Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff Takes Some Charge of Rough 2025-26 – Hockey Writers –

Winnipeg general manager (GM) Kevin Cheveldayoff began his end-of-season press conference with prepared remarks expressing disappointment in how the 2025-26 season went badly for his team and what the organization will do this offseason, but he couldn’t avoid tough questions for long.

He addressed several in a wide-ranging, 40-minute interview Monday. The longtime GM — someone who has been accused of bringing so-called name salads — was sometimes vague during the proceedings, but at others, he clearly owned his role in how things unfolded.

“I’m So Lucky To Be Standing Here Today”

The first inquiry he faced is whether he feels lucky to still have his job given the number of league managers who have been axed in the past few months, including Brad Treliving (Toronto Maple Leafs), Tom Fitzgerald (New Jersey Devils), and Patrik Allvin (Vancouver Canucks).

“It’s an absolute honor and privilege to be in the National Hockey League every day,” he replied. “The responsibility and enormity of having this job and being able to try to bring a team together to try to achieve the same goal of a Stanley Cup is something you never take for granted. It’s something you wake up to every day and it’s what drives you.”

“Yes. I am very fortunate to be able to stand here today and continue to push forward,” he continued. “That’s the game. You sign up for the opportunity. You better be ready, determined, and able to deal with everything that comes with it.”

The Jets, with a 35-35-12 win, moved to 21 wins and 34 points in the 2024-25 President’s Trophy and became one of the five reigning President’s Trophy teams to miss the playoffs. Their many issues include a significant drop in secondary scoring, a lack of team speed, and ineffective special teams.

Some believe he has reached his expiration date after 15 years as a GM considering his poor draft history over the past number of years and that the organization only has four rounds to win its name in the 2.0 era.

“I Can’t Feel Good About What Happened, But I Have To Pick Myself Up”

“Right now, it’s obviously not making anyone happy,” Cheveldayoff said of missing the playoffs by eight points and not making the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. “Did we think we were going to get to college without going to high school? Did we think we were going to get to the playoffs because of our past performance…we skipped a step?”

“This is where I have to measure myself, did I feel overconfident?

Cheveldayoff’s offseason did not set the Jets up for success. He lost the fast and energetic Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency and signed only mountain veterans who made the team too old, too slow, and unable to keep up with the younger teams coming up.

“As a team, I think we didn’t have the speed, Nik Ehlers gave us another point. Some of the players we signed last year obviously didn’t have these ratings, and we were hoping that maybe some of those guys would contribute in other ways,” he said.

“Sure, one of my bets from last season, that’s my thing. No question. You can’t hide from that kind of stuff.”

Cheveldayoff said the free-agent situation has been difficult to navigate and many free agents are re-signing with their old teams now because of the sharp increase in salaries over the past few seasons.

“It starts with me. I’m the general manager. Everything starts and ends with me. So, I don’t feel good about what happened, but I have to pick myself up, I have to get it here, and we have to move forward,” he said.

He said the team he’s built has gotten away from its defensive system that was key to winning back-to-back William M. Jennings Trophies with fewer goals allowed in 2023-24 and 2024-25 (they allowed 39 more goals than last season). Head coach Scott Arniel made similar comments at Cheveldayoff’s preseason press conference.

“When we play the way we play, we’re a very difficult team to beat…it comes down to the mentality, the belief that that’s the way to win,” Cheveldayoff said. “We had that, I don’t know if we changed plans, but we lost that ability to attack those teams, and we did it that way.”

Cheveldayoff Prevents Lack of Movement and Youth During Consecutive Losses

The campaign included an 11-match losing streak that stretched from December to mid-January and put the team in a difficult spot. However, Cheveldayoff didn’t make any significant moves until the 2026 Trade Deadline — not even a call from the Manitoba Moose barring an injury — and reiterated his position that caution is best when adding prospects to the roster.

“What is difficult in evaluating young players is their ability to see if they can stay and play and reach the level of players,” he said. “We’re definitely going to look at that… I can tell you unequivocally that we’ve been trying like hell to make a trade that would put (us) in a better position from that point of view.”

While the Jets improved after the 2026 Winter Olympics hiatus and briefly challenged for a wild card spot in the Western Conference, the hole they dug themselves into was too deep to climb out of.

“When we look at that period of time, as a team, we have to find ways. It’s not always possible to look outside and say ‘what’s coming, what’s going on.’ The team we have is a very good team. Things didn’t go our way at the time and that’s unfortunate,” said Cheveldayoff.

Cheveldayoff said “the change has started” when it comes to giving young guys a chance to run with the big team, pointing to Isak Rosen’s 21 games with the Jets after being acquired from the Buffalo Sabers and Elias Salomonsson’s 32 games in two separate seasons as examples.

“The pressure is on those like them, to come in and be part of the solution,” he said.

Arniel’s Future As Head Coach Is A Little Cloudy

Cheveldayoff did not give a definite yes to the question of whether Arniel will return for a third season as head coach, but he appeared to give a vote of confidence to the bench manager and his assistants.

“All the coaching staff, they work very hard; they are extremely prepared,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and make bold announcements, because again, this test program — I owe it to the organization, I owe it, I owe it to the fans, I owe it to the players,” he said. “We are not ready to turn the page on anything and we will continue to explore.”

Arniel certainly didn’t sound like someone about to be on the unemployment line.

“I don’t fall on my sword… at the end of the day, there are a lot of things to look at. I have four and a half months to do it,” he said.

Cheveldayoff Expresses Faith in “Expanded Core” Going Forward

He also expressed belief in his core, which includes players like Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck, Adam Lowry, Josh Morrissey, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi.

“I’m a firm believer in this core, this group of guys, they have the skills to continue to fire this team. And, for whatever reason, different things fell through. Obviously you can point to a lot of different things,” he said, referring to injuries to Lowry and Dylan Samberg to start the season.

As for the next wave of top players being a long way from helping the current core in their 30s reach glory, Cheveldayoff has been effective.

“I think there’s probably a broader context here that includes a few people. I think the context and the guys on the fringes of the context probably have a big impact… I believe it has the power to revolve around these young guys coming up, and as long as they’re buying the things they need to do in the summer, as long as they’re buying and they can get into that building.

“It’s a team game and I think that our essence, as it is strong in the top players, I think that there is an outside group of players in that room that can still fight for the championship.”

To the fans who will not watch their team fight for the cup this season, he apologized.

“I am sorry that we are not planning a blackout, we are not giving that level of excitement,” he said. “It’s definitely disappointing and I take responsibility for that. That’s our job to try to keep them happy and make us proud.”