A look at the Winnipeg Jets' upcoming free agents

F Pierre-Luc Dubois: After a bit of an underwhelming first year with Winnipeg, Dubois was much more impactful this past season, sliding in nicely into the center spot on the second line for a good chunk of the campaign while also playing up when Mark Scheifele was injured. The end result was numbers that were comparable to his sophomore season with Columbus as he put up 28 goals and 32 assists in 81 games. The 23-year-old is only two years away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency since he started in the NHL at 18 and is owed a $6M qualifying offer next month. Dubois is poised to land more than that if he gets to an arbitration hearing on a one-year award while a long-term contract that buys out his prime UFA years could push him closer to the $7.5M mark.

F Mason Appleton: After a strong showing in 2020-21, Appleton was an expected choice for Seattle in expansion, but things didn’t go as well with the Kraken. That resulted in him being moved back to Winnipeg at the trade deadline, but he still scuffled offensively. In the end, a platform season of 21 points in 68 games isn’t great, but it should still be more than enough to push for a small increase on his qualifying offer of $945K, especially since this is his last year of RFA eligibility. A long-term contract isn’t likely, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Winnipeg try to sign a multi-year pact and gain another year of team control in the process.

F Evgeny Svechnikov: The 25-year-old finally got a full NHL season under his belt and held his own in limited minutes, collecting 19 points in 72 games. As teams look to keep costs down on their end-of-roster players, Svechnikov’s arbitration eligibility looms large. It’s not that an award would be over-the-top expensive, but depending on what happens with Dubois, Winnipeg is likely to have to get quite thrifty with their last few roster spots.

Other RFAs: G Philippe Desrosiers, D Leon Gawanke, F David Gustafsson, F Jansen Harkins, D Johnathan Kovacevic, F Jeff Malott, D Markus Phillips

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G Eric Comrie: Last summer, Winnipeg’s cap situation forced them to have to go with a backup making the minimum salary. Comrie got the nod and had his first full NHL season as a result, albeit with limited minutes. He made the most of his playing time though, posting a SV% (.920) that was 10 points more than Connor Hellebuyck and a GAA (2.58) that was 39 points better than Hellebuyck. While no one is going to argue that Comrie should be making the $6.166M that Hellebuyck is getting, he has positioned himself to command much more than the minimum on the open market. His limited track record will keep him out of the range of the top backups.

F Paul Stastny: The 36-year-old was largely under the radar this season but he had a solid year, chipping in with 21 goals and 24 assists in 71 games. Between that and being consistently above average at the faceoff dot, there should be a fairly strong market for Stastny, if he makes it to free agency. He took a pay cut to stay with the Jets last summer, dropping down to $3.75M. It wouldn’t be surprising to see teams offer more than that on a one-year deal. However, it’s possible that Stastny decides to take less to go to a contender. He’s eligible for incentives in his contract as long as it’s a one-year deal, which could be an option to keep the 2022-23 charge down. Once Dubois signs his new contract, it will be difficult for the Jets to afford to keep him in the fold.

F Zach Sanford: He underwhelmed after joining Winnipeg at the trade deadline, but there will be a decent market for the 27-year-old. While he’s not enough of a reliable offensive threat to play in the top six, he chips in at a reasonable enough clip for a depth player while providing plenty of physicality. That’s something plenty of teams will have interest in, although Sanford may be hard-pressed to make more than the $2M he received this season coming off a bit of a down season.

Other UFAs: F Adam Brooks, F Luke Johnson, F Austin Poganski, F C.J. Suess

Projected Cap Space

At the moment, Winnipeg has a little over $18M in wiggle room under the salary cap. They have to re-sign half of a forward group, a backup goalie and a depth defenseman with those funds. There’s a good chance over 40% of that will go to Dubois, which doesn’t leave GM Kevin Cheveldayoff a lot of room to try to add another impact piece to the roster. If they largely stick with their current core and don’t make a trade to shake things up, they’ll be relying on their new head coach to help take this team back to playoff contention.