Nikolaj Ehlers Is Planning To Test Free Agency, But That Doesn’t Mean The End For The Winnipeg Jets

Nikolaj Ehlers Is Planning To Test Free Agency, But That Doesn’t Mean The End For The Winnipeg Jets

nick Elers is going to test free agency on July 1st but that may not be the end of his saga with the Winnipeg Jets you’re locked on Jets your daily podcast on the Winnipeg Jets part of the Locked On Network your team every day hey friends and welcome to tonight’s episode of Locked On Winnipeg Jets part of the Locked On Network your team every day i’m your host Harrison Lee an avid Winnipeg Jets fan and an online blogger you can follow me on Twitter at hliving loco and at l_winnipeg jets thanks for making Lockdown Jets your first listen of the day every day if you enjoy what you’re hearing be sure to like follow and subscribe on all of your favorite podcasting platforms and YouTube doing so of course is always free of charge and ensures you never miss another episode most of all though we just love and appreciate your support tonight’s episode obviously there is a lot to talk about uh the free agent market continues to evolve and of course the Jets have a big one who is now going to test free agency per Elliot Freriedman the Eer’s impact and and his loss if it does happen could be very big but it may not be the end of a saga here in Winnipeg there’s a lot to talk through and some other free agents may have a big bearing on what happens with Slick Nick of course one of those free agents is Mitch Marner want to chat about his potential transfer to another team and also some good Jets news for one of our young prospects alons Frey has signed his ELC so exciting times ahead for the Jets younger players but of course the current core is dealing and grappling with the potential departure of Nick Eers this is a big one right we’ve talked a lot about Eers over the years you know I’m a big fan i know a lot of you do like him some of you are a little more pessimistic on his game than I am uh and he’s always been one of those players who gives you a lot more than he gives up people often kind of focus on the the the turnovers and stuff which is partly because he just does so much to try and create offense there’s really not many players on this team who have possession as much as he does because he tries to create so much sometimes he gets a little over ambitious but his overall transition work his creativity his skill all that stuff makes him one of the most dynamic attacking forwards in the league when you look at his 5v5 scoring rates per 60 minutes he actually ranks in the top 10 of the entire NHL this list includes guys like McKinnon McDavid you name it they’re on it so relative to his ice time he’s producing 5v5 points at an absurd rank he’s like ninth or so on the list which is still incredible right all this while he’s actually playing something like 14 to 16 minutes a night really not that much um and the thing with how you know with him and and how he’s played usually is because uh oftentimes he short shifts but I really feel like you should just double shift Eers more i feel like there are very simple solutions to the way that the Jets occasionally have some interesting uh ice time and deployment splits they haven’t really gone that route yet so we’ll see if that changes in the future but as far as Eers is concerned he is going to be one of the hottest names on the market mitch Mner will be the first free agent that’s really going to set the tone um and what’s curious about all of this is Eers is the number two but I don’t really know how teams look at him right nick has missed a fair few number of games over the years last year was his first 82 game season in forever maybe ever i I don’t know if he’s if he’s actually had an 82 game season uh before this one i can’t recall um you know usually he does miss time and so when he finally has a full healthy one it’s a a minor miracle now some of the recent seasons have also been cut short due to co so that’s something to to factor in a little bit but having Nick in your team is just a blessing and this year you know his power play work really put him on uh I would say the score sheet map traditionally he’s been you know 60 points in maybe 80ish or 70-ish games this year he was basically a point per game pace and it was only held back by the fact that he got hurt for a decent chunk of the season and so he missed like what 15 20 games that had a pretty noticeable impact on his final season ties and all of that just makes me wonder what his next contract is going to be like i have a feeling the Jets are not going to offer him as much money as other teams might uh Nick unfortunately has been you know underutilized by Winnipeg in a lot of ways and it wasn’t until this season that they tried to adjust and correct that to a point still not 100% there but better than it was in previous years you know the usage of him on the power play and the way that he’s completely transformed uh the 5v4 unit is really notable he was kind of your roaming destroyer uh creator sort of all over player he could do almost anything and uh you know I think Davis Payne uh is gonna have a really hard time figuring out who else can do the kind of stuff that Nick does i didn’t really expect him to deploy dealers as sort of the roaming rotating forward in and out of positions it actually worked an incredible treat i don’t know how Pay figured this one out but it made that power play one of the best in the league that versatility and that that danger and and threat really gave so many other opportunities for guys like Connor Schiffley and Valardi so that’s you know obviously a big asset that he has added and will surely show other teams that you know you can puters on the first power play unit and he’s probably going to do something fun