Cheveldayoff finds the right fit with acquisitions of Stastny and Morrow

WINNIPEG - One text message a couple of days ago changed everything for Winnipeg Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff.
It came from Doug Armstrong, the GM of the St. Louis Blues, and it was about a player Cheveldayoff had pursued in free agency a few years ago - Paul Stastny.
"He said depending on how some of the outcomes go in the direction for them, he may look at doing something," said Cheveldayoff. "I immediately responded that I'd be very interested if it ever got to that point. Then things progressed from there."
Did they ever.

After the Blues dropped two 4-0 decisions to the Jets and the Nashville Predators over the weekend, the two sides reached a verbal agreement that would send the 32-year-old centre to the Jets in exchange for a 2018 first round pick, prospect Erik Foley, and a conditional fourth round pick in 2020.
There was only one thing in the way, and that was Stastny's no-trade clause. The veteran of over 800 games in the NHL would have to waive that clause to make the deal work.
"Obviously the player had a decision to make. These are players and players' families decisions," said Cheveldayoff.

Stastny reached out to Jets captain Blake Wheeler. The two played together at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and with EHC Munchen of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga during the 2012-13 lockout.
"Paul chose… to waive the (no-trade) in his contract, and leave his home to come play in Winnipeg," said Cheveldayoff. "That's an exciting thing for us, and certainly I believe once he gets here it's going to be an exciting thing for him."
But unlike many deals around the trade deadline, this one didn't leak out prior to both teams sending press releases. That was important to Cheveldayoff, and the Blues.

"We both knew that this was a person's family at stake. This was a person's decision at stake," Cheveldayoff said. "He earned the right to have that no-trade. So for us, there was never going to be any leakage, certainly from our side, to damage the reputation of that player."
While Cheveldayoff admitted the Jets were in on some negotiations with other teams regarding other available players, once the text from Armstrong came, the Jets GM was confident enough to focus solely on just that negotiation.
It was aggressive, as he was willing to let all the other deals go, even if it meant this one falling through as well.
"I would have been able to stand here and look you all straight in the eyes and say 'because I like my team,'" said Cheveldayoff, adding his confidence in the players that he has in the dressing room hasn't waivered. "In fact, it's actually been enhanced. We felt this was a tremendous fit for our organization on many different levels, on both of these trades."

The second deal the Jets made, shortly before the 2 pm CT trade deadline, was acquiring defenceman Joe Morrow from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a fourth round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
Morrow has played in 38 games for the Canadiens, scoring five goals and adding six assists. The Jets will be his third NHL team since being drafted by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft.
"The thing I think that impressed us the most is he played five of six games for Boston in the playoffs, and I believe he had over 20 minutes played in those games," said Cheveldayoff. "He can skate, he can move the puck, he's a left shot. I believe he can do a little swing back and forth to left and right. It's about flexibility.
"We've talked in our due diligence of the person and found all the great things from a person standpoint, which is extremely important from our perspective, bringing into our group at this period in time."
Cheveldayoff said the trade deadline is also the acknowledgement of the hard work the team's scouts put in, especially in the final few weeks.
Through the many scouting reports, the due diligence, and all the behind-the-scenes conversations, there was one thing Cheveldayoff wanted more than anything:
The right fit.
"We like our group. We liked our group going into these couple of days. We like it a lot," he said. "We were very cognizant that any thing that we were going to do was going to come with that measure of fit, both on the ice and off the ice.
"We feel very excited with what we've accomplished over the course of this trade deadline."