The Winnipeg Jets have been busy since the off-season began, this has been amplified since the free agency period opened on July 1st. They’ve re-signed defenseman Dylan DeMelo, bought out Nate Schmidt in the final year of his contract, signed goaltenders Eric Comrie and Kaapo Kahkonen to contracts, re-signed defenseman Colin Miller, and signed depth forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan.
There’s been some movement with the development camp having wrapped up and three defensemen being signed to the Manitoba Moose.
Over the past while, they’ve signed defenseman Haydn Fleury and forward Mason Shaw on identical one-year, two-way contracts worth an average annual value (AAV) of $775,000. In exchange for future considerations, they’ve also acquired defenseman Dylan Coghlan from the Carolina Hurricanes. Finally, they’ve re-signed defenseman Logan Stanley to a two-year contract worth $1.25 million annually and forward David Gustafsson to a two-year contract worth $835,000 annually.
Fleury, 27, posted five points (1G, 4A) and 20 PIMs in 24 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2023-24 season. He also spent five games in the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch. The Carlyle, Saskatchewan native was drafted seventh overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Since being drafted, Fleury has played 268 NHL games for Carolina, the Anaheim Ducks, the Seattle Kraken, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. His NHL resume has 37 points (10G, 27A) and 79 PIMs.
Signing Fleury is a low-risk, high-reward move as he will most likely be able to come up from the Moose and go back down without any issues. The former seventh-overall pick hasn’t found his footing in the NHL yet, and given the right time, Fleury could turn into a top defenseman for the Jets.
Shaw, 25, was a fourth-round pick where he was selected 97th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. In 82 career games for the Wild, Shaw has 20 points (8G, 12A) and 118 PIMs. From Lloydminster, Alberta, Shaw was limited to 20 games for the Minnesota Wild last season where he had three points (1G, 2A) and 34 PIMs. He also played nine games for the Iowa Wild in the AHL where he posted seven points (4G, 3A) and 13 PIMs in his tenure. Throughout his AHL career for Iowa, he has posted 121 points (43G, 78A) and 213 PIMs.
Like Fleury, signing Shaw is a low-risk, high-reward move and can prove to be a great off-season signing should Shaw find a solidified role with the Winnipeg Jets. He’s shown flashes of what his strengths are and if he remains healthy, Shaw will be either in a top role for the Manitoba Moose or a strong depth role for the Winnipeg Jets.
The Winnipeg Jets made a trade for a defenseman, this time sending future considerations to Carolina in exchange for defenseman Dylan Coghlan.
Coghlan, 26, played 61 games for the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbird where he posted 41 points (16G, 25A) and 40 PIMs. Likely an insurance addition to the Moose’s blueline, Coghlan has some experience in the NHL where he has 106 games for the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes. His 22 points (6G, 16A) and 22 PIMs in his NHL career show flashes of what Coghlan can do, but it’s his AHL resume that’s far more lucrative. In 192 AHL games for Springfield and the Chicago Wolves, Coghlan has 108 points (44G, 64A) and 80 PIMs as a defenseman.
I mentioned briefly earlier that this might be more of an insurance addition to the Manitoba Moose’s blueline, and I say that after the Moose lost Kyle Capobianco this off-season. Coghlan likely knows that his role will be a leadership role down in the AHL, and he can provide stability on the backend as newer talents emerge.
The last of the roster transaction batch is the signings of Logan Stanley and David Gustafsson. Both players received two-year contracts of varying AAVs and will return to the Jets lineup pending any changes from the time of writing and opening night.
Stanley, 26, posted two points (1G, 1A) and 36 PIMs in 25 games for the Winnipeg Jets last season. He also posted one assist and six PIMs in three NHL Playoff games. From Waterloo, Ontario, Stanley was drafted 18th overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. He has posted 22 points (4G, 18A) and 127 PIMs in 139 career NHL games over four seasons, all with the Winnipeg Jets.
This shows the loyalty that the Winnipeg Jets have to their draft picks and how much they see in Logan Stanley. The 6-foot-7 defender has received fan criticism over the past couple of seasons, but getting a pay raise and a two-year contract shows that the Jets see something in Stanley long-term. Reference Dylan Samberg’s development for what the Jets might be thinking happened with Stanley on their blueline.
Gustafsson, 24, appeared in 39 games for the Jets where he posted seven points (3G, 4A) in his 2023-24 season. He added a goal and two PIMs across four playoff games for the Jets. From Tingsryd, Sweden, Gustafsson has also found himself suiting up for the Jets’ AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, six times in the 2023-24 season where he posted three assists. Gustafsson was drafted in the second round at 60th overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and has appeared in 113 games across five seasons for the Winnipeg Jets. In that time, he’s become a considerable depth piece for the Jets and has posted 14 points (4G, 10A) and six PIMs in his career.
David Gustafsson will be a great part of the Jets’ depth in the future. He’s young and has the skills to crack the lineup full-time, but his latest contract shows that the Jets still want Gustafsson to continue his strong work ethic and develop into his projected potential.
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