Kevin Cheveldayoff has taken another step into shoring up the Winnipeg Jets NHL forward depth. Lee Stempniak was traded for AHL winger Carl Klingberg.

The 34 year-old is an expiring UFA and adds to the Jets right wing depth, but also has experience as a centre in case of emergencies.

Other than added depth, what does Stempniak bring to the table?

Lee Stempniak is a good player to have as a depth forward. In fact, I requested him as an option for the Jets to pursue in the offseason to upgrade their bottom six. Why the Rangers decided to move him when they are stocking up, I do not know.

He represents a different kind of value than Jiri Tlusty or Drew Stafford.

Tlusty is a top-end secondary goal-scorer. Stafford is a decent middle-six point-scorer if he has linemates driving the play for him.

Stempniak though is a player that can drive the play even when given a tonne of defensive zone starts. He has also been highly effective on the penalty kill.

Essentially, Stempniak is everything the Jets bottom players have failed at being for the past three seasons.

He won’t wow you with his scoring. His even strength point production is middling for a third-line player. His power play production isn’t very strong. Still, he helps the team in other ways.

With Matthieu Perreault still out with injuries, Lee Stempniak fits nicely in the Jets mix of top nine wingers with Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Jiri Tlusty, Drew Stafford, and Michael Frolik. He also pushes Chris Thorburn back on to the fourth line, which bumps Adam Pardy out of the poor fourth-line forward experiment.

Once (if ever) healthy, the Jets move into new territory: a bounty of depth.

Stempniak is the most likely candidate to move to the fourth line if Mathieu Perreault returns to health, unless Perreault moves to centre and bumps Lowry down. In this case the Jets would have a legit third-line player on the fourth line, something that has only happened previously due to coach folly.

(Courtesy: War on Ice)