Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was asked nearly 30 direct questions on Sunday.
As for direct answers, he gave one: Head coach Rick Bowness will be back.
Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was asked nearly 30 direct questions on Sunday.
As for direct answers, he gave one: Head coach Rick Bowness will be back.
Sitting through this 42-minute session was as painful as any Sunday morning church service I can remember as a kid. When I got home, instead of counting my blessings I had some 6,000 words to go through, none of them parable-worthy.
Some of Cheveldayoff’s evasiveness makes sense. For instance, it’s too soon to know where someone like Connor Hellebuyck stands on potentially signing a contract extension.
For the most part, though, the Jets front-office eminence remains a champion of the bafflegab, even as his team seems as far away as ever from the NHL championship it’s striving for.
A plan, though? A clear direction for fans to get behind? A promise or even some words of encouragement?
As missing as his team was in Game 5 in Vegas.
Cheveldayoff didn’t say he’s going to rebuild the Jets, but he didn’t rule it out, either.
Asked which of the tough decisions on his desk will take priority — the future of his goalie, his top two centres or his highest-paid player — he fudged.
Presented with the conflict between Bowness and several veteran players, who didn’t like the way their coach called them onto the carpet after they mailed it in in Vegas, he fidgeted.
As a seller of hope, he failed.
Most confounding, though, and probably most troubling to his fan base (if I have even a pinky finger on the pulse of it) is Cheveldayoff’s sense, and by extension the sense of the entire organization, that they’re “in a good place.”
Including 2018, his team has only missed the playoffs once, he claimed, conveniently lumping a pandemic play-in series against Calgary as part of the Stanley Cup chase.
“We developed that core,” he said. “We drafted it. We developed it. We signed it. We kept it. And five of six years we got an opportunity to play for the Cup.”
Never mind the one series victory since 2018.
Never mind the complete cave-in and dysfunctional dressing room last season.
Never mind the second-half plummet from the top of the West this year, the lack of effort from some top players during the slide or the meek playoff exit, where, as his coach pointed out, the battle of each team’s best “wasn’t even close.”
“I don’t really read all the articles, but I’m not sure who predicted we were making the playoffs this year,” Cheveldayoff said. “There’s going to be one team that’s going to be satisfied with their season this year. There’s 16 teams that would have given anything to be in that same situation as us.”
Not quite true.
There are teams in various stages of building their rosters who will be happy with how far they get. Like the Jets reaching the conference final in 2018.
And there are those who are rebuilding and would rather be in the sweepstakes for the No. 1 draft pick today than — where the Jets are.
The mushy middle, some call it.
“We’re not sitting here waving any banners or anything like that,” Cheveldayoff said. “But there’s a lot of good people in that room that pushed this organization to a good place.”
“Last year, I think we started at 9 a.m. and we finished at 7 p.m.,” he said. “Yesterday we were done at 3 p.m.”
At least they saved on one player meal this year.
With his salad of words, Cheveldayoff will not be mistaken for the team salesman.
Actions, not words, are his stock in trade.
It seems the Jets stock is falling.
Even if nobody in the front office seems to realize it.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
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AP NHL:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.
The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.
He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.
Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.
He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.
Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Alysha Newman was initially disappointed when her historic season, marked by an Olympic medal and record-breaking performances, came to a close.
The 30-year-old from Delaware, Ont., finished third in the Diamond League final on Saturday, clearing 4.80 metres in the women’s pole vault. That capped a campaign where Newman overcame an ankle injury late in the indoor season to win Olympic bronze.
“The first emotion I had was I was kind of sad,” she said. “With the injury that happened in March, I felt like I was two, maybe four weeks, I guess, behind everyone. So I was still really motivated to compete.
“I know the world rankings came out (Wednesday) and I was second, so my coaches texted me this morning and said, ‘highest finish ever of all time, you deserve a great break.’ And that just made me really excited.”
Newman enjoyed consistency heading into the Paris Games, clearing 4.75 metres or more in three of her last four meets after returning from injury.
Heading into Paris, Newman held the Canadian record of 4.83 metres, achieved indoors on Feb. 22. Her outdoor best was 4.82 metres, set in 2019—the last time she finished a season ranked in the top five, at No. 3.
Before this year, Newman had never medalled on the world or Olympic stage, but she reset her national record to 4.85 metres in Paris to become the first Canadian woman to medal in pole vault at the Games.
Only William Halpenny (bronze at the 1912 Stockholm Games) and Edward Archibald (bronze at the 1908 London Games) had medalled for Canada in pole vault before Newman.
“I was just telling my mom last night … I’m doing so many things, and I haven’t been able to sit. But I did go to Nice three days after I got my medal, and I sat and kind of just enjoyed having that medal and more so what it took to get that,” Newman said.
“Felt like a diploma. It felt like a reward that, you know, here’s hardware for your hard work, and it really was rewarding for me to sit in the moment.”
Newman called it “one of the most unforgettable seasons I’ll ever have in my career.”
“A part of me feels that I needed a season like this to take it even more serious, leading into (the 2028) L.A. (Olympics),” she said. “I think it shows me that this is where my life is supposed to be. I am supposed to be this incredible textbook pole vaulter.”
Newman now has motivation beyond just winning medals; she believes she can break the world record of 5.06 metres set by Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva in 2009.
Outside of competition, Newman is dedicated to helping the next generation of athletes, from raising funds for a high-performance facility in Caledon, Ont., to advocating for better resources and pay in her sport.
“Leading into L.A., I really want to make noise in the sport on helping amateur athletes get paid,” said Newman, who famously supplements her income with an OnlyFans account. “I think we underestimate what we put our bodies through and a lot of us do this for free, but it’s not free.”
“Starting with building the facility to get more athletes to qualify for the Olympics would be my No. 1 goal. And then after that is really having movement and words that will start, you know, getting people more on board and agree for us to get paid better.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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