NHL Players Want to Play in Winnipeg

NHL Players Want to Play in Winnipeg

What’s going on everybody? Welcome back to another video. And today we’re going to be talking about the Winnipeg narrative, right? You know, the quote unquote narrative that no one wants to sign in Winnipeg. Uh, you know, making this video because Gabe Valardi just re-uped on a six-year extension worth $7.5 million. Very team friendly. I don’t see the Jets, you know, as overpaying him here. I think this is a very fair deal and will age very well as the cap goes up in the future. But, you know, this is just another Winnipeg jet that has come on down to Winnipeg and has stayed and, you know, signing long-term. And, you know, we’ve seen other guys like Neil Peon this last season, uh, you know, get that big contract, the big long-term deal, uh, you know, ask for a no trade clause on top of that, right? Like he does not want to leave Winnipeg. And, you know, this is something that, you know, is becoming more of a trend over the last few years. You know, it started really, you know, I I have to think with, you know, Mark Shley and Connor Hellabuk there kind of looked like they were out the door, both coming off of off years for their standards. And, you know, their names were in the rumor mill. And then, you know, right before the season started, boom, long-term extension signed long-term. And since then, you know, the Jets have had, you know, quite a bit of success. Obviously, last year winning the President’s Trophy, uh, you know, that is, you know, not taken lightly across the league. That was a big step for the organization and it makes players believe that you can win in Winnipeg. And you know, we’re seeing this in house right now as you know, Gabe Valardi, a guy that played in California, met his girlfriend in California, you know, got traded here. You know, I kind of wondered, you know, would he sign longterm? I wasn’t sure if he would reup longterm. I was really wondering as the days went on if this one would turn into maybe a short-term deal and maybe he’d request a trade, you know, something for his family, right? you know, maybe he wanted to, you know, have a family down down south again, right? Like, who knows, right? That’s what I was really wondering about, but no, wants to stay longterm in Winnipeg. Said it felt feels like home. And, you know, you got to love it. And, you know, that is going to put players on notice around the league. And, you know, we’ve already seen it this year. You know, they weren’t big deals in free agency, but the Jets signed a lot more guys than I anticipated. And uh you know, Goose Nyquist obviously coming over here, a guy that yes, on a one-year deal, yes, you know, 35 years old, but a guy that I didn’t really anticipate would sign in Winnipeg as, you know, quality free agent. The Jets don’t sign a lot of those. Jonathan Taves, you know, he’s from Winnipeg. I’m not really counting that. You know, obviously he just wants to come home, but I also don’t think he would have signed here if he doesn’t think that he has a good chance to win as well, right? So, I think that goes into part of it, too. So, you know, over time, you know, we take a look at some of the extensions. You know, the guys that Winnipeg has brought in, Vlad Nemesikov, Alex Aafalo, he was included in the Gabe Polardi deal, of course, you know, Nino Nether Rider, all those guys that have been acquired in the last few years have re-uped in Winnipeg, you know, one or two times now already. Um, and it’s just getting to the point now where this is becoming a very common theme. Guys want to stick around in Winnipeg. And even the guys that aren’t being brought back, you know, have a lot of good things to say. Mason Appleton, he wanted to stay in Winnipeg. That was, you know, made very public. Ultimately, the Jets did not offer him a deal. Um, and uh, you know, that is what it is. He went elsewhere. And, you know, I know people are going to say, well, Nikolai Eelers didn’t resign, and yes, he didn’t. But, you know, he left seeing like how good of a city Winnipeg was, how much he enjoyed his time here in Winnipeg. He just wanted to move on, have a new challenge, right? He thought that he could, you know, win more somewhere else. And that’s fine. But it wasn’t because Winnipeg is cold. That wasn’t cuz Winnipeg’s shitty. It was because he wanted a new challenge in his career. It was a really hard decision for him, you know, as he professed in his uh uh, you know, exit letter, whatever you want to call it. But now, you know, we shift our focus over to Dylan Samberg, who still needs a contract uh, you know, before July 30th or he has to go to arbitration. Uh, you know, it’s been heavily stated that he wants to stay in Winnipeg long term. Uh, you can see himself here. I think it’ll be a long-term uh, very comfy contract for him. I imagine somewhere in the $7 million range. That would be perfect. As you know, the cap goes up. It’s going to look like quite a steal in a couple of seasons as the cap goes up a ton. As I stated earlier in this video, uh so, you know, with player salaries likely going up in the next few years, you know, $7 million deals for guys like Valardi and Samberg. That’s going to look like chump change in a few years. So, very exciting stuff here for the Jets as, you know, imagine that uh you know, Samberg will resign in the coming days here. And you know, this is very interesting time for the narrative to be changing here in Winnipeg because, you know, we take a look at the Jets lineup this year and this is a lineup that I’ve criticized a little bit looking at it, right? And you know, obviously this is just a projection, but either way you make it