Jets’ Cheveldayoff like Maytag repairman on Day 1 of draft

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Our draft preview on Thursday asked a question that got answered on Friday night in Vegas.

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No, Kevin Cheveldayoff did not trade back into the first round.

The Winnipeg Jets general manager had a quiet night by Las Vegas standards at the 2024 NHL Draft at The Sphere, watching 32 selections pass by without wagering a bet.

In his comments earlier in the day, he foreshadowed the lack of action on the draft floor.

“It means earlier back to the hotel tonight to discuss what’s left,” he told reporters.

If no trades are made, the Jets will make their first selection with the 37th pick early in the second round on Saturday. They are also slated to pick 123rd overall in the fourth round, 155th in the fifth, 187th in the sixth, and 219th in the seventh.

Cheveldayoff said Friday that there was always a chance he’d find a way back in after trading his first-round selection to Montreal for Sean Monahan in February.

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“This is Vegas,” he said. “Take a gamble here and there.”

The Jets reportedly have been shopping their 2022 14th overall pick, Rutger McGroarty, and veteran forward Nikolaj Ehlers, but neither trade materialized.

Cheveldayoff was mum on the McGroarty situation earlier in the day and compared the Ehlers speculation to assumptions made about Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck this time last year.

Both cornerstones of the franchise ended up signing identical seven-year extensions.

The high cost of acquiring a first-round pick may have kept Cheveldayoff from buying in.

“It’s always high at this point in time,” he said. “From a team perspective and from a scouting perspective, this is where you restock the cupboards. It’s interesting to see the ebbs and flows of the value of a draft pick. At the draft here, you can’t get one to save your life, but at the trade deadline, everyone just says, ‘Yeah, yeah. Give them this one, give them that one.’

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“This is where you sit and feel it. You have the passion to want to help your team, do something at the deadline, help them move forward. Usually, it’s picks. Then you’re sitting here today. It’s a lonely Maytag repairman-type feeling.”

The league’s worst-kept secret was finally revealed when the San Jose Sharks selected Boston University star Macklin Celebrini first overall. Longtime Sharks forward and 1996 first-overall pick Joe Thornton called Celebrini to to the stage.

The Chicago Blackhawks took Michigan State University defenseman Artyom Levshunov with the No. 2 pick. The Anaheim Ducks then took Oshawa Generals forward Beckett Sennecke at No. 3.

Sennecke produced the best reaction of the night, appearing genuinely stunned the Ducks drafted him. He later said he never talked to Anaheim before the draft.

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Canadian music legend Celine Dion made the Canadiens’ fifth overall selection, taking Russian forward Ivan Demidov.

And with the 15th pick, Detroit made winger Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the first Norwegian player to be taken in the first round. Blue-liner Stian Solberg, taken 23rd by Anaheim, became the second.

Norway became the 26th country to have at least one player selected in the first round of an NHL draft.

From a local perspective, no Manitobans were taken on Friday.

Brandon’s Clarke Caswell (Swift Current Broncos, WHL) is the highest-ranked Manitoban amongst North American skaters at No. 77, while Warren’s Dawson Cowan (Spokane Chiefs, WHL) is the No. 5-ranked North American goaltender.

Steinbach’s Luke Mistelbacher (Swift Current), Boissevain’s Josh Fluker (Wenatchee Wild, WHL) and Winnipeg’s Gavin Hodnett (Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL) were also ranked by NHL Central Scouting.

sbilleck@postmedia.com

X: @scottbilleck

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