The Winnipeg Jets announced on Monday that they have locked their veteran forward Nino Niederreiter to a three-year extension. The deal will keep Niederreiter with the franchise through the 2026-27 NHL season and is worth $12 million.

Niederreiter was in the last year of his contract, which pays him $4 million in 2023-24.

Niederreiter landed in Winnipeg ahead of the NHL trade deadline from the Nashville Predators. He had a strong finish in the 2022-23 campaign and started the new season in the same manner. The 31-year-old player has six goals and eight assists for a total of 14 points in 23 games.

It isn’t hard to see why the two sides decided to commit to each other for a while longer. Niederreiter has publicly praised the Jets’ organization on several occasions and said that he feels at home in Winnipeg. The Jets, on the other hand, wanted to keep a player who proved to be a great fit for their lineup and who is productive on a consistent basis.

Nino Niederreiter entered the NHL as a fifth overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders. However, he only played 64 games during his three years with the franchise before embarking on stints with the Minnesota Wild, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Predators, and now the Jets.

Niederreiter played 833 games during his 13 years in the NHL and has 211 goals and 213 assists for 423 points.

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NHL veteran Paul Stastny announced his retirement on Tuesday, lowering the curtain on a 17-year career. During the course of his impactful career, Stastny transformed from a first-line, power-play-type forward to a third- and fourth-line specialist.

Stastny revealed that he made his retirement decision in the fall. “I haven’t filed anything, but in early September we decided we were done. I didn’t put anything out on social media or anything,” he explained. “I kind of came into the league quietly, and I’m leaving the league quietly. That’s the way I like it. All the people close to me know, and then word always gets out eventually.”

Playing for the Carolina Hurricanes last season, Stastny scored nine goals and 22 points. Selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2005 draft, the 37-year-old player also played for the Vegas Golden Knights and spent two stints at the Winnipeg Jets.

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The Winnipeg Jets defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on home turf, with the team dedicating the victory to coach Rick Bowness and his wife Judy. Bowness took the decision to step away from the game in order to be with his wife after she suffered a seizure on Sunday. She has since been rehabilitating at home.

Following the victory, interim coach Scott Arniel was asked if the victory had been dedicated to Bowness and his wife, with Arniel answered in the affirmative. “They talked about making sure they got out and not let him down,” he explained. “They wanted to do it for all of the right reasons. Like we said, we’re a family here, and we care about each other, and they care about Rick and Judy.”

Jets forward Maso Appleton agreed, explaining that Bowness knows that the entire team stands behind them. He clarified that Judy is feeling better and well on the road to recovery.

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The Winnipeg Jets are determined to continue building their franchise around center Mark Scheifele and goalie Connor Hellebuyck. With this in mind, the franchise decided to ink the duo to matching seven-year deals.

Both Scheifele and Hellebuyck were set to become free agents after the 2023-24 NHL season. But now, the duo will be tied to the Jets organization for seven more years and have a chance to spend their entire careers in Winnipeg.

According to the Jets’ official announcement, the duo’s deal is identical in value as well and comes with an $8.5 million annual salary.

The Jets drafted Mark Scheifele 7th overall in the 2011 NHL Draft. He played 723 games with the franchise since then, scoring 272 goals and dishing 373 assists for a total of 645 points. The Kitchener, Ontario, native has two All-Star nods.

“To call myself a Jet for life, it’s an honor really,” said Scheifele. “Because not many guys get the opportunity to actually do that and be on one team their entire career.”

Connor Hellebuyck entered the NHL as the Jets’ fifth-round selection in 2012. He has made 445 appearances in the NHL and has a career goal-against average of 2.66 with a .916 save percentage. Hellebuyck made the All-Star three times and received the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalkeeper in 2020.

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The Winnipeg Jets continued their busy offseason by making more major moves. After trading center Pierre-Luc Dubois to the LA Kings earlier this week, the Jets now also parted ways with franchise legend Blake Wheeler.

The Jets placed Wheeler, who spent 11 years with the franchise, on waivers with the intention of buying out the last year of his contract. The 36-year-old player was set to receive a base salary of $8.25 million in 2023-24.

Wheeler started his NHL career with the Boston Bruins, where he played for two and a half years before joining Atlanta Thrashers in 2010–11. The Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg next season and became the Jets.

