He'll Raleigh The Hurricanes

I'll be completely honest in saying that I'm extremely disappointed that Nikolaj Ehlers will wear the colours of the Carolina Hurricanes for potentially the next six years. He was must-see hockey for the Jets most nights as he often found creative ways to score and setup his teammates with the Jets. Having that talent move to Carolina hurts because that's a hole in the lineup that simply can't be fixed via free agency for the Jets. And for as much as hockey is a business where players have a short window to get paid well for playing the game, Nikolaj Ehlers is now another former Winnipeg Jets player who loved playing in Winnipeg, but will now play somewhere else. Why can the Jets not retain these players?

According to Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, he was told on Wednesday evening by Ehlers' camp that the Danish sniper would not be returning to Winnipeg. As noted in a TSN article, Cheveldayoff stated that "the club would put it's 'best foot forward' in trying to make Ehlers a Jet for life," but that clearly did not happen after he told Cheveldayoff on Wednesday in "an emotional conversation" that he was leaving for greener pastures elsewhere.

This was a team that knew that Ehlers was going to be a free agent, and they appeared to sit on their hands while doing nothing to prevent it all season long. It makes you wonder what they'll do to re-sign Kyle Connor with his pending free agency on the books for next summer. And you have to think that Ehlers leaving might affect the statuses of players like Gabe Vilardi, Dylan Samberg, and Morgan Barron who remain unsigned as we hit the first weekend of July.

None of that matters now, though, because Ehlers' statement to head coach Scott Arniel likely said a lot more than just how the words read. Arniel, after speaking to Ehlers, stated on Thursday, "He just felt the biggest thing for him was he needed a change of scenery. It wasn't based on the city or the hockey team. He felt like he had been here a long time and this was his one chance to make a change."

Again, "a change of scenery" and "one chance to make a change" speak louder than anything else because it sounds like Ehlers wanted more opportunities to be a difference-maker, and it seems Carolina is willing to give him that opportunity. For a guy that was eighth-overall in even-strength ice time for forwards on the Jets despite being third in points-per-sixty-minutes, you can understand why Ehlers might be looking for that change of scenery. When Mason Appleton had more average even-strength ice time than Ehlers by over half a minute, you can start to see why Ehlers may not have been excited to return.

The other part of the statement - "It wasn't based on the city or the hockey team" - seems to indicate that he liked the city and he liked his teammates. Like his good friend Patrik Laine, Ehlers seemed to take to Winnipeg like he was back home in Denmark. Fans adored him, he was allowed to live his life without a lot of fanfare, and everything pointed to Ehlers seemingly being a Winnipegger for his entire career, if not for life. However, like Laine, he's now playing in a city not named Winnipeg, and it seems that the people running the Jets are most responsible for that. In that respect, why do the Jets seemingly push out players who like living and playing in Winnipeg?

You can't tell me that the Jets didn't have the cap space to not only outbid Carolina, but they also could have offered more term to keep Ehlers in Winnipeg colours. You can't tell me that the fanbase who were refreshing social media every few minutes since free agency opened on July 1 weren't dying to see a re-signing announcement. And yet the Jets knew on Wednesday night that Ehlers had moved on when it came to their chances to re-sign him, citing that "change of scenery" that he needed despite liking the city and team.

I should note that he never came out and publicly said, "I love Winnipeg," but it also doesn't matter at this point because he's a Carolina Hurricanes winger. Perhaps I'm reading far too much into what wasn't said in his statement to both Cheveldayoff and Arniel, but I still am baffled they didn't lock the winger up long before he hit free agency with a deal that would have made sense for both Ehlers and the team. Frankly, if I were an NHL general manager, core pieces that are vital to the success of my team wouldn't ever become available on the open market. This might be why I'm not a GM.

In any case, the Jets are now in their post-Ehlers era, and that second line that the Jets once thought could work with Ehlers, Namestnikov, and Perfetti will now need to be overhauled entirely with the best player of the trio skating for another team. The Jets' power-play will likely take a step back after losing one of their most consistent playmakers on the top unit, and zone entries and exits will be a concern without a confident skater like Ehlers moving the puck.

The Carolina Hurricanes are getting a good player in Nikolaj Ehlers, and congratulations to him for signing his six-year, $51 million deal. I hope he plays alongside Seth Jarvis next season where those two can become a dynamic duo of speed, skill, tenacity, and scoring for the Hurricanes as they try to get over the Eastern Conference Final bump that keeps tripping them up. Ehlers can help in that regard, and I'm hopeful the former Jets winger finds a ton of success in Rod Brind'Amour's systems. All the best, Nikolaj! Give 'em hell in Carolina!

For the Jets, they lose a creative, unpredicatable-at-times scoring threat who made everyone he played with on the ice better. You don't find players like that everyday, so losing Ehlers will have an impact on the team next season and will likely move them out of the Stanley Cup contender discussion entirely as the Jets need to make up 30 goals and 70 points from somewhere. Good luck with that.

But at least they signed a 37 year-old centerman who has been out of hockey since April 13, 2023. That should solve their scoring problems.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!