The team had moved to Winnipeg, but the plan from Day 1 back in 2011 was for Jets 2.0 to do things — on and off the ice — in the "Chicago Way."
From the hiring of former Blackhawks assistant general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff as the Jets first GM to the appointment of a former Blackhawks player in Andrew Ladd as the team’s first captain, the hope was that the same formula that just a year earlier had won Chicago its first Stanley Cup in 49 years could be imported to "The Chicago of the North."
It was a prescient decision: the Hawks would go on to win two more Stanley Cups in 2013 and 2015 and what the Jets figured out back in 2011 — those guys in Chicago are on to something — is now widely recognized across the NHL as the blueprint to build a lasting contender: hang on to your draft picks and choose carefully; build — and spend — up the middle on a core of centres, defencemen and goaltenders; be wary the free agent, but always be on the lookout for a cost-effective role player; go all-in when you’re finally close.