Winnipeg general manager (GM) Kevin Cheveldayoff started off his end-of-season press conference with prepared remarks expressing disappointment with how poorly the 2025-26 season went for his team and what the organization is going to do this offseason, but couldn’t avoid tough questions for long.
He faced quite a few in a wide-ranging, 40-minute conversation Monday. The longtime GM — someone who is occasionally accused of delivering so-called word salads — was sometimes vague throughout the proceedings, but at others, took clear ownership for his role in how things turned out.
“Very Very Fortunate to Be Able to Stand Here Today”
The first inquiry he faced was whether he feels fortunate to still have his job considering a number of GMs around the league have been axed over the past few months including Brad Treliving (Toronto Maple Leafs), Tom Fitzgerald (New Jersey Devils), and Patrik Allvin (Vancouver Canucks).
“It’s an absolute honour and a privilege to be in the National Hockey League on a daily basis,” he responded. “The obligation and the magnitude of having this job and being able to try to put a group together to try to achieve a common goal of a Stanley Cup is something that you never, ever take for granted. It’s something that you wake up each and every day and that’s what drives you.”
“So yeah. Very very fortunate to be able to stand here today and keep on pushing forward,” he continued. “That’s the game. You sign up for this opportunity. You better be ready, willing, and able to take on all that comes with it.”
The Jets, by going 35-35-12, regressed by 21 wins and 34 points from their Presidents’ Trophy winning 2024-25 and became just one of five reigning Presidents’ Trophy squads to miss the playoffs. Their many issues included a huge regression in secondary scoring, lack of team speed, and ineffective special teams.
Some believe he has reached his expiration date after 15 years as GM considering his poor draft history over the past number of years and that the organization has just four playoff round wins to its name in the 2.0 era.
“I Can’t Feel Good About What Happened, But I Have to Pick Myself Up”
“Right now, it obviously doesn’t feel good for anybody,” Cheveldayoff said of missing the playoffs by eight points and not qualifying for the first time in four seasons. “Did we think we were going to get to college without going to high school? Did we think we were just going to get to the playoffs because of past performance… did we skip a step?”
“That’s where I have to grade myself too. Did I feel overconfident? Those are things we’re all going to ask,” he continued.
Cheveldayoff’s offseason did not set the Jets up for success. He lost the speedy and dynamic Nikolaj Ehlers in free agency and signed only over-the-hill veterans who made the team too old, too slow, and unable to keep up with up-and-coming young squads.
“As a group, I think we lacked in speed, Nik Ehlers gave us a different dimension. Some of the players we signed over this past year obviously didn’t have those dimensions, and we were hoping maybe some of those guys would contribute in other ways,” he said.
“Certainly, some of my offseason bets, that’s something that’s on me. There’s no question. You can’t hide from those type of things.”
Cheveldayoff said the free-agent landscape was tough to navigate and that more unrestricted free agents are re-signing with their old teams now due to the sharp salary cap increases over the past few seasons.
“It starts with me. I’m the general manager. Everything starts and basically ends with me. So, I can’t feel good about what happened, but I have to pick myself up, I have to pick it up here, and we have to push forward,” he said.
He said the team he constructed got away from their defensive structure that was key to them winning back-to-back William M. Jennings Trophies for fewest goals allowed in 2023-24 and 2024-25 (they allowed 39 more goals than last season). Head coach Scott Arniel made similar comments in his end-of-season press conference preceding Cheveldayoff’s.
“When we play the way we play, we’re a very tough team to beat… it comes down to the mindset, the belief that that’s the path to win,” Cheveldayoff said. “We had that, I don’t know that we changed the systems, but we fell away from that ability to smother those teams, to constantly do it on a regular basis.”
Cheveldayoff Defends Lack of Moves & Youth During Losing Streak
The campaign included a franchise-long 11-game losing streak from December to mid January that really put the team in a tough spot. However, Cheveldayoff didn’t make any significant moves until the 2026 Trade Deadline — not even call-ups from the Manitoba Moose other than when injuries occurred — and reiterated his position that caution is best when integrating prospects into the lineup.
“That’s the hard part with evaluating younger players is their ability to, when they do get in here, can they stay and can they play to the levels that make them players,” he said. “Certainly we’re going to look at that… I can tell you with no uncertain terms we were trying like hell to make trades that would put (us) in a better situation from that standpoint.”
While the Jets improved after the 2026 Winter Olympic break and briefly challenged for a Western Conference wild-card spot, the hole they dug for themselves was just too deep to get out of.
“Just looking at that period of time, as a group, we have to find ways. It can’t always be looking from the outside and say ‘what’s coming, what’s going on.’ The team we have there is a pretty darn good group. Things didn’t go their way at that period of time and that’s unfortunate,” Cheveldayoff said.
Cheveldayoff claimed “changes have begun” when it comes to giving young guys more runway with the big club, pointing at Isak Rosen’s 21 games with the Jets after being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres and Elias Salomonsson’s 32 games over two separate stints as examples.
“The pressure’s on those guy too, to come in and be part of a solution,” he said.
Arniel’s Future As Head Coach a Little Cloudy
Cheveldayoff notably didn’t provide a definite yes to a question as to whether Arniel would return for a third season as head coach, but did seem to give a vote of confidence of the bench boss and his assistants.
“The whole entire coaching staff, they work extremely hard; they’re extremely prepared,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and make any bold proclamations, because again, this evaluation process — I owe it to the organization, I owe it to ourselves, I owe it to the fans, I owe it to the players,” he said. “We’re not ready to turn the page on anything yet and we’ll keep on evaluating.”
Arniel certainly didn’t speak like someone who was about to be on the unemployment line.
“I’m not falling on a sword… at the end of the day, there’s lots of things I have to look at. I have four-and-a-half months to do it,” he said.
Cheveldayoff Expresses Faith In “Expanded Core” Going Forward
He also expressed faith in his core, comprised of players such as Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck, Adam Lowry, Josh Morrissey, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi.
“I firmly believe in this core, this group of guys, have the abilities to keep pushing this team. Again, for whatever reason, different things fell off. Obviously you can point to lots of different things,” he said, referring to injuries to Lowry and Dylan Samberg to start the season.
On whether the next wave of great players is too far away to help the current core in their 30s reach glory, Cheveldayoff was bullish.
“I do think that there’s maybe an expanded core here that encompasses a few more people. I think the core and the guys on the fringe of the core are maybe more impactful… I believe there’s an ability to surround with some of these younger guys that are coming, again provided that they buy in to the things they need to do over the summer, provided that they buy in and can fit in that structure that we need to be successful,” he said.
“It’s a team sport and I think our core, as strong as it is with the main guys, I do think there’s an outer band of players within that room that can still compete for a championship.”
To the fans who won’t watch their team contend for Cup this season, he apologized.
“I’m sorry we’re not planning the whiteout, we’re not giving that level of excitement,” he said. “Certainly, it’s disappointing and I take responsibility for that. That’s our job is to try to keep them entertained and make them proud.”
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