There’s been a major tonal shift in the way NHL insiders have discussed the Winnipeg Jets’ trade deadline aspirations as of late.

It has been echoed by what I’m hearing from league sources as well.

The shift has been away from big fish and toward smaller, subtler additions, and the reasons are twofold.

First, the NHL seems to be a seller’s market. The wild-card race is competitive in both conferences: In the East, five teams are within 6 points of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final wild-card spot. In the West, three teams are within 3 points of Vancouver. A lot of teams that are “supposed to be” sellers simply aren’t — at least not yet — and this puts a premium on top targets such as Brock Nelson, Rasmus Ristolainen, Scott Laughton or Brayden Schenn.

The second factor has more to do with Winnipeg. Take second-line centre, for example. Nelson has a no-trade clause. Schenn has a no-trade clause. Nashville’s Ryan O’Reilly, whom I view as the ideal upgrade for Winnipeg, is being treated as if he has a no-trade clause. The Jets have done well retaining players who have experience in the city — current second-line centre Vladislav Namestnikov is the most recent example — but Winnipeg can be a tough sell for players who don’t have local experience.

The Jets will keep exploring the market to push for upgrades. They’re preparing themselves for what they hope to be a deep run — and that takes more than 12 forwards and six defencemen to pull off. I’d expect an addition on defence and at least one addition up front, too. I’d expect those additions to address the penalty kill, playoff experience, physicality and two-way play where possible.

And I might expect the Jets to be in play for some familiar faces. Today, we look at a number of “under the radar” targets for Winnipeg, from fourth-line upgrades to a pair of penalty-killing forwards, multiple familiar faces and a couple of defenceman we haven’t discussed as of yet.

Joel Armia, RW, Canadiens

If you read Pierre LeBrun’s latest rumblings, you knew this was coming. Joel Armia is a former Jets right wing who made so many desperate solo rushes to kill time on the PK that fans named him “One-man Armi-a.” Winnipeg packaged Armia and Steve Mason to the Montreal Canadiens in search of cap space during summer 2018, where Armia continues to kill penalties while playing in the Canadiens’ bottom six. He’s still big, fast and effective on the PK: He has three short-handed goals this season (and scored two against the Jets in Game 3 of Montreal’s 2021 sweep).

Is that enough to convince Winnipeg to acquire him?

Maybe. The Jets could use the short-handed help, but their forward lines are set. Armia isn’t going to take Mason Appleton’s job on Adam Lowry’s line. His penalty-killing prowess might make it worth trying an Alex Iafallo-Rasmus Kupari-Armia fourth line, displacing Morgan Barron in the name of PK help. If Winnipeg makes this type of addition, consider it a bet on what the Jets already have to work with and an acknowledgment that it takes more than 12 quality forwards to go deep in the playoffs.

Jake Evans, C, Canadiens

Arpon Basu has reported that Montreal would like to package Armia with centre Jake Evans to get a better return. The Canadiens hope to get a first-round pick in exchange for the penalty-killing duo.

It’s hard to say who deserves more credit for their success, but Montreal’s PK gives up fewer shots and fewer goals against with Evans/Armia than the Jets do with Lowry, Iafallo, Barron and Kupari. Evans and Armia each have scored more points (and more points per minute) than Barron, Kupari, Iafallo and David Gustafsson have, so I understand Montreal’s pitch: take them both, upgrade your PK, round out your bottom six.

There is one obvious concern. Evans is best known in Winnipeg as the player whose empty net goal attempt led to Mark Scheifele’s four-game suspension during the 2021 playoffs. Whatever a fan’s view of Scheifele’s hit might have been, Evans was concussed on the play and might not maintain fond memories of the Jets star. Hockey players are more likely to look past those things in the name of a Cup hunt than their fans tend to be.

Is a penalty-killing duo worth a first-round pick? Do the Jets need to upgrade their already good fourth line?

It’s hard to imagine the reaction if Winnipeg sent out a first-round pick without getting a second-line centre or top-four defenceman in return … and yet, it makes sense to me that the Jets have checked in.

The Jets’ first line is set, their middle six is perhaps their biggest strength, and the defence could use an upgrade but could probably get away with a veteran third-pairing left-handed defenceman to bump Logan Stanley out of the top six. If you’re projecting a deep run, the PK is probably all you’re worried about.

Brandon Carlo, RD, Bruins

The Boston Bruins are hanging around in the playoff race, Charlie McAvoy’s injury has thrust Brandon Carlo into big minutes, and Carlo has an eight-team no-trade clause. I include him in this “under the radar” list because the 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-shot defenceman has the net-front talent, penalty-killing chops, and size Winnipeg would ideally like to add to its defence corps. He’s struggled against elite competition when pushed up the lineup but tends to crush the bottom-six forwards he plays against in a more sheltered role.

