The Winnipeg Jets got better on Friday afternoon. Not significantly better, but better, nonetheless.
Now, to be fair, in five years, the Jets might be significantly better thanks Friday’s trade with the New Jersey Devils, but right now, the jury is still out.
On Friday, the Jets announced that they had acquired forwards Dawson Mercer, Alexander Command, Nick Bjugstad, goaltender Nico Daws, New Jersey’s second-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft, and New Jersey’s seventh-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft in exchange for goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
It can’t be the trade GM Kevin Cheveldayoff dreamed of, but it’s a trade that will give Winnipeg a 20-goal scorer, a better second line and maybe a good Swedish player in future years in exchange for a goaltender who wasn’t coming back and whose return from suspension would have cost the club $7.5 million on the cap.
Mercer, just 24, is the best player of the bunch and a player who had 20 goals and 42 points in all 82 games last season. During the 2022-23 campaign, he scored 27 and despite being just 24, he has five complete NHL seasons under his belt. He is consistent, durable (he’s played in all 82 games in every season he’s played) and has averaged 20 goals per season in his NHL career. He will make a line of Mercer-Viggo Bjorck- Gabriel Vilardi a very good one.
He’s also played for Team Canada is two World Juniors (a gold and a silver) and three World Championships (one silver medal) and is a player that Winnipeg fans could truly love. He’s a Newfoundlander and a pretty dedicated national team contributor.
This year, however, he’s off to a Bjorck-like start he has zero goals and four assists in 10 games. Maybe playing alongside Bjorck and Vilardi will help him offensively. If nothing else, it can’t hurt.
After the Jets lost three times this week by scores of 3-2, 2-1 and 3-2 in overtime, it’s become clear once again that after the first line, this team can’t score. In 10 games, the Jets have scored more than three goals in a game only once. It’s a damn good thing Stuart Skinner and Clay Stevenson have been so good in goal.
The Jets can’t score. It’s as simple as that. The power play is awful and right now, Skinner and Stevenson have to shut out the opposition in order for the Jets to have any late-game breathing room at all.
So, without question, Mercer is the most important person (right now) for the Jets in this trade. He was New Jersey’s first-round pick (18th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft, has 103 goals and 213 points in 420 NHL games and also has five goals and nine points in 17 playoff games.
The rest of the players (and draft picks) with the exception of Bjugstad are all wait-and-see prospects. Maybe they’ll be good, maybe they won’t.
Command, 18, was New Jersey’s first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2026 NHL Draft and he has played six games for Orebro HK in the Swedish League this season. He won a gold medal with Sweden at the 2026 World U-18 Championships where he tallied three goals and seven points in seven games.
Daws, 25, has played four games for the Devils this season and posted a 2-2-0 record with a 2.78 goals-against average and an .874 save percentage. The Munich, Germany product was New Jersey’s third-round pick (84th overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft and has compiled a 26-26-1 record in 59 career NHL games and posted a shutout, a 2.94 GAA and a .897 save percentage. He’ll be a great No. 1 goalie for the Moose.
Daws has also represented Canada internationally and was a teammate of Mercer’s on the Canadian squad that won the gold medal at the 2020 World Juniors.
Bjugstad, 34, is currently recovering from surgery, but he played 61 games for New Jersey and the St. Louis Blues in 2025- 26 with six goals and nine points. He’s played 821 career NHL games and was Florida’s first-round pick (19th overall) in the 2010 NHL Draft.
For many Jets fans, this trade is a bit of a “Meh!” At least today. However, an upside is there, especially if Mercer becomes the player he was always meant to be on a line that needs to provide some offence.
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