if you have the right tactical system to match uh elsewhere you know the the 5v5 impact is a thing but because he’s missed games and because he doesn’t quite have the scoring repertoire of a lot of other players you know I kind of feel like he gets capped at like eight or eight and a half million i’m curious to know who out there would offer more uh with the Marner negotiations likely pushing into McDavid money the number two on the market has room to go up i I just I wonder with Nick right and I kind of feel like at the end of all of this the chance that he comes back would really depend on what other teams out there are offering decent money if the Jets kind of give a fair offer that’s pretty in line with other teams I wonder if the incentive is just to stick in Winnipeg right you know you you have a fairly decent chance to get through to deeper rounds in the Western Conference i have a feeling this off season’s going to be a lot more active than we’ve seen from the Jets i know a lot of you are usually a little less optimistic in the comments i feel like it’s going to change this year something feels a little bit different in the waters for Winnipeg um I just have a sense that you know this summer’s going to be a more active pattern than we’re used to partly by necessity but partly because I just think that there’s real pressure now um from the front office to start making some real changes and moves this team got as far as it could with the way that it’s built but I have a feeling that they’re not satisfied yet so Eers could be in maybe the better position uh the teams that would make use of him I could imagine Toronto Carolina uh I mean most of the league right i’ve talked about Utah being a fit vegas kind of sits out there to me you know the Knights haven’t really been discussed a lot recently uh but there is kind of a nightmare scenario where I do envision him in a Golden Knights uniform i don’t know how the money would work and I think that there would be some real challenges to make that happen but you know this is a team that did try to acquire I think it was either Marner or or Ron and I’m pretty sure it was Mner in like a three-way trade so I wouldn’t rule them out they could be in on one of these big names and if Mner goes to another team that instantly makes uh Eers one of the most desirable targets and you know there could be other teams even in the central that are eyeing up a Nick Eers really half the league if not more is going to be interested here i just question how much money is going to take to get him to move out of Winnipeg uh you know the Jets I hope they don’t lowball him i know that that’s something that’s part of the negotiating process and it happens but if you’re really serious about keeping Eers and you want to make him an offer that he really can’t you know or or really shouldn’t refuse this is probably your last chance but he is going to test free agency on July 1st not really surprising i just wonder you know once he does the survey he gets the offers out there is Winnipeg his best landing spot you know I feel like sometimes the comfort comfortable and familiar might end up being the best decision but the ball’s in his court i know why he would want to leave i can’t blame him for it this one is kind of on Winnipeg but maybe just maybe there’s still time to salvage the situation but of course we’re going to keep a very close eye on that and all of this kind of feeds into the bigger uh free agent uh market right now that’s continuing to evolve continues to see lots of rumors out there the biggest one though is Mitch Marner and he’s going to completely transform the landscape of of the free agent market for pretty much every team once somebody out there signs him i want to chat about why and what it could mean for Eers and company in just a brief second ever check your bank account and wonder where the heck all your money went between dining out online shopping and entertainment it’s easy to lose track that’s where Monarch Money comes in it’s your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app it’s a complete financial command center you can track all your accounts investments and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth when I started using Monarch I found out that I was wasting a lot more money on streaming services than I realized you know all those Winnipeg Jet streams and uh let’s be honest you know or multimedia streaming platforms it gets expensive right and Monarch Money is an all-in-one super convenient app that also allows you to share with your partner or spouse so that you can always stay up to date on all of the financial developments in your accounting system and also helps you set goals so that you’re always on the same page so take control of your finances with Monarch Money use code lockdown NHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year that’s monarchmoney.com code lockdown NHL for half off your first year hey friends and welcome back to this episode of Locked On Winnipeg Jets part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day every day thank you so much for rejoining us on tonight’s episode as we are chatting a little bit about uh the upcoming Mitch Mner deal which is going to be one of the biggest free agent moves we’ve seen in years um I guess the last big one maybe was also kind of like John Diverus uh I’m trying to think of what other really really massive free agents have uh signed mega contracts and I just at the scale that we’re about to see with Marner I don’t know that anyone else really comes close he is one of the most expensive and most hotly uh desired players on the market you know you’re talking about a 100 point player those kinds of wingers really don’t come up they don’t move obviously with Marner um there’s been some interesting