Four Sask. players named to Canada world junior hockey championship team
21h ago
Berkly Catton, Brayden Yager, Caden Price and Tanner Howe were all named.
Something may be wrong with the Winnipeg Jets. Or maybe it’s just geography.
One by one the big names are falling in the NHL: Marner, Point, Tkachuk. The restricted free agents are re-signing with their NHL teams. But two of the biggest names, Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine, haven’t rejoined the Jets. The Jets are also missing rugged defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who has been suspended while taking a personal leave to ponder his future. After losing three top-tier defencemen in the offseason, the Jets need to retain their talented forwards.
Connor expected to re-sign before training camp. Laine has vowed to play in Europe if he doesn’t get a decent offer. Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff patiently built a contender and is certainly trying to work within a limited budget for his small-market, small-arena team. It may not be the issue, but when the Jets set up shop in the NHL’s smallest city, there were concerns cold-weather Winnipeg couldn’t keep up to its bigger, warmer rivals. Signing Connor and Laine would end that discussion.