During his time with the Jets, Wheeler established himself as one of the franchise’s most important players. He served as the team’s captain between 2016 and 2022 and was one of the key contributors to the Conference Finals appearance in 2017–18. Wheeler played 874 games with the Jets, scoring 255 goals and 540 assists while also receiving two All-Star nods.

“We would like to thank Blake for his dedication and service to the Jets, the city of Winnipeg, and the province of Manitoba,” said Jets’ General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff in a statement. “We are incredibly grateful for the contributions that he has made during his 12 seasons with the franchise.”

“I want to thank everyone in Winnipeg for all the love and support over these past 12 years,” Wheeler added. “It has been my absolute honor and privilege to be a Winnipeg Jet and to represent this city and organization.

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Veteran defenseman Dylan DeMelo is extending his stay with Winnipeg Jets through the 2023/24 NHL season.

Jets announced on Wednesday that DeMelo inked a new four-year, $12 million deal with the franchise, which will see him earn $3 million a year on average. The 27-year-old DeMelo was previously set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

As part of his new contract, DeMelo received a modified no-trade clause, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

Dylan DeMelo joined the Jets in February from Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2020 third-round pick. He was featured in 10 regular-season games and four playoff contests with Winnipeg but failed to record a goal or an assist. In 49 games with the Senators in 2019/20, he contributed with 10 assists.

DeMelo, who previously also suited up for San Jose Sharks, has 269 career NHL games. In those 269 games, he scored seven goals while adding 57 assists for a career total of 64 points.

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Winnipeg Jets find themselves in a tough situation ahead of the 2019/20 season, experiencing cap issues while also having major depth issues on several positions. In order to try and get out of it, the Jets might go with the unpopular move and trade one of their best players.

In a chat with reporters on Friday, Jets’ general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff confirmed that there is some truth in trade rumors revolving around All-Star winger Patrik Laine.

“So we’re looking at all our options, including potentially trading different players,” said Cheveldayoff.

Laine has been a prolific scorer for the Jets since making his NHL debut in 2016, contributing with 138 goals and a total of 247 points in 305 regular-season games. Despite this, Winnipeg is ready to entertain the idea of moving on from the 22-year-old winger as it could be beneficial for the team in multiple ways.

Besides the fact that Laine could land them a couple of starters on the positions of need, he could also help them get a bit of salary relief considering a portion of his $6.75 million yearly salary would be off their books.

On the other hand, by trading Patrik Laine, the Jets would probably head to obscurity in the next couple of years as it would be hard to replicate his production on an already struggling team.

Reportedly, several teams already approached the Jets to talk about Laine, including Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, although no deal is imminent.

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Nikolaj Ehlers scored a hat-trick to lead the Winnipeg Jets past the San Jose Sharks on Thursday while the Golden Knights scored 5 to hold off the New York Islanders.

After scoring the tie with 3:07 left, Ehlers scored two more goals to lead the Jets to a 5-3 thriller win. Surprisingly, the Denmark-born wasn’t too thrilled by performance on Thursday.

“The two first ones were almost empty-netters and the third one the puck doesn’t even go into the net,” – Ehlers said. “But we got the two points. My linemates made some pretty great plays there. It still feels good.”

In Las Vegas, goalkeeper Marc Andre-Fleury came from a 30-game absence to display an impressive set of shots that elevated him to the ninth position of the NHL’s all-time win list. He made 19 saves in the game.

The high-flying Las Vegas team was the favorite to win the game despite suffering a season double loss to the Islanders last season. With Thursday’s win, the Knights extended their win streak to six games and also completed this season’s sweep over the Islanders. The team now holds 42 points and is ranked first in the Western Conference.

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The Calgary Flames played a defense-and counter-attack game to subdue the Nashville Predators 3-0 in a game goalkeeper Mike Smith and defenders were the heroes.

Smith made a resounding 43 saves as Sean Monahan scored twice and Elias Lindholm added one to force Nashville into their first loss of the season. Smith was the undisputed man of the match, holding off the Predators even when they had two more men for a full two minutes.

“It was huge,” Smith said. “At that time of the game, to kill 2 minutes straight 5-on-3 says a lot about the character of our group. Our penalty killers did a tremendous job in front of me blocking shots and getting important clears.”

