Winnipeg Jets’ 3 Best Contracts For 2026-27 – The Hockey Writers – Winnipeg Jets
Every NHL team needs players who provide good value for money or outplay their salaries, and the Winnipeg Jets are no exception. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has locked up quite few players to relatively team-friendly deals and has no albatross contracts (at least compared to some other clubs) hindering him.
Here, we’ll dive into the three best contracts on the team’s books for 2026-27 as they attempt to rebound after their highly-disappointing 2025-26.
3: Gabriel Vilardi – $7.5 Million AAV, 5 Years Remaining
It was apparent how good a value Gabriel Vilardi’s contract was the day he signed it last July, but one season in, it’s even more obvious.
Last season, the first year of a six-year pact that pays the right winger $7.5 million annually, he put up a career-high 30 goals and 39 assists for 69 points over 82 games in a top-six role.
The Jets have not had another player quite like the soon-to-be 27 year old, and there perhaps is not another player quite like him in the NHL. While he is not the fastest skater or a pure sniper, he is an extremely efficient scorer — almost all his goals come from within a few feet of the net — and has outrageous hands.
His wizardry around the net and his puck-handling ability in tight make him a huge threat as a power-play “facilitator” from the net-front position. His presence there translated into a team-leading 13 power-play goals and 24 power-play points last season and 53 total man-advantage points through his three seasons since being acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in June, 2023.
As long as Vilardi can stay relatively healthy — he’s missed only 11 regular-season games over the past two seasons after struggling a lot with injuries through his junior and early professional career — his deal will continue to provide good value as it will run through the prime of his career.
2: Josh Morrissey – $6.25 Million AAV, 2 Years Remaining
Despite being the Jets’ best defenseman, Josh Morrissey isn’t their highest paid (that’s Neal Pionk, who makes $7 million annually). Morrissey’s, signed ahead of 2019-20, is a good relic for the Jets and a reflection of a bygone era where the salary cap ticked up only modestly, if at all: The cap was just $81.5 million that season and would stay flat all the way until 2023-24, when it increased by (drum-roll, please) a whopping $1 million.
While Morrissey wasn’t considered a top-10 NHL d-man or even “elite” when he put pen to paper, he certainly is now and has been since 2022-23, making his salary an almost-embarrassing underpay with the cap now at $104 million. To have a perennial top-10 Norris Trophy finisher, strong leader, and player who operates at an exceptionally-high level at both sides of the puck for only six per cent of the salary cap is something every team would kill for.
Last season, the 31-year-old left-side top-pairing staple posted 55 points (14 goals, 41 assists) and also represented Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Sadly, he was sadly knocked out of Canada’s opening game with an injury and was not able to recover in time to return to action.
Despite the disappointment on the international stage, Morrissey has been anything but disappointing for the Jets, posting 262 points over the past four seasons and shouldering huge minutes against opponents’ top talents. Many teams are paying many millions more for players with similar skillsets and production: Morrissey’s AAV is tied for 59th among league defensemen.
1: Mark Scheifele – $8.5 Million AAV, 5 Years Remaining
Tied for 60th in league salary, but fifth in league scoring last season.
Yeah, Mark Scheifele’s an absolute steal at $8.25 million in a world where players who had fewer points than him last season, such as Leo Carlsson Kirill Kaprizov, draw more than double the money.
Scheifele, the Jets’ longtime alternate captain and first-line centre, took his game to new heights last season, putting up a career-high 103 points (36 goals, 67 assists) and becoming the first 2.0 Jet to reach the 100-point plateau.
The first-ever 2.0 era draft pick (eighth overall, 2011) has been an ultra-consistent offensive producer throughout his career, posting eight point-per-game-plus seasons and 902 points (372 goals, 535 assists) overall in 961-career games. He’s also been a clutch playoff performer, with 49 points (26 goals, 23 assists) in 53-career postseason games.
While Scheifele’s 33 years old — the age most players start to slow down — he appears to be only getting better with age, a testament at least partly to how seriously he takes fitness, nutrition, and on- and off-ice preparation. For example, throughout the 2026 Winter Olympic break, he went to Florida to do additional work with former NHL star and now skills coach Adam Oates.
“Age is just a number, you know what I mean,” Scheifele said in February. “A lot of players over the years have proven that. It’s about how you take care of yourself now that makes you better for the future. Every day, you’re getting your sleep, naps, recovery stuff, massage, chiro… in terms of working on your game and making sure that you’re sharp at all times.”
As you get older, the statistics show that you start to slow down. But if your hands don’t slow down, no one can stop you,” he continued. (From ‘Scheifele stays focused,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Feb. 26, 2026).
While the contract might not look quite as good a few years down the line when Scheifele gets closer to 40, there’s no doubt that it’s the best on the Jets’ books right now even if Scheifele doesn’t repeat as a 100-point man in 2026-27.
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