Teemu Selanne makes his triumphant one-game return to Winnipeg tonight as a member of the Anaheim Ducks, but imagine if he came back as a trade deadline player to help the new Jets make the playoffs.
That’s just the kind of wishful thinking a lot of Winnipeg fans and rumor mongers are having seeing Selanne go back to where it all began back in the 90s. Jets fans now are excited about their team being in the thick of a playoff race and all that that entails and they’re thinking big.
While the Jets could be in the market to make smaller, more affordable, acquisitions to help their chances, as Kirk Penton of the Winnipeg Sun points out, putting all your hopes on Selanne being the “piece” are pretty shortsighted.
Penton says that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff would have to give up a high draft pick or two to get Selanne and unless the Jets were a surefire Stanley Cup contender, they won’t be mortgaging the future to get anyone, even Selanne, into town.
Keep dreaming big though Winnipeg, maybe someday Evander Kane or Alex Burmistrov will become your own new version of Teemu Selanne.