Winnipeg Win at Home

The Winnipeg Jets made a comeback to beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in yet another game the keepers were heroic. Keeper Connor Hellebuyck saved 16 of LA’s 17 shots, missing only Ilya Kovalchuk’s goal, who returned to the NHL at the start of this season after a spell in Russia.

On the other end, LA’s goalkeeper Jonathan Quick saved 37 of 39 shots, a great performance for a player who’s only played nine times in the NHL.

Hurricanes Scores and Concede

In Raleigh North Carolina, the Hurricanes scored 5 times, but not without conceding three against the Vancouver Canucks. The win was their third this season, extending their lead at the Eastern Conference under coach Rod Brind Amour.

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Defenseman Radko Gudas of the Philadelphia Flyers will miss 10 games without pay due to suspension, the NHL announced on Sunday night. Gudas is suspended for a slash against Mathieu Perreault’s neck in the game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Before the incident, Gudas and Perreault battled for the pack which resulted in Gudas tripping Perreault. While Perreault was laying on the ice, Gudas lifted his stick and brought it down on his neck. Luckily, Perreault avoided a more significant injury. NHL’s department of player safety ruled that this was a “forceful chopping motion delivered to a player in a vulnerable position.“

Gudas defended himself by saying that the slash was not intentional, although he admitted that he was aware of Perreault’s presence. Gudas’ 10 games suspension is this severe because he is considered a repeat offender, being already suspended twice in the last two years. In December 2015, Gudas received a three games suspension for a headshot aimed at Ottawa Senators Mika Zibanejad. In October 2016, Gudas was suspended for six games for hitting Boston Bruins’ Austin Czarnik in the head.

Radko Gudas was selected by Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft with the 66th overall pick. During his first three years with the Lightning, Gudas was mostly assigned to the team’s affiliates Norfolk Admirals and Syracuse Crunch. The Lightning resigned Gudas to a three-year deal in 2013. After a respectable first full season in the NHL, Gudas was ruled out for the majority of 2014-15 season after he underwent knee surgery. On March 2015, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in a deal for Braydon Coburn. Gudas also competes for the Czech Republic on the national level, participating in the country’s 7th place run on 2017 Ice Hockey World Championships.

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The Winnipeg Jets announced on Monday that they have locked their veteran forward Nino Niederreiter to a three-year extension. The deal will keep Niederreiter with the franchise through the 2026-27 NHL season and is worth $12 million.

Niederreiter was in the last year of his contract, which pays him $4 million in 2023-24.

Niederreiter landed in Winnipeg ahead of the NHL trade deadline from the Nashville Predators. He had a strong finish in the 2022-23 campaign and started the new season in the same manner. The 31-year-old player has six goals and eight assists for a total of 14 points in 23 games.

It isn’t hard to see why the two sides decided to commit to each other for a while longer. Niederreiter has publicly praised the Jets’ organization on several occasions and said that he feels at home in Winnipeg. The Jets, on the other hand, wanted to keep a player who proved to be a great fit for their lineup and who is productive on a consistent basis.

Nino Niederreiter entered the NHL as a fifth overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders. However, he only played 64 games during his three years with the franchise before embarking on stints with the Minnesota Wild, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Predators, and now the Jets.

Niederreiter played 833 games during his 13 years in the NHL and has 211 goals and 213 assists for 423 points.

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NHL veteran Paul Stastny announced his retirement on Tuesday, lowering the curtain on a 17-year career. During the course of his impactful career, Stastny transformed from a first-line, power-play-type forward to a third- and fourth-line specialist.

Stastny revealed that he made his retirement decision in the fall. “I haven’t filed anything, but in early September we decided we were done. I didn’t put anything out on social media or anything,” he explained. “I kind of came into the league quietly, and I’m leaving the league quietly. That’s the way I like it. All the people close to me know, and then word always gets out eventually.”

Playing for the Carolina Hurricanes last season, Stastny scored nine goals and 22 points. Selected by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2005 draft, the 37-year-old player also played for the Vegas Golden Knights and spent two stints at the Winnipeg Jets.

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The Winnipeg Jets defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on home turf, with the team dedicating the victory to coach Rick Bowness and his wife Judy. Bowness took the decision to step away from the game in order to be with his wife after she suffered a seizure on Sunday. She has since been rehabilitating at home.

