Team: 2019-20 Winnipeg Jets

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 15, 2020

Published: Mar. 21, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

There were plenty of minor moves that happened early in the season that I thought Chevy should have made that would of helped with the lack of depth in this lineup and with the unfortunate loss of Little who they really missed, they could of used both his and Buff's cap space as I think it was pretty obvious neither guy was returning this season. Although they're mostly minor acquisitions I really think they would of made a difference and would of helped them ride through the many injuries they had a lot easier and not one of them cost major assets.
Namestnikov helps with the Little injury, Stephenson helps in the bottom 6 and makes Lowry more expendable then he already is hence why he's scratched in this scenario, Djoos helps with the MANY dman injuries that happened and keeps Bitetto in the press box, have really liked Sbisa's play but grabbing Djoos makes the Sbisa claim unnecessary, same with Dahlstrom though I likely would of claimed both guys as well, read my additional details of those trades for more description. Also both Djoos and Stephenson are both RFA'S so it's not like the pick used on Stephenson would have been wasted on a rental, picking up decent, RFA controlled players for almost free is good asset management. Another minor trade that happened that I thought Chevy should have made was the Scandella trade from Buffalo, the Sabres were loaded with too many dmen from game 1 and he was traded for a 4th on Jan. 2nd, he would of been a big help through the really crappy January and he likely could of been acquired much earlier, Buffalo wanted to open up cap space to make other moves, just adding one more decent dman would of helped and the Habs ended up retaining 50% and got a 2nd for him from the Blues, that's good asset management right there.
A guy like Namestnikov could of been tried at 2C instead of tasking 33 year old Wheeler with the job and if Namestnikov didn't work out he at the very least would of been a decent middle 6 option at wing, he was doing pretty well in Colorado before the stoppage and played in Tampa's top 6 not long ago, don't get why more teams weren't after him for a measly 4th.
These trades would of cost the Jets two more picks, a 5th for Stephenson and the 4th for Scandella which is a very minimal cost and I really wonder if they make these moves early on if they may have avoided the real bad January they had.
This is my biggest complaint about Chevy, the minor moves that he doesn't do while other GM's are at least doing something other then solely relying on the waiver wire and picks to develop.. Lol.. And really I liked the Demelo pickup but felt like the Eakin trade was a bad one that was way too little too late. I also think this idea of waiting till around till the TDL to see if the team is worth investing in/improving is really really dumb when it comes to minor trades involving 4th round or later picks, if that's Chevy's thought process he's very very wrong imo, those picks are many years away from amounting to anything whereas making the playoffs would be huge for this group. NO team is built solely through the draft, period!
Now I want to be clear that I don't think these minor acquisitions make the Jets "contenders" again but I definitely think they would of made them better then they were and in reality the Western Conference was WIDE OPEN before the stoppage had happened, anything was possible if they got in but instead they were scraping into the playoffs if they would've even made it.
So what say you Jets fans, am I right or wrong about this?? Would these trades/claims have helped or not made a difference?
I get the season will likely be cancelled but this is just for discussion anyway and we're all likely bored a bit, have been thinking about this for awhile and wonder what fellow Jets fans thought about this or if they even do... Lol.. This team looks better with these minor acquisitions imo, plenty of cap space too!
I think this is Chevy's biggest fault as a GM, too risk averse and not active enough on the trade market, I know most fans want the big blockbuster trades but often it's the minor moves that can have a pretty positive impact.
All opinions are welcome, apologies for any spelling mistakes.

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