Jets pick four players on Day 2 of draft
LAS VEGAS — Mark Hillier was already projecting down the road and his mind went to a natural place.
When you consider the primary job of the Winnipeg Jets director of amateur scouting is to look into the future and try to determine what a teenage prospect is going to look like down the road, it’s not surprising he had already envisioned a scenario where Alfons Freij might be skating alongside Swedish countryman and fellow second-rounder Elias Salomonsson.
“They’re a little different,” Hillier said on Saturday after the Jets had chosen four players on Day 2 of the 2024 NHL Draft inside the Sphere arena.
“Salomonsson’s a little bigger and heavier. At the same time, there’s more of a physical element to his game. Alfons is probably a better skater at the same age. Maybe a little more upside on the offensive side but they should complement themselves pretty well playing together someday.”
Freij is a mobile blue-liner with plenty of offensive upside who called Vancouver Canucks blue-liner and recently minted Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes his favourite player.
Being paired with Salomonsson, who is coming over to play in North America this season, down the road is more than just a remote possibility.
The Jets scouted Freijs extensively this season, watching him play in four international tournaments along with his club team.
“A really good skating defenceman. A puck mover. Has power play possibility,” said Hillier. “Really escapes pressure well. Builds his game around his skating and puck movement.”
Freij is scheduled to play for IF Bjorkloven in the second division in Sweden this season, where he should be playing big minutes.
“I like to have the puck on my blade,” said Freij. “I would say, of course, be more able to do better things in the o-zone. But my defensive game also needs to step up. Use my size a bit more. I’ve got such good skating ability, but need to use my size a bit more, especially now that I’m playing with men.”
In the fourth round, the Jets moved a pair of picks (123, fourth round) and (219, seventh round) to move up 109th overall to select Niagara Ice Dogs winger Kevin He, who scored 31 goals and had 53 points in 64 Ontario Hockey League games.
“He’s a competitive kid but he really plays a fast, quick game,” said Hillier. “He jumps in and out of holes really quick. Goes to the hard areas to score. Really good upside there.”
He was born in China, but moved to Montreal with his family when he was five-and-a-half, then moved to Toronto when he was 12.
“I’m a hungry player. I want to win. I always play with a chip on my shoulder,” said He, asked for a self assessment. “I’m skilled as well. I can skate well and shoot.”
He is the highest player chosen who was born in China and that’s a responsibility he takes seriously, as it pertains to trying to be a role model and grow the game.
“I had a lot of fans texting me right before the draft, wishing me good luck, showing me support, so it’s a huge honour. I hope to be a role model for kids that try to pick up hockey,” said He, who shares an agent with Jets prospect Colby Barlow. “My dad did his studies abroad at the University of Moncton and he picked it up from there. I fell in love with it. I started skating with my dad when I was really young. I did a lot of roller-blading. In China, they don’t have a lot of arenas but they have these ice pads in the malls. So I started skating with my dad over there and did a lot of roller blading and I started playing in a league, competitive hockey, when I moved to Montreal.”
The Jets really like what he brings to the table, that’s why they moved an additional asset to ensure he was brought into the fold.
“When someone takes so much pride in their heritage and so much pride in their craft in the sport they want to be involved in, it says a lot about the person and the individual,” said Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. “If it can turn out to be a great story, that’s secondary. It is always nice to see the diversity in the game and help maybe grow the game more. It would be a great story if he can continue to make that next step.”
In the fifth round, the Jets chose Finnish forward Markus Loponen, who was the captain of Karpat’s U20 team last season, where he scored 25 goals and had 54 points in 45 games.
Loponen is known as a smart, two-way centre and he’s expected to move up to Liiga (the top league in Finland) this season.
With their final pick, the Jets opted for a skilled player with ample size in Sudbury Wolves centre Kieron Walton, who is already 6-6 and 211 pounds.
Walton had 18 goals and 43 points in 65 games in his second season in the Ontario Hockey League.
“Yeah, obviously you see his size. We wanted to throw a dart at a bigger guy in the later rounds,” said Hillier. “We think he’s a little on the raw side but has some upside with size, skating, and ability so we’re excited to get him.”
There was plenty of discussion and speculation going into draft weekend that the Jets were going to make a trade involving top forward prospect Rutger McGroarty, but nothing transpired, despite several close calls that likely would have involved trading back into the first round on Friday.
“Well, again, we had lots of different conversations but we didn’t get a pick,” said Cheveldayoff. “Close only counts in horseshoes.”
The Jets didn’t select a goalie this year, likely because they’ve already got 2022 seventh-rounder Dominic DiVincentiis ready to turn pro and Thomas Milic starting the first year of his entry-level contract after being chosen in the fifth round of the NHL Draft last summer in Nashville.
Many of the Jets’s top prospects, along with a couple of free agent invitees, will be in Winnipeg later this week for the team’s development camp.
It was a quiet weekend for Manitoba prospects, as Brandon product Clarke Caswell was the only one chosen.
The left-winger went to the Seattle Kraken in the fifth round (141st overall) after putting up 26 goals, 51 assists and 77 points in 68 games with the Swift Current Broncos in the Western Hockey League.
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Ken Wiebe
Sports reporter
Ken Wiebe is a sports reporter for the Free Press, with an emphasis on the Winnipeg Jets. He has covered hockey and provided analysis in this market since 2000 for the Winnipeg Sun, The Athletic, Sportsnet.ca and TSN. Ken was a summer intern at the Free Press in 1999 and returned to the Free Press in a full-time capacity in September of 2023. Read more about Ken.
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