Following the victory, interim coach Scott Arniel was asked if the victory had been dedicated to Bowness and his wife, with Arniel answered in the affirmative. “They talked about making sure they got out and not let him down,” he explained. “They wanted to do it for all of the right reasons. Like we said, we’re a family here, and we care about each other, and they care about Rick and Judy.”

Jets forward Maso Appleton agreed, explaining that Bowness knows that the entire team stands behind them. He clarified that Judy is feeling better and well on the road to recovery.

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The Winnipeg Jets are determined to continue building their franchise around center Mark Scheifele and goalie Connor Hellebuyck. With this in mind, the franchise decided to ink the duo to matching seven-year deals.

Both Scheifele and Hellebuyck were set to become free agents after the 2023-24 NHL season. But now, the duo will be tied to the Jets organization for seven more years and have a chance to spend their entire careers in Winnipeg.

According to the Jets’ official announcement, the duo’s deal is identical in value as well and comes with an $8.5 million annual salary.

The Jets drafted Mark Scheifele 7th overall in the 2011 NHL Draft. He played 723 games with the franchise since then, scoring 272 goals and dishing 373 assists for a total of 645 points. The Kitchener, Ontario, native has two All-Star nods.

“To call myself a Jet for life, it’s an honor really,” said Scheifele. “Because not many guys get the opportunity to actually do that and be on one team their entire career.”

Connor Hellebuyck entered the NHL as the Jets’ fifth-round selection in 2012. He has made 445 appearances in the NHL and has a career goal-against average of 2.66 with a .916 save percentage. Hellebuyck made the All-Star three times and received the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalkeeper in 2020.

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The Winnipeg Jets continued their busy offseason by making more major moves. After trading center Pierre-Luc Dubois to the LA Kings earlier this week, the Jets now also parted ways with franchise legend Blake Wheeler.

The Jets placed Wheeler, who spent 11 years with the franchise, on waivers with the intention of buying out the last year of his contract. The 36-year-old player was set to receive a base salary of $8.25 million in 2023-24.

Wheeler started his NHL career with the Boston Bruins, where he played for two and a half years before joining Atlanta Thrashers in 2010–11. The Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg next season and became the Jets.

During his time with the Jets, Wheeler established himself as one of the franchise’s most important players. He served as the team’s captain between 2016 and 2022 and was one of the key contributors to the Conference Finals appearance in 2017–18. Wheeler played 874 games with the Jets, scoring 255 goals and 540 assists while also receiving two All-Star nods.

“We would like to thank Blake for his dedication and service to the Jets, the city of Winnipeg, and the province of Manitoba,” said Jets’ General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff in a statement. “We are incredibly grateful for the contributions that he has made during his 12 seasons with the franchise.”

“I want to thank everyone in Winnipeg for all the love and support over these past 12 years,” Wheeler added. “It has been my absolute honor and privilege to be a Winnipeg Jet and to represent this city and organization.

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Veteran defenseman Dylan DeMelo is extending his stay with Winnipeg Jets through the 2023/24 NHL season.

Jets announced on Wednesday that DeMelo inked a new four-year, $12 million deal with the franchise, which will see him earn $3 million a year on average. The 27-year-old DeMelo was previously set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

As part of his new contract, DeMelo received a modified no-trade clause, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

Dylan DeMelo joined the Jets in February from Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2020 third-round pick. He was featured in 10 regular-season games and four playoff contests with Winnipeg but failed to record a goal or an assist. In 49 games with the Senators in 2019/20, he contributed with 10 assists.

DeMelo, who previously also suited up for San Jose Sharks, has 269 career NHL games. In those 269 games, he scored seven goals while adding 57 assists for a career total of 64 points.

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Winnipeg Jets find themselves in a tough situation ahead of the 2019/20 season, experiencing cap issues while also having major depth issues on several positions. In order to try and get out of it, the Jets might go with the unpopular move and trade one of their best players.

In a chat with reporters on Friday, Jets’ general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff confirmed that there is some truth in trade rumors revolving around All-Star winger Patrik Laine.

“So we’re looking at all our options, including potentially trading different players,” said Cheveldayoff.

Laine has been a prolific scorer for the Jets since making his NHL debut in 2016, contributing with 138 goals and a total of 247 points in 305 regular-season games. Despite this, Winnipeg is ready to entertain the idea of moving on from the 22-year-old winger as it could be beneficial for the team in multiple ways.

