As one of the NHL’s legitimate contenders for the Stanley Cup, the Winnipeg Jets and their management team were very active at the NHL’s trade deadline, acquiring four NHL players in four separate deals, along with a couple of minor-league deals.
The biggest deal of the day for Winnipeg was the acquisition of Kevin Hayes from the New York Rangers, who is having a career year and should fit in perfectly as the second-line centre, bumping down Bryan Little so that he can dominate opposing third lines.
However I already wrote about how good a fit Hayes would be on the Jets before the deadline, so let’s focus on some smaller deals that Kevin Cheveldayoff made to bolster the Jets’ depth heading into the grind of playoff hockey: acquiring Nathan Beaulieu from the Buffalo Sabres for a sixth-round draft pick in 2019, Matt Hendricks from the Minnesota Wild for a seventh-round draft pick in 2020 and Par Lindholm from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Nic Petan.