chatter now I can tell you right now he’s not coming to Winnipeg and you know for a lot of reasons I really wouldn’t want that anyways Marner’s very skilled he’s a great player i just feel like with what happened in the postseason and his reaction in some of the games to how the Leafs were playing I felt like there was maybe a lack of self-reflection in some of those moments the frustration’s naturally going to boil up and boil over but I just feel like Martner was also a part of that problem so you know take that for what it’s worth but as far as what he’s asking for rumor has it we’re talking in the $14 million range which um that’s that’s McDavid money right and look the market has changed a lot since you know League Max was signed back in those days so you know you can’t really lean on that but we are talking in that price range and Mner for me is an extremely good finisher he’s just not a $14 million kind of player to be now that could very well change with the new cap and what we see new contracts being signed for but we’re hearing Carolina’s willing to go over that like 14 and a half plus which is uh for me just crazy i look at MNER as a very very good elite top six winger i I really don’t think that there’s any question of that but I’m you know we’re talking 14 mil man i just I don’t see it to be honest uh you know and I I think he could become one of the best finishers the Canes have ever had so that’s certainly a thing but you know if you look at the other free agents out there no one else is really in that price range and it’s kind of why I’ve had issues trying to figure out you know how much does Eers’s market really go up once Marner signed right does he really make that much more money off of the the MNER negotiations if we already know what Mitch is making which is 14 plus you know how much more can Nick actually get in in negotiations especially when his track record is just nowhere close to what Marner already has on paper so it’s an interesting thing the the real trick of all of this though is that wherever Marner goes immediately that is one of the biggest destinations for an Eers or somebody else of that caliber off the table right and that narrows the number of teams that are going to be good winning destinations for Nick so if Marner signs for Carolina I kind of felt like Tulski would have been one of the clearest uh clearest fans of Nick uh honestly I thought Eers was going to be a Kane uh for the most part and if he goes out east right i don’t know that there are many other teams where I would imagine he’d be a great fit uh right off the bat and that could actually afford whatever he’s asking for in terms of you know other teams that Nick could go to i mean if you’re looking at good destinations where he could win Dallas could be a thing if they try to clear out a bunch of salary um they’ve got their own issues though with Robertson and it seems like they’re trying to move that money before they trade Robertson which is pretty much what I think a lot of us expected but it’s just kind of like actually moving that money that’s already on the books is easier said than done when it’s guys like Matt Dumba and Ilia Leouchkin so you know not not so great for them elsewhere though Utah continues to be one of those teams that I’m sort of wondering about uh maybe Tampa Bay if they can ever you know unscrew their cap situation but I just it’s it’s hard to really find many places that are a willing to sign a big player like this and b have the the cap room to really pull it off and are also good a lot of the teams that do have cap room are not really big winners right you know unless you’re talking about uh a Chicago where they might try to really woo um Nick with a big $10 million contract i I just don’t know how many destinations out there that are you know available and and willing to sign him are actually good you know there’s just not that many teams and when you think about Brad Marshand who’s also probably about to get a nice fat contract somewhere it it’s just there’s a really big competitive market for a lot of these wingers and I feel like Eer’s you know he’s he’s probably one of the best or at least should be one of the most hotly desired names but I wonder how desirable it’s really going to be you know recency bias is a thing marshian’s ripping it up in the playoffs maybe all that kind of puts uh Eers a little bit further on the back burner and perhaps plays into Winnipeg’s hands so all of this could be a really good thing for the Jets if the if Winnipeg ends up being the team that can make the best offer and be the best fit then Eers doesn’t really need to move but I think that’s a bigger conversation with his agent and probably with the Jets front office right you know I I I don’t think he hates being here i don’t think it’s really that i just think he’s kind of lost a lot of money you know that’s a real thing the Jets have because they’ve deployed him the way that they’ve you know done so over the years they’ve probably knocked out about a good $10 million in potential earnings from him so that’s a little hard to get past even for players who really enjoy staying in in a city and playing for a team that wasn’t his choice you know he wasn’t asking to not play uh you know elevated minutes right so it’s a tricky delicate situation but I am hopeful that they can kind of figure it out uh at the end of the day you know if he does leave I’ll always remember him fondly he was a great player but all I can hope for is that this free agent market is going to go nuts that all these teams that are looking to bring in a bigname player make other commitments elsewhere maybe even make some bad decisions that benefit the Jets and that uh you know Nick ends up falling back where he should be in Winnipeg but curious to know where you