Chicago Blackhawks: 2019 NHL Draft grades for central division
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets might be the most confusing team in the division. They have a lot of really good young players that they’ve built around and they believe they were good enough to win the Stanley Cup last season. They were defeated by the aforementioned St. Louis Blues in the first round and probably feel like they could have gone on a similar run as the Blues had they won that series.
They traded away Kevin Hayes to the Philadelphia Flyers but he was leaving as an unrestricted free agent anyway so that was smart. They still have to sign or trade Patrik Laine who has shown to be a while inconsistent, elite goal scorer, in this league. He will probably make a lot of money so they have to decide if he is worth it.
They traded their first-round pick in 2019 to acquire Hayes at the trade deadline, but then got the pick back from the New York Rangers when they sent them Jacob Trouba. With that pick, they selected Ville Heinola who is a great young Finnish prospect. He is a transition defenseman who can help them in the absence of Trouba.
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Winnipeg will still be really good next year so they really just have to deal with some RFAs and then worry about next year. In their defense on this coming grade, they only had four picks so it is hard to give them a much higher grade based on how it went.