here outside of that top line, you really need to add some skill to this top six. Obviously losing Nikolai Eelers, you’re taking a step back, but you need to find a guy with some speed. You need to find a guy with some scoring. Uh because I do worry about this team a little bit. uh you know with their speed that is a little bit scary to me. You know maybe we see Brad Lambert check in at some point. Maybe we see some younger guys make an appearance here and there but uh you know they do really do need a bonafide top six option and uh you know a lot of teams are out there looking for one of course but uh you know they really do need a differencemaker to that lineup. Maybe it’s easier to do now. You know maybe some guys are willing to you know wave some no trade clauses, some no move clauses to come to Winnipeg. You never know, right? So interesting time for the narrative to change here in the city, but uh going into the 2526 season here, Jets got a lot of work ahead of them. And uh you know, I do wonder if it becomes a tad easier for Kevin Chevel off given, you know, the President’s Trophy success, right? Do guys start to say, “Hey, I want to see what’s out there in Winnipeg, too. I want to see what all the hype’s about.” You know, we’re definitely going to see going forward here as uh you know, obviously going back to the trade deadline, they tried to acquire Brock Nelson. he decided to wave his no move clause and obviously he wasn’t you know fantastic in Colorado but I do think he would have flourished with guys like an Eers like a Perfetti right I think it would have been a very good fit so if you can bring in a player maybe not Brock Nelson obviously but a player like that around the trade deadline or mid-season at some point to bolster this lineup I’m sure the Jets are going for it this year if you can do that then you got some you know you got some chances here you know you could do a lot of stuff here last year was a lot of going to need Connor Hellbuck to be a monster like he was last season. Uh but you know, I do think that this team has a chance if they make some tweaks. We’ll see what they do going forward. Now, to end off this video, I am going to be talking about Kyle Connor because he is eligible for an extension. He’s on the last year of his contract and he will be getting a sizable raise whether it’s with the Winnipeg Jets or not. But if it’s not going to be with the Winnipeg Jets, they have to move him mid year, right? I made a video about this already a couple weeks ago. could be their very own Ratin situation if he doesn’t want to resign. But I take a look at the guys that have already bought in like a Hella, like a Shley, you know, Valardi now, uh, you know, Samberg kind of sounds like he’s signing that long-term deal. Um, you know, you look around here, you’ve got all these guys buying in. I kind of wonder if Kyle Connor decides to do the same, right? Maybe he does want to go back home. And if that is the case, the Jets have to figure something out. But if he does want to stay like a lot of these guys, you know, have, you know, really showed with their long-term deals, then, you know, you kind of wonder, uh, you know, is it that likely that he wants to leave? I’m not so sure. Right. Right now, I would probably guess that the Jets are going to be able to resign Connor, uh, you know, probably a 5, six, sevenyear deal. We’ll see what happens there. But if you’re able to lock up one of the league’s best goal scorers, that is going to turn a lot of heads around the league, right? So, very interesting situation going forward here for Winnipeg with Connor. We’ll see what happens. That is going to be, you know, a big, you know, franchise altering decision, right? Whether you’re able to keep him or move him because then, you know, you’re going to have to make some tweaks and some adjustments obviously. But Kyle Connor, that is going to be a name of discussion as the season goes on. and uh you know with the Winnipeg narrative kind of changing with the direction that things seem to have been going as of late I kind of think he resigns but we’ll see what happens um going forward here with that but that’s all I got today guys I just wanted to you know kind of point out how things are changing here in Winnipeg over the last few seasons with their success it’s brought in some players uh that you know maybe didn’t imagine themselves being long-term Winnipeg Jets but by the end of it you know they signed a long-term deal it’s very interesting to see uh you know how that’s progressed over the last few years and where they were you know about four or five seasons ago. Uh but going into next season it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll see what they do and uh yeah, we’ll see how some of these contract situations play out and uh you know the big one obviously being Kyle Connor. But what do you guys think? Uh leave a comment down below. Do you think the narrative is going to change even more for Winnipeg? Do you think these long-term deals matter? I want to hear from you guys. Right. Uh I’m out of here. See you guys in the next one. Go Jets go. Bye-bye.

The Winnipeg Jets are a small market NHL team that often has issues getting players to stay, or even sign with them. However, the past few seasons have seen this narrative flip, as many players are deciding to sign long term deals in Winnipeg. Will to continue?

Thanks so much for watching! If you want to stay up to date with all of my Jets content, leave a like and subscribe for more!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jetshubyt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JetsHubYT

#NHL #winnipegjets #gojetsgo #nhljets #hockey #sports