Jets GM Cheveldayoff searches for answers as Winnipeg sinks to NHL basement
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WINNIPEG – Reporters asked plenty of questions, but Kevin Cheveldayoff had few solutions for how the Winnipeg Jets can climb out of the NHL basement.
The team’s general manager held his mid-season meeting with the media on Monday while the club is mired in a nine-game losing streak (0-6-3) and sitting last in the league standings with 34 points (15-21-4) in 40 games.
It’s an about-face from a year ago, when Winnipeg was second overall in the standings with 56 points (27-12-2) on Jan. 5 and finished the season as the Presidents’ Trophy winner for having the league’s top record of 56-22-4.
Cheveldayoff, the only general manager the team has known since it relocated to Winnipeg from Atlanta before the 2011-12 season, said the team’s results are disappointing and surprising.
“Didn’t necessarily see it coming,” he said. “But if you look at all the different things, it’s a tough league to win in and certainly the situation that we’re in, be it one-goal games, be it not maybe playing to the defensive structure that has become our signature for the last couple of years, all of a sudden you find yourself in this predicament.”
The Jets begin a five-game homestand Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights and play nine of their next 11 games at Canada Life Centre.
During their losing skid, Winnipeg has lost seven of the nine games by one goal.
Trying to find a trade to help the under-performing veteran squad or calling up players from their American Hockey League Manitoba Moose team is being considered in organizational meetings.
“You’re talking about your own individual situation, you’re talking about everyone else’s situations, where they may go,” Cheveldayoff said.
“You’re having the conversations with other managers to see what their short-term and long-term plans are, and you deal with it accordingly.”
He noted the Jets have given up some draft picks in the past few years and are “paying a little bit of a price for that right now.”
The team lost forwards Nikolaj Ehlers, Mason Appleton and Brandon Tanev in free agency. It picked up forwards Gustav Nyquist, Cole Koepke, Tanner Pearson and Jonathan Toews, who missed the past two seasons for health reasons.
But it’s only been Winnipeg’s top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi who are producing the bulk of the offence.
Many of the players counted on for secondary scoring are in serious droughts.
Nyquist hasn’t scored in 31 games, Vladislav Namestinikov doesn’t have a goal in 28 games, and Toews hasn’t netted one in 24 games. Cole Perfetti hasn’t scored in 16 games, and Nino Niederreiter in 15 outings.
The Jets’ specialty teams have also dropped this season. Their power play is ranked 17th (19.1 per cent), and the penalty kill is 21st (78.3).
When asked what he thought of the job second-year head coach Scott Arniel has been doing, Cheveldayoff said the coaching staff is working “extremely hard.”
“They’re trying to do everything that they can,” Cheveldayoff said. “From a management perspective, we have to look at different avenues at some point in time here to see if there is something available.”
After Monday’s practice, Arniel was asked whether he thinks about job security.
“I’m not thinking about that,” Arniel said. “I’ve just got to do my job.”
It’s a message he also gives players.
“You start worrying about what’s going to happen, the unknown, what’s going to happen down the road, you’re not focusing on what’s happening today,” Arniel said. “So that’s all I can do, is be the best coach I can be.
“Hopefully, that starts (Tuesday), and a win for us and, hopefully, this helps us through this homestand. It’s part of the business, but at the end of the day I’ve got to make sure me and my staff, that we’re doing the right things to prepare our group.”
As for how secure Cheveldayoff feels in his 15th season at the helm, he said he still has the passion for the job, the willingness to put in the grind and is up for the challenge.
“In this job here, you serve obviously at the pleasure of ownership and the ability to have that passion, and if you don’t have it, then you should be getting out of the game,” Cheveldayoff said.
“The fire still burns very, very deeply here.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2026.