think he ends up um Marner you know he’s really the the talisman and kind of the market setter for everyone so if he goes to Carolina you know that’s probably going to mean Nick stays out west if Mner goes to the Western Conference you know Tulski has to be hammering the phones for an Eers extension right like he’d love to bring him in as a free agent and I think you know in lie of Marner coming in Eers is an amazing second choice and if you’re already willing to pay that much money surely you’re willing to spend on Nick’s contract right it’s not going to be 14 million not even close but it’ll be pricey so you know could be a good fit right but hopefully that best fit is still in Winnipeg uh I’m I’m I’m still holding out you know a tiny shred of hope i know it’s probably not going to happen i really want it to uh but you know it’s it’s it’s Eer’s choice right and he has earned that right he’s been one of our best players over the years and uh hopefully all of this kind of pans out for him just to be happy wherever it is he ends up i will say that you know with all these big names coming off the board it would also be beneficial for the Jets if they’re looking maybe in the margins andra Manganapani is out there you’ve got maybe Besser if you’re trying to figure out if you can salvage him into a cheap deal andre Kusmano could be interest you know an interesting player if you can find uh a middle six score you know maybe these guys are going to fall through some of the cracks they’re not going to come back to their current teams and that might be nice for Winnipeg to upgrade their middle six scoring you know you could do it for basically free just using some cap space and maybe some of these guys wouldn’t be that expensive either so all of this could be a a really good summer for the Jets right winnipeg is a patient team sometimes a little too patient in the past but here I think patients could really be duly rewarded with some quality quality names so a lot to both be concerned about in some ways but also a little bit excited for and speaking of excitement you know one of the players in our prospect pool that I’ve quietly called a bit of a wild card but who’s uh somebody that I think has very intriguing potential just signed his ELC that player is Alons Frey and I want to chat about what I’m hoping for him and what I hope happens with the overall sort of player that he is in this Jet system because we all know that guys who are not over 6’2 and who are you know not necessarily shut down defenders don’t often get a chance in Winnipeg i hope Fry is the first person to change that trend hey friends and welcome back to this episode of Locked on Winnipeg Jets part of the Locked on Podcast Network your team every day everyday thank you so much for joining us on tonight’s show as we’re chatting a little bit about uh the ELC that Alance Frey just signed this is awesome uh for a lot of reasons you know having your prospects under contract is just a great feeling and I think especially for an alance you know he for one thing has already played in Winnipeg as a kid many years ago in some tournaments um but number two you know the Jets have always been a so-called draft and developed team but we know that for like the past seven or eight years they’ve really fallen off the track of what makes that effective they brought in a couple of big prospects to become NHLers but for the most part this is a very veteran heavy lineup that continues to be a thing over the years and for the first time in what feels like forever I think the Jets have realized they’re going to have to change their model uh I don’t know quite if it’s going to happen this season i’m hopeful it is i thought it was going to be last year that didn’t happen winnipeg you know won the President’s Trophy with their core but the playoff challenges still presented an issue and so this is where I think the Jets have a really interesting opportunity you’ve got a lot of money coming off the books over the next couple of years you have some really big decisions you are still kind of in your cup window right now and you know we leaning on your youth to supplement really good veterans has always been the model that’s really worked the best for a team like Winnipeg so this is a unique opportunity for the young rookies to step up and really take roster spots frey is not going to be one of those guys just yet uh Alons you know I’m very interested to see what he does if he comes overseas uh if he joins the Moose you know obviously Manitoba has they’ve really struggled the past couple of seasons last year was just one of the worst years that I can recall from them in a decent bit usually during the regular season they’ve at least been watchable and pretty decent at times last year though uh-uh morrison just lost the plot completely i don’t know what was going on down there the offense died prospects that are usually big confidence scorers maybe had less than 10 goals it was just it was ugly man uh some of the worst hockey that I think the AHL has seen from this Manitoba squad in a good minute which is unfortunate right but I think it also proves the point you know a lot of us tend to make is that the AHL isn’t a developmental league so you know you have to treat it like a secondary pro league and I think for Frey this could be an interesting opportunity to come help out not only the Moose but also start to get used to the North American game he’s a relatively smaller defender 6’1 you know under 200 lb very fleet of foot for the most part although you know his lateral edge work and stuff still could use some some polishing and he’s not the strongest guy in the corners but kind of like Billy Han which is probably going to trigger at least a little PTSD in some of you uh Frey is a very smart skater with a great