Insider Trading: Jets’ attendance creates growing concerns

TSN’s Hockey Insiders examine Winnipeg’s attendance woes, a new NHL Draft format that teams have until Tuesday to vote on, the league working to host a ‘traditional’ draft next June, Craig Anderson retiring as a Senator and the latest on free agent Phil Kessel.

Winnipeg has started 1-2, but of more a concern is the fact there are a lot of empty seats in a building that used to be the hottest ticket in the NHL.

Darren Dreger: Absolutely. I mean sagging attendance is a real thing for the Winnipeg Jets and it's been a real thing post-COVID. I mean, you look back pre-COVID and the Winnipeg Jets were an easy sellout. There's no doubt about that. Current numbers if they continue is going to put a strain on the Winnipeg Jets that may not be sustainable long-term. So, you look to the future and now you look at the present and you can explain why the Winnipeg Jets were so eager to extend Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele because the Winnipeg Jets cannot afford a traditional long-term rebuild. They need the local fans to come back and they also need cooperate Canada to step up or it will be problematic. 

Widely reported, the NHL is considering changing that format to more like the NFL where there would only be a couple representatives there and the players would be the show. How close is that to actually happening? 

Pierre LeBrun: What's interesting, James, is that the league seems to be in a hurry to get feedback on this proposal. The league sent out a memo on Wednesday to all 32 team presidents and all 32 general managers and asked teams to send in one single sentiment or vote by Tuesday. So, it's not a lot of time to think about changing the way the league has done the Draft for the past number of decades, but that is what the league is looking at getting feedback on. And the idea here is that from a hockey operations standpoint, a lot of managers feel that it would be easier to work at their club headquarters in their own markets in terms of getting ready for July 1st and focusing on the Draft as opposed to being in the Draft city. I can tell you that while I didn't do an actual straw poll, that in hearing from more than a dozen teams over the past 24 hours, it's a majority of people that are likely to vote 'Yes' on decentralizing the Draft. We'll see where it goes.

Chris Johnston: Well, no matter how that votes turns out, and especially if it does result in a change, we're likely looking at a change in 2025. And I bring this up mostly because there's some thought with the league still not having finalized its spot of the 2024 NHL Draft in June that that might be driving the discussion. That's actually not the case. The league is confident it will have a venue if they are going to go ahead with the traditional Draft at the end of this season. As we've reported before, the sphere in Las Vegas, I think is the preferred spot, although it's not clear if the financial aspect of that will work, but even if that doesn't come to pass, there's at least one alternate venue in Vegas the league has tabbed and two potential other cities that are willing to step up and host the Draft if it comes to that. 

Craig Anderson was an elite NHL goaltender into his 40s. Now at 42, it looks like the run is over, but will it end as an Ottawa Senator?

Dreger: It absolutely will. This is by design, clearly by Michael Andlauer. This is a huge part of the approach of the new ownership of the Ottawa Senators is to honour the alumni. We can see Daniel Alfredsson back in the mix with the Ottawa Senators where he belongs. Craig Anderson will sign a one-day contract with the Ottawa Senators earlier next week. It's expected he'll drop the puck on Tuesday as the Sens play the Buffalo Sabres and he'll get that alumni jacket and he'll wear it proudly, but at least for the short term, he'll work part time with the Sabres organization. 

Phil Kessel is six years younger than Craig Anderson at 36, but CJ not ready to hang them up just yet? 

Johnston: Absolutely not. Anyone who thought seeing him his third Stanley Cup and going a whole summer without a firm contract offer might deter him, well think again. Phil Kessel is very anxious to return to the NHL. He's been skating on his own. He didn't want to go to any training camps on a tryout, but it sounds as though he's had a couple of close calls with contracts here in the last week or two and there is an expectation he will join a team. I think it's interesting as well, he is the NHL's Ironman with a little more than 1,060 consecutive games, that streak will technically continue if he signed somewhere and started playing games, but I don't think it's that important to Kessel. He's not setting that as on contingent on where he signs. I think he just wants to be a member of a team and wants a chance to continue living the dream.