Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff sets the Evander Kane paramaters

Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com


Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press wrote yesterday that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is interested in moving Evander Kane before the trade deadline, but he's not going to let the injured winger go on the cheap.

Cheveldayoff doesn't need to move Kane right now as he could wait until summer with all 29 other teams possibly interested in making a deal. In doing so it's assumed he'd be able to fully meet his asking price. But if he wants to get shore up his team now to help solidify their wild card position or even try to crack the top-three in the division, moving Kane before the March 2 trade deadline could help the cause.

As of right now Winnipeg sits in the top wild card position in the western conference with 64 points, three ahead of Calgary who are in the second wild card slot. Behind them are three teams--Minnesota, Los Angeles, Dallas--all with 56 points and all eight points behind the Jets. But every team has games in hand on Winnipeg--Calgary, 2; Minnesota, 4; Los Angeles 3; Dallas, 2.

It's not a lot of cushion and if Cheveldayoff wants his team to make the playoffs for the first time since the franchise moved there from Atlanta in 2011, he has a trade-chip in Kane that can help get them there.


Lawless calls Cheveldayoff, "deliberate and unflinching" when it comes to trades and points to the trade of defenseman Johnny Oduya to Chicago in 2012 as proof. Apparently one GM scoffed at his asking price, "good luck with that," and when Chevedayoff did in fact get it, said GM called back to "tip his hat."

Oduya was a pending UFA that season and he was sent to the Chicago Blackhawks who proceeded to win the Stanley Cup. Winnipeg received a 2nd round and 3rd round pick in 2013.

Deliberate may be a way of saying inactive when it came to making trades. And inactive might be a way of dodging trades so as not to be fleeced. According to illegalcurve.com, from 2011-14, Cheveldayoff has made 11 trades. He's traded his players for draft picks twice, draft picks for players five times and minor-leaguers/prospects for the same four times.

As for names, Oduya is the biggest name of the bunch followed by Eric Fehr, Alexei Ponikarovski and Jonas Gustavsson and not once has a first round pick been involved.

That's about to change as he now has the biggest name on the trade market.

Kane is a 2009, fourth-overall pick who's only 23 years old and already has 361 games under his belt. The 6'2" 198 lb. left wing has 109 goals and 222 points during his six seasons, two of which were with the Atlanta Thrashers. In 2011, the first season after Atlanta's move to Winnipeg, Kane scored 30 goals in 74 games. Since then his numbers have dropped.

It was also in the midst of that season when things started getting weird in Winnipeg with the fanbase. In January, 2012 someone held up a sign in Ottawa accusing Kane of skipping out on his bill in a restaurant. It was a story that blew up in Winnipeg to the point that the Free Press had to shut down its comments section due to repulsive comments.

From there, it would seem, it was all downhill. He would score 17 goals in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season (a 29 goal pace for 82 games,) 19 in 63 games last season and before the latest drama, Kane had 10 goals in 37 games.

For Cheveldayoff the prototypical powerforward size of Kane, his willingness to drop the gloves and his scoring prowess is negatively balanced by temperament and maturity issues which came to a head this month. Because of those issues, Kane will be moved. The only questions to be answered is, to which team and what's the return?

According to Lawless there are two camps in the bidding process, teams in the playoffs and those out of the picture, and the price Cheveldayoff's asking for is said to be "a young, NHL player, a grade-A prospect and a first-round pick."

Sabres GM Tim Murray certainly has what Cheveldayoff might be looking for right now and may have more to offer within the next few weeks as he trades pending UFA's for futures. And of all the non-playoff teams like Buffalo, only Edmonton has an additional first round pick.

For the Sabres, that part of the equation is easy as they can send either the St. Louis Blues or NY Islanders first-rounder to Winnipeg in a potential deal.

As for the "young, NHL player" aspect, I think we can pretty much eliminate Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Ristolainen as well as Nikita Zadorov, who might also be considered a "grade-A prospect."

That leave three players: F, Tyler Ennis, D, Tyler Myers and W, Marcus Foligno.

In looking a those three, Ennis was recently re-signed by Murray and has produced even through these horrendous, bottom-dwelling seasons. He's a possibility, but seems unlikely. Myers, as we all know, is rumored to be headed to Anaheim, Detroit or Los Angeles. Or Murray will keep him. Or maybe he could be traded to Winnipeg straight-up for Kane, which was also mentioned as an option in Lawless' piece. But that's unlikely.

That leaves Foligno a big, strong powerforward with some offense to his game.

Foligno put on a good show last night, his first one back since he broke his hand in a fight while defending his teammate, captain Brian Gionta. He had a goal and an assist and was awarded the game's first start despite the 3-2 loss vs. the Islanders.

A performance like that from a player who's still only 23 yrs. old might very well be appealing to the Jets.

As for the grade-A prospect portion, RW, Joel Armia and C, Mikhail Grigorenko may pique the interest of Cheveldayoff.

According to hockey'sfuture, the Jets are rather slim on the wing and the player that makes the most sense would be Armia. In saying that, their top prospect at center is Nicolas Petan who's 5'9" 179 lb. frame keeps him in the top-nine conversation. Grigorenko comes in at 6'3" 200 lbs.

Cheveldayoff's record shows that he makes very few trades and that he's only done so on "his terms." But he's never been faced with a franchise-altering decision like this one. Lawless wrote that "the Jets GM simply refuses to buy into desperation and emotion and that won’t be any different when it comes to dealing Kane."

That may begin to change in the coming weeks beginning tomorrow. Winnipeg has three games this week versus the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, at Nashville and at Detroit. It could be a defining week one which would begin to tighten Cheveldayoff's noose or one that could provide him some breathing room.

His "modus operandi," according to Lawless is to "set a price and don’t come off it. Be prepared to walk away. Let the others bluff and blink."

That was easy to do with names like Johnny Oduya and Eric Fehr, but methinks that the name Evander Kane and everything it encompasses, including a shot at the Jets first playoff berth as Winnipeg 2.0, might add a little weight to the situation.

Would Foligno, Grigorenko and the lower of the Blues/Isles first round pick be enough to get the job done?

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