He’s a good archetype for our purposes, though — a more impactful version of the player Joel Edmundson was for the 2019 Cup champion St. Louis Blues.

Josh Anderson, RW, Canadiens

Josh Anderson isn’t the star power forward people dreamed he’d become back when he scored 27 goals and 20 assists as a 24-year-old in Columbus. Back then, he was too big and fast for teams to handle and bulldozed his way to the net for roughly three shots per game. Now he’s shooting half as often, playing further down the lineup for Montreal than he did for Columbus. His impact has been variously reduced by injuries, a reduction in role and a bit of tunnel vision in terms of how he attacks up the wing. Anderson has had a mild renaissance in Montreal this year, though, and the 6-foot-3, 226-pound forward remains tough to handle on his best day.

If I trusted his defensive impact, I’d put someone like Anderson towards the top of the “functional size” category of Winnipeg’s needs. The Jets’ best players get to the middle of the ice via speed and skill as opposed to toughness and tenacity. The best version of Anderson would give Winnipeg — someone whose net-front truculence resembles Nino Niederreiter’s and who could open up space for other players. Niederreiter’s excellence comes from his 200-foot impact, though, and Anderson couldn’t match that. I include him here because the Jets have shown interest in the past and because he represents an archetype the Jets could use — if they got the right one.

Brandon Tanev, LW, Kraken

Brandon Tanev was one of the most popular Jets during his Winnipeg tenure. He seemed to get a thrill out of doing the difficult things — blocking shots, taking hits and chasing down pucks with elite speed. His underlying numbers soared alongside Lowry and Andrew Copp and otherwise suffered, and the Jets PK tended to give up a lot of shots with him on the ice despite his tenacity.

This seems to be the case for him with the Seattle Kraken, too — he’s trusted to play big minutes on a penalty kill that gets buried in terms of shots and goals against when he’s out there. (Admittedly, it’s tough to assume a player’s numbers stay the same when moved from one team to another; in this case, those numbers have been a hallmark of the player’s career.)

The appeal of Tanev is his energy, familiarity with Winnipeg and acquisition cost. He’s a fourth-line left wing who makes $3.5 million — forget about a first-round pick, that’s depth pick territory — and his team-first disposition makes me assume positive dressing room vibes even if Tanev were a 13th or 14th forward.

This isn’t a trade I’d put at the top of my priority list but could be one Winnipeg explores at some length.

Colton Parayko, RD, Blues

To be clear, nothing about Josh Morrissey’s Team Canada defence partner and 4 Nations Face-Off champion Colton Parayko is “under the radar.”

Parayko is a 6-foot-6, 228-pound Cup champion whom the Jets know quite well. He plays exactly the roles on defence — top-pair, first-unit PK — where the Jets could use an upgrade. He has the size to tie up sticks and box out attackers in rebound situations. He seems to have positive impacts in those regards, too: St. Louis gives up more shots with him on the ice in both cases, but fewer from the right side.

It might be that Parayko’s transition game is overstated and he’s winning his battles while losing the flow of play.

This is supported by Corey Sznajder at All Three Zones, who keeps track of microstats: Parayko makes a lot of puck retrievals and contributes a lot of successful breakout passes but fails at his exits often enough to grade out as mediocre in his success rate. He’s a workhorse — this type of statistical profile makes sense to me — but it’s worth keeping expectations in check.

Speaking of expectations, Parayko’s no-movement clause should give us pause. His contract goes until 2030, and I would not bet on the 31-year-old to remain effective throughout the deal. Snap your fingers and make him a Jet, and I’m sure Morrissey/Parayko would be a successful short-term pairing. That’s not in the cards; St. Louis remains invested in the player.

We’ve talked about some of the other players I expect to be on Winnipeg’s radar right now.

The Jets have inquired about Scott Laughton, whom we profiled in this piece, but my understanding is that the Philadelphia Flyers want a first-round pick. We’ve discussed Ristolainen, Jamie Oleksiak and Carson Soucy — all three of whom offer the size and physicality missing from Winnipeg’s blue line. We profiled Mario Ferraro, who blocked four shots against the Jets last week, in that same piece.

It seems to be a seller’s market right now, though, which is why you’ve heard the insiders talk about “chemistry” — and read my piece about subtler additions earlier this week. If Winnipeg can’t add a major piece, then it must sell itself on what it already has in store — not a tough task, given its place atop the NHL standings.

That’s why it makes sense that Winnipeg has checked in on old friends such as Armia and Tanev. Their experience in the city inspires thoughts of a smooth transition, and Tanev’s no-trade clause strikes me as less of a concern than it would for Parayko, Carlo or any other player without experience in Winnipeg.

And I must admit I find the Armia and Evans package intriguing.