Neal Pionk cashes in with the Jets on a new multi-year deal, avoiding arbitration
The Winnipeg Jets and restricted free agent defenseman Neal Pionk have reportedly found a way to avoid salary arbitration, coming to terms on a 4-year deal that carries a cap hit of just under $6M, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
Pionk came over from the New York Rangers back on June 17th, 2019 a trade that saw the Rangers acquire defenseman Jacob Trouba. The Jets also acquired the Rangers' 2019 1st-round pick in the deal.
Originally a promising young prospect with the Rangers, Pionk has developed into a solid offensive defenseman in Winnipeg, registering 77 points in 125 career games with the Jets, with nearly half of his points in Winnipeg coming on the power play (35).
The Jets have done quite a bit to address their glaring need for defensive depth this offseason as well, going out and getting Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon to shore up the blueline.
With Pionk's new 4-year, $5.875M AAV deal on the books, the Jets have only depth defenseman Nathan Beaulieu (UFA after this season) and prospect Sami Niku (RFA after this season) to worry about next offseason.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||