Over the course of the year there has speculation about the Winnipeg Jets and their interest in Derick Brassard. This is something that goes all the way back to last year’s trade deadline when Vegas got involved to block Brassard from going to Winnipeg.
Here is Pierre LeBrun discussing this in The Athletic
What I’m hearing from the Jets, meanwhile, is a cautious approach, even if they are surely scouring the market. I’m told they’ve already had a conversation with Pittsburgh about Derick Brassard, a guy they tried to land a year ago before getting Stastny instead.
The hardest part for the Jets is determining how that rental player — given their cap issues moving forward it’s more likely than not that they target pending UFAs — fits in. How can they make sure adding a forward to their mix makes them better while not affecting chemistry or pushing down a current Jets player who might have a bigger impact?
To me, Brassard, Ferland or Simmonds are excellent targets, but again the price will matter.
To this point the Penguins ask has been too rich. After looking at the Jets salary cap situation for this year and beyond I can see a potential player that I believe would help the Penguins while Brassard fills a need for the remainder of this year. If I were the Penguins I would be asking for Mathieu Perreault.
Perreault is one of those guys that has been really good for a while and flies under the radar. He’s 31 years old and has two more years left at 4.125M per season. On the surface it doesn’t seem like a great idea for the Jets because I do think Perreault is better than Brassard. This is where the Jets cap situation comes into play. They have given out a number of pricey contracts the last few years: Mark Schiefele (6.125M), Blake Wheeler (5.6M), Bryan Little (5.29M), Nikolaj Ehlers (6.0M), and Connor Hellebuyck (6.16M). They also have Dustin Byfuglien at 7.6M for the next three years. This isn’t to say that those are “bad” contracts, but the money adds up. Patrik Laine is due a new contract and it is likely that his AAV tops all of those players. Jacob Trouba is due for a raise as well and if there’s anything we know he drives a hard bargain.
A deal centered on Perreault and Brassard gives the Jets a center option to keep the current product humming along (they clearly think highly of Brassard). It also gets a 4.125M off the books moving forward so that they can take care of some of the other contract obligations they have this offseason.
I think the Penguins would have to spruce up their end of the deal. This is something that can appeal to both the Jets short and long term plans.
Thanks for reading!
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