It would appear the breakup between the Winnipeg Jets and Nikolaj Ehlers was an amicable one. Emotional, too.

“Nik phoned me (Thursday), almost in tears,” coach Scott Arniel said on Friday.

“He just felt the biggest thing for him was he needed a change of scenery. It wasn’t based on the city or the hockey team. He felt like he had been here a long time and this was his one chance to make a change.”

KARL DEBLAKER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Nikolaj Ehlers provided plenty of thrills for Jets fans over the years.

That change has come in the form of a six-year contract with the Carolina Hurricanes which will pay Ehlers US $8.5 million per season. It marks the end of a relationship with the Jets that dates back to 2014 when he was selected in the first round, ninth-overall, by the organization.

“We talked before he made his final decision. It was an emotional conversation,” said general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, who learned Wednesday evening they were out of the running to re-sign Ehlers. His final decision came a day later.

“He’ll have to put it all in his own words, I certainly don’t want to speak for him in any way, shape or form. I know on our side it was never about money or term or anything like that.”

Ehlers hasn’t spoken publicly yet but is is scheduled to hold a Zoom call with reporters on Saturday morning from his off-season home in Denmark.

“I thanked him for what he has done for this team,” Arniel said of how the conversation concluded.

“He was extremely, extremely appreciative of what went on here, how things were handled, things that happened. He loves the city and just decided to make a move — something he had the chance to do.”

Now the focus turns to how the Jets might try to replace one of the most dynamic wingers in franchise history.

“It’s a big hole for us,” said Arniel. “But at the end of the day, that’s his choice, he gets to this stage in his career, he felt that’s what he wanted to do. But we had a great talk though, a great talk.”

Cheveldayoff has made four NHL signings this week — veteran forwards Jonathan Toews, Gustav Nyquist and Tanner Pearson and energy winger Cole Koepke. Winnipeg tried to take some bigger swings on players such as Brock Boeser (who ultimately stayed in Vancouver) and Andrew Mangiapane (who signed with Edmonton).

“Free agency is always an interesting time. It’s very, very fluid. Sometimes you think something’s there and it’s not,” said Cheveldayoff.

The Jets also lost forwards Mason Appleton (Detroit Red Wings) and Brandon Tanev (Utah Mammoth) in free agency.

“We’ve talked about free agency. Sometimes it’s tough for us in this market,” said Arniel.

“Last year, we really looked at our depth and a lot of it was on our back-end. And that became important right out of training camp with our defence. This year it kind of flipped the other way, we went heavy with our forwards.”

The Jets are hoping a player such as Nyquist can get back to the form he had two years ago with the Nashville Predators when he had a career-high 75 points. He fell to just 28 last season as his role was reduced thanks to several off-season additions in Music City.

“There’s an opportunity here for him to have a bigger role more akin to what he had two years ago. And we’ll see where that goes,” said Cheveldayoff.

“I think it just adds to the competition which strengthens an organization. Certainly we’re going to need all hands on deck as an organization here to continue to push forward and make that next step.”

Toews is an obvious wild card as he returns to the NHL following a two-year absence, while Pearson and Koepke are likely bottom-six additions.

It was suggested to Cheveldayoff the Jets might be a lot slower as a group given what they’ve lost and added this week.

“Hopefully a guy like Brad Lambert can give us that opportunity to use his team speed,” Cheveldayoff said of the speedy prospect who has spent the majority of the past two years with the Manitoba Moose.

“For us, skating is obviously, it’s paramount, but it’s also playing fast. I think that’s what a coach tries to do within their systems. It’s not necessarily about individual speed of a player, it’s how the player plays that a team plays fast.”

Cheveldayoff has also signed a number of proven players at the American Hockey League level to two-way deals — defenceman Kale Clague and forwards Phil di Giuseppe, Samuel Fagemo and Walker Duehr — with the hopes of providing a better environment for first-year pros such as Brayden Yager, Colby Barlow and Jacob Julien on the farm.

“We didn’t like how things unfolded with the Moose last year,” he said. “We made a conscious effort to make sure we have a good sense of depth there. They are important prospects for us. These first-year guys, it’s a tough step, so they certainly need to have good people around them. It just adds to the competition in the organization.”

The Jets still have about US$19 million in cap space left, although a good chunk of that will be allocated for restricted free agents Dylan Samberg, Gabe Vilardi and Morgan Barron who all need new deals this summer. Negotiations on that front are ongoing.

Cheveldayoff said they also have the flexibility to add — whether that’s prior to the start of the 2025-26 season in October or leading up to the trade deadline next winter.

“It is important to be ready to pivot for anything,” he said.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg