Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has six restricted free agents (RFAs) on his books, three from the NHL roster and three who spent their seasons in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose.
Cheveldayoff has some tough decisions to make. He will have approximately $13 million at his disposal as the salary cap is slated to rise to $87.5 million but a lot of that money is likely to go to the 12 unrestricted free agents (UFAs) he also has to deal with, including Dylan DeMelo, Brenden Dillon, and Sean Monahan.
Related: Winnipeg Jets Unrestricted Free Agent Overview
None of these RFAs will demand huge dollars, but a few are impact players reaching critical crossroads of their careers, while others have potential to give more than they have so far. we’ll take a look at each pending RFA.
NHL Roster
David Gustafsson
David Gustafsson was in and out of the lineup again this season, being deployed as a fourth-line centre or winger when he was.
The Swedish product suited up for 39 games, scoring three goals and adding four assists for seven points while averaging 9:16 of ice time and winning 54.6 per cent of his faceoffs. He also played in four of the Jets’ five first-round playoff games against the Colorado Avalanche, scoring a goal in Game 2.
Gustafsson, now 24 and having played out his two-year contract with a $775,000 average annual value (AAV), has not had the smoothest NHL career. He has struggled with injuries and this season was no exception as he spent 18 games on the IR with a lower-body ailment, not playing between Dec. 22, 2023 and March 2, 2024. In 2021-22, he was given multiple chances to cement a role on the bottom six, but was derailed by injuries and only played two NHL games.
Last season, he played 46 games but recorded no goals and six assists while skating an average of 10:06. Most of his playing time came in the first half as Kevin Stenlund — a fellow Swede who began the season with the Moose — was given an opportunity to be fourth-line centre in December, impressed now-retired head coach Rick Bowness, and kept the job. Gustafsson was regularly relegated to the press box as a result, playing just two games in January, none in February, seven in March, and one in April.
All these factors has kept Gustafsson to just 113 NHL games and 14 points over five seasons. There’s potential for him to sign a bridge deal, but also potential for Cheveldayoff to trade him.
Cole Perfetti
Cole Perfetti had the best statistical season of his young career, but also the most challenging one as he experienced being a regular healthy scratch for the first time in his life.
The now 22-year-old posted 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points in 71 games and had a top-six right-wing assignment for the first half. He also stayed healthy for an entire season for the first time after struggling with injuries in his rookie and sophomore campaigns.
However, after falling into a 23-game goal-scoring slump from Jan. 11 to March 23, Bowness either parked the 2020 first-rounder on the fourth line or in the press box (he spent 11 games as a healthy scratch.) Perfetti was also scratched for the first four games of the postseason before finally getting into Game 5 for the first playoff game of his career.
Related: Jets’ Negotiations With RFA Cole Perfetti Could be Challenging
As a result of his rollercoaster season, contract negotiations with the forward — who is at the end of his entry-level deal — could be interesting. A two-year bridge deal seems the most likely outcome.
Logan Stanley
Logan Stanley played 25 games for the Jets this season on a one-year contract worth $1 million, recording one goal and one assist. For the majority of the season, he was the seventh or eighth defenseman on the depth chart — continuing a trend from last season where he played just 19 games — but got into more consistent action down the stretch. He then struggled badly against the high-octane Avalanche offence in two playoff games before getting sat.
The Jets have exhibited huge loyalty to the huge d-man (possibly because they overreached by selecting him in the first selected in the first round in 2016.) This season, they waived Declan Chisholm in February instead of Stanley despite Chisholm being the better player and lost Chisholm to the Minnesota Wild, where he immediately became an NHL regular and recorded eight points in 29 games. Prior to last season, they waived Jonathan Kovacevic instead of him; Kovacevic was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens and is an NHL regular as well.
In 2021, they chose to protect Stanley over DeMelo from the Seattle Kraken ahead of the 2021 Expansion Draft, a move this author said was a mistake at the time (and whose opinion DeMelo was the player more worthy of protecting caught him a stream of vitriol from Stanley fans.) Thankfully, the Kraken didn’t select DeMelo — who plays on the Jets’ top pairing alongside Josh Morrissey and is analytically one of the NHL’s better defensemen — and chose Mason Appleton instead.
Stanley will be 26 on May 26 and his long-term role with the club remains unclear. He has requested a trade in the past and the Jets have defenders in their pipeline who are either younger, have more upside, or both.
AHL Roster
Ville Heinola
Ville Heinola missed the first half of the season as he recovered from a fractured ankle he suffered in the Jets’ final preseason game. Upon his return from injury, he suited up for 41 games for the Moose in a top-pairing and top power-play role and recorded 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists.)
Heinola, the Jets’ 2019 20th-overall pick, has finally completed his entry-level contract as it slid twice. Bowness said before the season started that Heinola had impressed enough in preseason to earn a spot on the opening-night roster, but the fractured ankle was the latest setback in his attempt to establish himself as an NHL regular.
Heinola, now 23, has played just 35 NHL games in four seasons, recording 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) but has spent the majority of his professional career with the Moose. He is cerebral and intelligent defender whose anticipation, reads, passing ability, and skating are all outstanding.
It’s clear Heinola is too good for the AHL and needs meaningful NHL minutes to develop the defensive side of his game further. He hasn’t gotten them so far, something he has voiced his frustration with in the past, but still has time to develop into a top-four NHL defenseman. A modest two-year bridge deal seems likely.
Simon Lundmark
Simon Lundmark spent the final year of his entry-level contract with the Moose as a blue line regular. The 2019 51st-overall pick suited up for 67 of 72 games, recording five goals and 12 assists for 17 points. The Swedish product, now 23, has played 188 games with the Moose during his three pro seasons, recording 12 goals and 36 assists for 48 points.
Oskari Salminen
Finnish goaltender Oskari Salminen took a big step back in the second year of his two-year deal, posting a 4-7-0 record, 4.00 goals against average, and .872 save percentage in 11 starts and 12 outings with the Moose. In 2022-23, he went 18-13-6 with a 3.06 GAA and .896 SV%.
He and Collin Delia were the team’s tandem during their historically-bad first half that included a franchise-record 11-game losing streak, and Salminen was sent down to the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals for the second half of the season after Thomas Milic was called up from Norfolk, stole the Moose crease, and played an instrumental role in them making the playoffs. In the ECHL, Salminen went 8-2-1 with a 2.80 GAA and .897 SV%.