pass first and offensive mentality he’s he’s very smart at knowing how to get himself out of pressure with the stick more so than just being an elusive skater that part he also needs to work on but if he can pass his way out of trouble I think that that’s a really invaluable tool set for how the Jets kind of need to build going forward frey is obviously very much a work in progress you know the the defensive lapses the gap control all that stuff he’s still working on that right he’s a young kid and it’s going to take him time to really get up to speed and figure out how to make the most of those tool sets uh I imagine that he’ll still spend some time in Sweden before he comes over um you know I don’t think it would be for at least another year or two i can’t imagine that he’s going to make the jump from like the junior Swedish leagues to uh the adult league very quickly and come over to North America so I I don’t think he’s that imminent but u will be interesting to see what his plan and how the Jets use him uh is going forward all I can say is he’s one of those guys that you want to put sort of on the back burner uh for the next three or so years keep an eye on him uh you know there there aren’t many prospects in our pool that have the sort of um creative tool set the high level offensive thinking uh the the confidence to jump into the rush and sort of the the creative tool sets and skills that he has now he doesn’t have like Eric Carlson puck handling or anything you know you’re not looking at um a Kale Mar or or or even you know uh I guess a Josh Morsy maybe you’re looking at more like a Devin Tabes or something right he’ll be a little more simple at times he’s not going to be you know the flashiest goalcorer but he has a great great sense of when to shoot when to make smart passes uh you’ll see on some of his juniors footage he he knows how to you know rebound off the boards effectively to make a great scoring opportunity for the goalie to come over and open the uh the short side for another skater so it’s an intriguing match here you know and I I hope broader uh in broader terms and and sort of philosophically that Frey opens the eyes for the Jets to start making more of these smaller skilled prospects part of this team now there are going to be a bunch of you in the comments who are like he’s too small i I always hear that from people both on Twitter and on YouTube and size is nice to have but I feel like people sort of overlook it at uh or or sort of over um overvalue it when we’re talking about a lot of teams actually being pretty mobile and on the smaller side some of the top Stanley Cup winners don’t have tremendous size across the lineup now they do have some in some critical positions but their most effective players are often guys who just skate and move well right and if you can sort of outpace the competition and avoid hits and stuff that’s going to go a heck of a lot longer and a much further distance than just being a big slug right we don’t want that kind of lack of movement and mobility we have enough of that in Winnipeg’s history we saw guys like Shen really struggle you know they were big guys and they delivered some big hits but they couldn’t actually get the puck out of their own end and that’s where I think the Jets really want to improve so Frey you know I don’t know what his future holds i don’t know if he’s going to be an NHLER i’m hopeful that he becomes one and that he becomes one for the Jets specifically uh but you know this ELC is a nice vote of confidence from the org it clearly means that they think that his future is going to be you know within uh the next several years um and they do think that he could be a really pivotal part of this jet’s future core so I’m excited for this i think it should be uh exciting for all of you in some capacity and I hope that he can kind of go uh a little bit further than Hanola ever could you know Villy never got the fair shake that I think he deserved i’m hopeful this time that Frey can kind of change hearts and minds and modernize and and help push this Jets team forward winnipeg still has a little bit of a mismatch in some of their scouting versus pro scouting uh departments but maybe just maybe this can be one of the first to really switch those things around and get everyone on the same page but curious to know how you’re feeling about Frey are you excited to see him with the Jets do you think he’ll ever make it drop your thoughts and comments below or at my social medias at HLink Loco and at L_Winnipeg Jets for tonight’s episode though that’s going to be all the time that we have tomorrow I want to chat a little bit about some of the emerging trade rumors jj Peter is on the market so that’s going to be fascinating uh that could also change how the Jets play this this coming summer and maybe even whether or not they pursue a Nick Eert extension we’ll chat about all of that on tomorrow’s episode but for tonight’s show that’s all the time that we have i thank you so much for listening and making Lockdown Jets your first listen of the day every day we’ll see you back here tomorrow so have a great night and as always go Jets go

As many of us expected, Nik Ehlers is preparing to test free agency in a few weeks. While it’s disappointing, it’s understandable. Is this truly the last we’ve seen of the Great Dane in Winnipeg, or is there a chance he still returns? How does the Mitch Marner signing potentially impact the market for Ehlers? Will it reduce the number of potential competitors for Nik’s signature and make Winnipeg the best choice among the pack? Should the Jets also take advantage and go for some underrated wing depth like Mangiapane? What can Alfons Freij bring to the Jets, especially now that he’s signed his ELC?

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