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Despite being far apart in contract negotiations just days ago, the Winnipeg Jets and Dylan Samberg have bridged the gap in a surprisingly short amount of time. The Jets signed the key defenseman to a three-year, $17.25 million contract extension on Wednesday, avoiding arbitration.
The new deal holds an average annual value of $5.75 million. It's a lot closer to what the player wanted, as the Jets filed for $2.5 million in arbitration, while Samberg filed for $6 million. He will now become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2027-28 campaign.
The 26-year-old defenseman has emerged into one of the Jets' top options on the blue line; he chipped in six goals and 20 points in 60 regular-season games as Winnipeg won the President's Trophy in 2024-25 with a 56-22-4 record. He added another three assists in 13 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Averaging a career-high 21:08 per game in the regular season, Samberg racked up a team-leading 120 blocks while emerging into a bonafide top-four defenseman. He was also second among all NHL blue liners in Evolving-Hockey's goals above replacement metric (18.9).
A former second-round pick of the Jets (No. 43) in the 2017 NHL Draft, Samberg has played three full seasons with Winnipeg, managing 51 points in 216 regular-season games.
The 6-foot-4 rearguard became a restricted free agent on July 1, but will now spend at least three more seasons in Manitoba. After the signing, the Jets have eight defensemen under contract for 2025-26: Samberg, Neal Pionk, Josh Morrissey, Dylan DeMelo, Luke Schenn, Colin Miller, Logan Stanley and Haydn Fleury.
Jets have almost all of their RFAs locked up
Along with Samberg, the Jets also re-signed their two other restricted free agents who filed for arbitration on July 5. That includes Morgan Barron, who inked a two-year, $3.7 million contract extension ($1.85 million AAV) on July 14, and Gabriel Vilardi, who signed a six-year, $45 million pact ($7.5 million AAV) on July 18.
As it stands, Winnipeg has only one RFA left in 25-year-old Rasmus Kupari, who chipped in eight points in 59 games last year. The team has just under $5 million in cap space to get the Finnish forward locked up, or to make any other signings before training camp kicks off in September.
Getting Samberg locked up is key, but it's been a tough offseason for the Jets otherwise. The franchise watched as cornerstone Nikolaj Ehlers left to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes earlier in July, a player that is impossible to replace. Brandon Tanev also left the club, signing a contract with the Utah Mammoth.
It'll be interesting to see if the Jets will be as potent in the regular-season as they were in 2024-25, even without the services of Ehlers and Tanev. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff did make a couple of savvy moves, adding three-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Toews to the equation, along with forward Gustav Nyquist.
Out of the 11 restricted free agents who filed for arbitration, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nicholas Robertson is now the lone player without a contract.
