With the salary cap staying flat at $81.5 million, Cheveldayoff indicated on Monday the Jets would have to be calculated in how they approach negotiations on October 9.
"It's going to sound like a broken record and it's probably the buzz word for 2020 in this market, is flat cap," said Cheveldayoff. "That's something that's certainly weighing on everyone's mind. Every team is going to have to feel how it's going to affect them and how they're going to manage accordingly."
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He got one big piece of business done just prior to the start of the second day of the draft, locking up defenceman Dylan DeMelo for four years with an average annual value of $3 million.
"It's nice to have that order of business done," said Cheveldayoff. "He's a great guy from a fit standpoint. He can play with multiple different partners if we want. We've all seen enough of him to feel - and he saw enough of us to feel - that it was a good fit for both sides."
Cheveldayoff indicated that the positions of defence and centre are two areas the Jets are interested in, so getting one defenceman's contract signed was critical.
Especially when that defenceman fit in so well in the 14 games he played in a Jets jersey to end the 2019-20 campaign.
"Even when we made the trade in talking to Ottawa there, we knew it was going to be a situation where he had to feel it was a good fit as well," said Cheveldayoff. "We're excited that we were able to get him locked up. At 27-years-old, we feel he's right in his prime and should be someone who gives us some good stability."
PERFETTI ECSTATIC TO JOIN JETS
While Free Agency deals with the here and now, the Draft is the opportunity to prepare for the future.
Cheveldayoff and his team added a centre (Perfetti), a left-wing (Daniel Torgersson, Frolunda of the SHL), and two defencemen (Anton Johannesson, HV71 J20 and Tyrel Bauer of the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds) to the prospect pool.
"We got some different types of players," said Cheveldayoff. "We're still excited about the turn of events yesterday. Today's picks added different dimensions to the organization at different positions as well."
The Jets did try to move up, according to Cheveldayoff, but those talks didn't amount to a deal that worked for both sides.
"We had some players there that were still pretty strong on our board. The teams that we were targeting decided to pick, so we stayed where we were at," said Cheveldayoff.
"We had different conversations throughout the draft. With the picks we had, and we felt strongly where we were, we're comfortable with how things unfolded."
There may be a day between the end of the NHL Draft and the opening of free agency, but there will be no rest for Cheveldayoff and his team, who will continue to look at ways to add to the Jets roster before the 2021-22 season begins.
"Whether it comes in a trade or in the form of a free agent signing. We'll continue to look at it," said Cheveldayoff. "We have some good prospects that are coming, but we do have the flexibility from a cap perspective now to look at multiple different approaches."
