Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is spending his next two weeks looking to re-sign three key players ahead of arbitration.
Forwards Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler as well as defenseman Zach Bogosian could all wind up taking the team to an arbitrator but as Cheveldayoff tells Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press, he wants to make sure it doesn’t go that far.
“Our focus is on trying to come to deals with all of these players,” Cheveldayoff said. “We’ve been fortunate to come to deals with two of them (Eric Tangradi and Paul Postma, who also filed). We’re continuing talking.”
While they did take care of business with those two, the deals they’ll have to work out with the other three will be far more substantial. After all, Wheeler and Little are top-line players and Bogosian is a top-pair defenseman. These deals won’t come cheap.
As for the arbitration schedule, Little’s hearing would be up first on Wednesday, Wheeler on July 29, and Bogosian on August 2. Look at those as the default deadline for each player.