Last season, the Winnipeg Jets ran away with the Central Division on their way to winning the President’s Trophy. Their 116 points was ten more than second-place Dallas, and 19 more than the Minnesota Wild. Their quest to repeat as the regular-season champions was dealt a huge blow in free agency as they lost one of the top forwards on the free-agent market with Nikolaj Ehlers signing in Carolina. While the Central will still be a battle next season, the gap between the top teams has narrowed.
While a reunion with Winnipeg never seemed to be an option, it still had to be a sad day for Jets fans holding out hope for a last-minute reconciliation. The fact that Ehlers waited a few days to make his decision twisted the knife just a little bit more for the faithful. In the meantime, Winnipeg struggled to replace Ehlers production, signing a smattering of depth forwards (and Jonathan Toews).
Ehlers, who spent his entire career in Winnipeg, leaves the organization with 225 goals and 295 assists in 674 games. Oddly enough, The Great Dane wasn’t much of a thorn in Minnesota’s side over the years. His 32 games against the Wild is tied with Chicago for the most games against another franchise, but he only posted 14 points (8 goals, 6 assists) which ranks tied for 20th most points against.
Winnipeg is currently sitting with $17,488,809 in cap space for next season and their first and third round draft picks for the next draft. Why is that important? Well, it would allow them to sign another team’s restricted free agent to a contract between $4,680,077 and $7,020,113. While Bill Guerin has reassured Minnesota fans that any offer for Marco Rossi would be matched, it is something to keep an eye on. Maybe they set their eyes on another young scorer like Mason McTavish.
Winnipeg already signed one Wild free agent, albeit one of the unrestricted nature in Gus Nyquist. The 35-year-old center signed a 1-year, $3,250,000 with the Jets after a somewhat lackluster run in Minnesota. The Wild acquired Nyquist for a 2026 second-round pick in March, but he accumulated just 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 22 regular-season games while not recording a point in their 6 playoff games.
One of the reasons Winnipeg played things a little cautiously this offseason is that they still have a pretty solid roster. They also have a lot of work to do in regards to RFAs on their roster. That $17 million cap space will get whittled down as they figure out new contracts for Gabe Vilardi, Morgan Barron, Rasmus Kupari, and Dylan Samberg. They also have to keep an eye on next season when Cole Perfetti is also hitting his RFA free agency. Kyle Connor and Adam Lowry are also among 10 potential unrestricted free agents.
Winnipeg’s loss should be Minnesota’s gain. It’ll still be a dogfight to secure a playoff spot in the Central, but the Wild should have a much better shot at taking one of the top-three spots and staying out the wild-card fray.