other years when everyone was based in one facility.

The Jets execs, including general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, will be hunkered down in True North’s corporate office.

“I think people are generally talking about the same names. It’s just what order and where they fit. So, it will be interesting,” said Cheveldayoff.

“Our analytics department spends a great deal of time poring over past lists and just projections and probabilities and stuff like that.”

With their pick further down the list, Cheveldayoff said there is a wait-and-see approach to this year’s draft. As names come off the board (or stay on it) they will adjust accordingly.

“I guess that’s the fun part of the anticipation. Certainly, we’ll have a long time to anticipate, less time than last year when we didn’t have a first-round pick, but at 28, it’ll be an interesting process.”

He noted this time of year really brings out the art of scouting, as each team can have a different list of where a player goes, which could lead to teams getting players they wouldn’t think were available.

“Sometimes you’re sitting at the table and you have to audibly gasp or hold your gasp in because someone takes a player that you may have in your second round or something.”

Improving the team via a trade was also brought up at Cheveldayoff’s morning news conference Thursday. He was asked if there is any possibility that the first-round pick gets traded so they can take the next step toward trying to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

“We’ve been considering anything and everything, really. It comes down to what opportunities that are out there that you have the right currency for. Sometimes it’s players, sometimes it’s picks,” he said. “We’ve used lots of picks in other forms to try and keep pushing this team, and that’s what we’ll continue to look at—anything that is available to us to keep pushing it forward.”

As for what position the Jets could be drafting, Cheveldayoff didn’t tip his hand.

“There seem to be lots of forwards that people are talking about. There’s obviously some good defencemen. You don’t know where they’re going to fall to you yet. I think every scout probably has their own wish and hope list, and that’s kind of what you’re going through here right now to talk about.”

Outside of the first round, the Jets also have picks in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. Their second and fourth round picks were previously traded away.

In non-draft-related news, Cheveldayoff was asked about the soon-to-be newest Jets signing, Jonathan Toews.

Since the news was announced last week that he plans on making his return to the NHL in Winnipeg, Cheveldayoff said they have had great conversations with Toews, and he is excited to come home to play with the Jets.

“He’s on board with both feet, sort of speaking. He was talking about testing; he was talking about what are the standards.”

Toews won’t be introduced to media on July 1 as he has other commitments, but when he finally does make his way to Winnipeg, Cheveldayoff said everyone will be able to see and hear how excited Toews is to be back in the NHL.