Jets GM Cheveldayoff Believes in Laine, Frustrated with RFA Roslovic

The Winnipeg Jets are inching closer to the beginning of training camp. To be held at the Jets’ training facility at the west-most of Winnipeg, 36 skaters and ‘a number of goaltenders’ will report to camp on January 3, in hopes of cracking the team’s 2020-21 regular season roster, or potentially the four-to-six man taxi squad.

With World Junior Hockey Championship participants Cole Perfetti and Ville Heinola preoccupied in Edmonton, AB., Winnipeg has been the travel destination for nearly every active player set to participate in Jets training camp. That is, except for restricted free agent forward Jack Roslovic.

“So, all of them are in town,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff told local media in a Zoom call. “There are a couple of quarantining things that will probably delay one or two, just with logistics. Getting (Manitoba Moose goaltender) Mikhail Berdin out of Russia with some flight logistics and things like that was an ongoing thing. As far as everybody being in Winnipeg, I don’t think Jack is, as an RFA yet, I believe everybody will be in and will be quickly out of their quarantine.”

Roslovic, 23, is entering his fourth season in the NHL after putting up 26 goals, 67 points and 18 penalty minutes through 180 total games played with the Jets since he was drafted 25th overall in the first round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by Winnipeg. As a restricted free agent, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound forward is in the need of a new contract from the team.

“Obviously, he is an RFA and currently not signed,” Cheveldayoff said. “To my knowledge, he is also currently not in Winnipeg. So moving forward there is going to be a quarantine situation, whenever we come to an agreement. We made our qualifying offers back when everyone made their qualifying offers. And as far as the cadence of a conversation or the contents of a meeting, I’ve always had the belief and the way I’ve conducted business is that that’s been kept private.”

Roslovic, who recently switched representing agencies to 4sports hockey and Claude Lemieux, the father of good friend Brendan Lemieux, has reportedly asked the team for a trade following the advice of Lemieux.

“Technically he doesn’t have a contract, but if it were a situation where he wanted to come, I guess there’s different ways to look at it but it’s not something that’s been explored yet,” Cheveldayoff continued. “But he would be obviously subject to a quarantine. Everybody, not just Jack, everybody whether we bring in somebody on a PTO right now or whether we bring someone outside of Winnipeg into our situation, they’re all going to involve a quarantine. Players can cross the border if they have been invited to training camp.”

Fellow Jets forward Andrew Copp also weighed in on the situation, referencing past distractions that the team has previously been forced to tune out.

“I think we’re past the point of outside things distracting our team,” he said. “I think whether it was guys in the past who have not had contracts at this time, going into camp. There have been situations left and right, it feels like. So we’re kind of past the point of letting outside distractions worry our team. So we’re just trying to get going, get all together on the first day of training camp, get practicing and start to build that team feeling, that camaraderie and get ready to go for the regular season. I don’t think any outside news or rumors or whatever is going to be any sort of impact on our team.”

In a sense, the team has moved on from the RFA forward and has turned its attention to potential professional tryout opportunities for other players to fill roster spots.

“There are a couple of PTOs that we’ll probably be announcing as camp does start to open, but some of that is a bit of a work in progress,” he said. “We are still trying to understand where the American Hockey League will fit in and how it might have to operate for us this year. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes discussion that is still ongoing there. And certainly the CHL side of it does come into play as well, as do the many European situations.”

Figuring out quarantine protocols isn’t the only problem that Chevy has had to deal with, as sniper Patrik Laine‘s name continues to swirl in the rumour mills as the reportedly disgruntled winger also may be seeking a new home.

“I haven’t actually spoken to him since he’s been back,” Cheveldayoff said of Laine’s return to Winnipeg. “I have been in constant contact with his representatives all the time throughout the long pause however. We’re excited. Obviously camp is getting started here and we think with some of the acquisitions that we’ve made – obviously adding Stas – we think we’ve got one of the better, if not one of the best, top-sixes in the National Hockey League. We’re excited about having the ability down the middle with Scheifele and Stastny on our top-six with the quality of wingers like Patrik and Wheels and Nik Ehlers and Kyle Connor. I think there’s lots of different combinations that can be very, very dynamic. We’re excited and I think you’re going to see some good things.”

And according to the Jets’ GM, it’s more than just ‘some good things’. His expectation of Laine has skyrocketed right through the roof, despite the constant trade rumours.

“I tried to do my job this summer in looking at all the different options to improve our team and I think we have done that,” Cheveldayoff reflected. “We’ve had some acquisitions with respect to Stastny and obviously even adding players like Thompson and Forbort from an experience standpoint help. As far as with Patrik, again, I assume he’s probably going to have one of the best years of his career given the group of players that we have and the professionalism that is there. And the maturity level that all players gain year over year over year, I think just helps us move forward.”

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