Besides the fact that Laine could land them a couple of starters on the positions of need, he could also help them get a bit of salary relief considering a portion of his $6.75 million yearly salary would be off their books.

On the other hand, by trading Patrik Laine, the Jets would probably head to obscurity in the next couple of years as it would be hard to replicate his production on an already struggling team.

Reportedly, several teams already approached the Jets to talk about Laine, including Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, although no deal is imminent.

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Nikolaj Ehlers scored a hat-trick to lead the Winnipeg Jets past the San Jose Sharks on Thursday while the Golden Knights scored 5 to hold off the New York Islanders.

After scoring the tie with 3:07 left, Ehlers scored two more goals to lead the Jets to a 5-3 thriller win. Surprisingly, the Denmark-born wasn’t too thrilled by performance on Thursday.

“The two first ones were almost empty-netters and the third one the puck doesn’t even go into the net,” – Ehlers said. “But we got the two points. My linemates made some pretty great plays there. It still feels good.”

In Las Vegas, goalkeeper Marc Andre-Fleury came from a 30-game absence to display an impressive set of shots that elevated him to the ninth position of the NHL’s all-time win list. He made 19 saves in the game.

The high-flying Las Vegas team was the favorite to win the game despite suffering a season double loss to the Islanders last season. With Thursday’s win, the Knights extended their win streak to six games and also completed this season’s sweep over the Islanders. The team now holds 42 points and is ranked first in the Western Conference.

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The Calgary Flames played a defense-and counter-attack game to subdue the Nashville Predators 3-0 in a game goalkeeper Mike Smith and defenders were the heroes.

Smith made a resounding 43 saves as Sean Monahan scored twice and Elias Lindholm added one to force Nashville into their first loss of the season. Smith was the undisputed man of the match, holding off the Predators even when they had two more men for a full two minutes.

“It was huge,” Smith said. “At that time of the game, to kill 2 minutes straight 5-on-3 says a lot about the character of our group. Our penalty killers did a tremendous job in front of me blocking shots and getting important clears.”

Winnipeg Win at Home

The Winnipeg Jets made a comeback to beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in yet another game the keepers were heroic. Keeper Connor Hellebuyck saved 16 of LA’s 17 shots, missing only Ilya Kovalchuk’s goal, who returned to the NHL at the start of this season after a spell in Russia.

On the other end, LA’s goalkeeper Jonathan Quick saved 37 of 39 shots, a great performance for a player who’s only played nine times in the NHL.

Hurricanes Scores and Concede

In Raleigh North Carolina, the Hurricanes scored 5 times, but not without conceding three against the Vancouver Canucks. The win was their third this season, extending their lead at the Eastern Conference under coach Rod Brind Amour.

The post NHL News Roundup: Flames, Jets and Hurricanes Win in Tuesday’s League Games appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Defenseman Radko Gudas of the Philadelphia Flyers will miss 10 games without pay due to suspension, the NHL announced on Sunday night. Gudas is suspended for a slash against Mathieu Perreault’s neck in the game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Before the incident, Gudas and Perreault battled for the pack which resulted in Gudas tripping Perreault. While Perreault was laying on the ice, Gudas lifted his stick and brought it down on his neck. Luckily, Perreault avoided a more significant injury. NHL’s department of player safety ruled that this was a “forceful chopping motion delivered to a player in a vulnerable position.“

Gudas defended himself by saying that the slash was not intentional, although he admitted that he was aware of Perreault’s presence. Gudas’ 10 games suspension is this severe because he is considered a repeat offender, being already suspended twice in the last two years. In December 2015, Gudas received a three games suspension for a headshot aimed at Ottawa Senators Mika Zibanejad. In October 2016, Gudas was suspended for six games for hitting Boston Bruins’ Austin Czarnik in the head.

Radko Gudas was selected by Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft with the 66th overall pick. During his first three years with the Lightning, Gudas was mostly assigned to the team’s affiliates Norfolk Admirals and Syracuse Crunch. The Lightning resigned Gudas to a three-year deal in 2013. After a respectable first full season in the NHL, Gudas was ruled out for the majority of 2014-15 season after he underwent knee surgery. On March 2015, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in a deal for Braydon Coburn. Gudas also competes for the Czech Republic on the national level, participating in the country’s 7th place run on 2017 Ice Hockey World Championships.

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