3 options for defencemen that the Winnipeg Jets could draft at 37th overall

Draft season is officially underway after the NHL Draft Lottery. You will start seeing mock drafts left and right online, as it’s an exciting time of the year, especially for teams not competing for the cup, to learn about some potential new prospects to add to their team. Unfortunately, the Winnipeg Jets do not have a 1st round pick this year. The pick was traded in the deal to acquire Sean Monahan. The Jets do not have their own 2nd round pick earlier, but they luckily have a 2nd round pick (Montreal’s pick) from the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade which will be 37th overall.

As the Jets are now into their off-season, I thought I would get a very early head start at looking at some potential options for players the Jets could draft with that 37th overall pick. There will likely still be some 1st round talent available at 37th, so it’s worth taking a look at some of the options. Will the Jets take the best player available or is their a position that the team needs more than the others? I took to X / Twitter and Instagram to ask Jets Nation which position the Jets should draft at 37th overall, and the results were highly in favour of selecting a defenceman.

 

The Instagram poll received close to 500 votes, and around 75% of people said the Jets needed at defenceman at 37th overall. Similarly on X / Twitter, around 68% of people from the 329+ votes said that defence is what the Jets need for this pick. Both polls results were fairly similar, and I could see why people want a defence with this pick. After all, apart from a few high end forwards, the 2024 draft has a lot of potentially great defencemen up for grabs in the first 2 rounds of this draft.

Here are 3 of a few dozen defencemen that I chose as options that should be available for the Jets to select at 37th overall. Keep in mind, I’m just using the information that I’m receiving from websites such as Elite Prospects to give you a brief overall description of each of these players.

The 1st defence that could be an option for the Jets at 37th overall is Stian Solberg. He’s projected to play for Farjestad BK of the SHL in the 2024-25 season, and he’s an 18-year old left shot defenceman born in Norway. Solberg has good size at 6’2″ and 201 pounds and has an average draft ranking in the mid-40s. One scouting report on him notes that he plays an old-school game and can play a physical checking game when called upon. In 42 games with Valerenga in Norway this season, Solberg scored 5 goals and added 10 assists for 15 points.

Another option on the left side of the defence for the Jets could be Jesse Pulkkinen from Finland. The 19-year old will likely be playing for JYP in the Finnish Liiga in the 2024-25 season. Pulkkinen’s size is one of his biggest strengths, as he’s listed at 6’6″ and 216 pounds. His average draft ranking is in the late 30s. For JYP this season in 29 games, Pulkkinen scored 2 goals and added 6 assists for 8 points. Looking at some scouting reports on Pulkkinen, people seem to agree that he’s a tall mobile defenceman that has the tools to become a very useful two-way defenceman in the NHL.

A 3rd among many options that the Jets will have at the 37th overall pick is EJ (Eric) Emery. He is a right shot defenceman born in Canada, but holds dual citizenship with the USA, where he currently will be playing for North Dakota University in 2024-25. Scouts appear to be ranking Emery in the early 30s of this draft. This season with the U-18 USA National team, Emery played 61 games and collected no goals and 16 assists. Listed at 6’3″ and 185 pounds, Emery has the tools to be a strong #3 or #4 defender using a combination of his size, pace and compete level.

There are just 3 options of defence that may be available for the Jets to select with the 37th overall pick in the upcoming draft. As I mentioned, these are just a few of the many options available, and I will be providing more options and giving more in-depth looks at other players closer to draft day on June 28th and 29th in Las Vegas.