Where are they now? The 2012 Winnipeg Jets draftees

The NHL draft is just one month away! The Winnipeg Jets will pick 37th as they do not have a first-round pick this year, having traded it to the Montreal Canadiens for Sean Monahan on February 2nd.

As we count down the days to the 2024 NHL draft, let’s go through the history of the Jets and their draftees, and where they are now. I will only include players on this list if they either played for the Jets or were part of the trade package for the team.

The 2012 draft was rough; the first four draftees do not currently play in the NHL. Only five of the first ten draftees played at least five games in the NHL this past season.

Let’s dive into the six Winnipeg Jets draftees from 2012.

Kevin Cheveldayoff knows how to lead. In 2011, he would draft the future captain of the Jets; in 2012, he would draft Jacob Trouba ninth overall, who would be named the future 28th captain of the New York Rangers in August 2022.

Trouba would spend his first year after being drafted playing for the University of Michigan. He played 37 games, scored 12 goals, and had 29 points. The U of M would fail to make the postseason that year.

Once Trouba joined the Jets, there was no looking back; he was a certified NHLer. He would play 65 games in his first season, scoring 10 goals and 29 points. He played 408 games with the Jets over six seasons, scoring 42 goals and 179 points.

Trouba would spend 2013-14 until 2018-2019 with the Jets. He was traded on June 17th, 2019, for Neal Pionk and a 2019 first-round pick, who would become Ville Heinola.

Trouba is currently the Captain of the New York Rangers, who are in the Eastern Conference Finals and are up 2-1 against the Florida Panthers.

Lukas Sutter, son of Rich Suter, was drafted in the 2nd round, 39th overall by the Jets. The centerman wouldn’t ever sign with the club or even play for the team, so he would get drafted a second time in the NHL draft by the New York Islanders in 2014.

He would only play 57 games of professional hockey. He played for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the AHL and then the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL. In his 57 pro games, he only scored two goals and 11 points in total.

Since ending his professional hockey career, he has moved to Saskatoon, where he is now an amateur scout for the Buffalo Sabres.

Scott Kosmachuk was drafted in the third round of the draft and was picked 70th overall and had a little more success than Sutter.

The right-winger would play three seasons for the Jets’ two farm teams between 2014-15 and 2016-17; he would play 195 games for the Moose and IceCaps. He would get a very short stint with the Jets in 2015-16, where he would play 8 games and had three assists.

At the end of the 2016-17 season, Kosmachuk was not given a qualifying offer by the Jets; he would hit the open market and sign a one-year deal with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He would finish that season with the Wolf Pack and head out west to Colorado, as he would get some NHL consideration. He would never play for the Colorado Avalanche but would play for the Colorado Eagles’ first season in the AHL.

After scoring 12 goals and 23 points for the Eagles, he would finish his last season in North America in 2017-18. Over the last five seasons, he has been playing in Europe. The past season he played for Tolyatti Lada in the KHL, he would score nine goals and 24 points in 41 games. He is currently a free agent.

In the fifth round and 130th overall, the Jets would draft the goalie of the future, Connor Hellebuyck. He would play with UMass-Lowell for two seasons after getting drafted. He would go 38-12-2 during his college career.

Hellebuyck would join the IceCaps in 2014-15. He would spend a season and a half in the AHL, where he would go 41-37-6 and unsurprisingly had a .922 save percentage. Hellebuyck would get his first start in the NHL on November 27th against the Minnesota Wild. He would stop 14 of 15 shots and only allow one goal against over 60 minutes and secure his first of 267 wins.

Hellebuyck has remained with the Jets his whole career, and if things go well with his long-term contract, he and Mark Scheifele could both retire with the Jets. He has won a William M. Jennings Trophy and is looking for his second Vezina Trophy. He is still looking for his first Stanley Cup.

Ryan Olsen, drafted 160th overall in the sixth round, is a lot like Kosmachuk in that he played professional hockey in North America and would sign an entry-level contract and is still playing professional hockey in Europe. This past season he played four games in the ECHL for the Tulsa Oilers. He scored a goal and an assist.

After his time in the ECHL, he would travel across the ocean to Germany to play for the Kassel Huskies in DEL-2; he had 10 goals and 23 goals in 26 games in the regular season.

Finally, the Jets drafted Jamie Phillips in the seventh round, 190th overall, and the second goalie of the draft. He would spend the first four years after getting drafted at Michigan Tech; by the time he was in his junior year, he was the starter for Michigan.

He would play for the Manitoba Moose in the AHL and the Jacksonville Icemen in the ECHL. After the 2017-18 season, he would leave the Jets organization for the Florida Everblades. He would last play professional hockey at the end of the 2019-2020 season.

He is now a Goalie Performance & Rehab Specialist. He also fought as a goalie with the Moose.