WINNIPEG — Scott Arniel likes the veteran savvy the league-leading Winnipeg Jets have added.
The Jets head coach said acquiring forward Brandon Tanev in a trade with the Seattle Kraken and picking up defenceman Luke Schenn from the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline bolsters Winnipeg's roster.
"Two real good depth guys we feel add to our group,” Arniel told reporters in New Jersey before his team played the Devils on Friday night. "They bring a lot of sort of stiffness to the game.
"Both of them play hard, good penalty killers, playoff experience.”
Winnipeg is sending a 2026 second-round pick and a '27 fourth-round selection to the Penguins for Schenn.
The 35-year-old Saskatoon native has 1,057 career games on his resume. He's expected to join the Jets after they wrap up their four-game road trip Sunday in Carolina against the Hurricanes.
The Jets are also sending a 2027 second-round pick to the Kraken for Tanev, 33, who began his career with Winnipeg late in the 2015-16 campaign and played 195 games over four seasons.
Tanev joined the team in New Jersey and immediately started on the fourth line against the Devils, appearing in his 534th career game. The pending unrestricted free agent had nine goals and eight assists with Seattle.
Winnipeg topped the Central Division with a 43-16-4 record heading into Friday’s action, six points ahead of the Dallas Stars, who acquired star forward Mikko Rantanen. The Colorado Avalanche were 14 points behind the Jets and picked up forwards Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle.
Did the Jets do enough to stay ahead of the pack?
“I think that, like us, a lot of teams in the Central we feel like we all have good teams that have a chance to win,” Arniel said. “They've made their moves, we've done stuff in different ways and it'll really come down to the playoffs.”
Winnipeg has been bounced out of the first round of the playoffs the past two seasons, both times in five games.
Fans had wanted the Jets to take a big swing before the trade deadline to try to fill needs such as a second-line centre and another defenceman to make a big post-season push.
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff described the day as “a really interesting deadline.”
“Much different than a lot of other ones” the 14-year GM told reporters in New Jersey. "There was things that you thought were real and then all of the sudden weren't real.
“There was lots of players that maybe were in play that then got pulled out. Usually, you see guys get added in as the days go on. This was a unique trade deadline in that respect.
“We were in on things that we felt we could be in on and anything that was available to us, we took a good hard look at."
Money wasn’t an issue.
"Prices really didn't factor into any of our decisions as far as acquiring or not acquiring players,” Cheveldayoff said, adding Nelson was in the mix.
Schenn is the only player on Winnipeg’s roster who’s won a Stanley Cup. Arniel said he talked to him about that.
“He knows what it takes to play at that time of year,” Arniel said. “He's had the experience of being in Tampa, winning twice. If he has knowledge we want to hear it.
“To be around the guys when the heat gets turned up at that time of year, he's one of those guys that can help calm the room and get us through those moments."
The Penguins flipped the six-foot-two Schenn after acquiring him and forward Tommy Novak from the Nashville Predators for Michael Bunting and a fourth-rounder on Wednesday. Schenn did not play a game with Pittsburgh and had one goal and four assists with Nashville.
Schenn has one year remaining on his contract beyond this season at a US$2.75-million salary cap hit.
Cheveldayoff said Tanev has more experience since he was with the team when it lost the Western Conference final in 2018 to the Vegas Golden Knights in four games, and he brings speed and tenacity.
He said he believes the Jets have become harder to play against with the additions.
“We have depth and we created a lot more there,” Cheveldayoff said. “We have more speed. I think as you get into the playoffs that’s important.
“We have a hardness element that we didn’t have before. We have a champion in the room that has experience that will be a voice that will help our leadership group immensely.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2025.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
