The Winnipeg Jets had a contingency plan heading into the eighth overall pick of Friday night's NHL Draft.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff revealed the team had a trade-down scenario "engineered and in the can" if the player they wanted was no longer available. But as it turned out, that plan never came close to becoming reality.

"As Björck started to fall on the board, my phone started to light up," Cheveldayoff said after selecting Swedish centre Viggo Björck at the No. 9 position.

"We had a potential trade engineered to move back because we had a grouping of players we felt if we got to our pick and Viggo wasn't there, that maybe there was a chance that we could move back and get some things."

Instead, Björck continued to slide. Once Cheveldayoff and Co. realized the 18-year-old was still within reach, the conversation changed.

"We had that engineered and in the can ready to go in case we needed it," Cheveldayoff said. "But that team called and I couldn't answer the phone quick enough to tell them no. Teams that were kind of behind us tried to come and tell us what it would take, but we weren't moving."

Cheveldayoff admitted the Jets had Björck ranked significantly greater than where they ultimately selected him.

"We had Viggo obviously much higher than what we selected him," he said. "When we got to where we were and saw him falling, you're getting excited."

While the Jets had identified several players they liked in that range of the draft, Björck was a head and shoulders above the rest through the scouting process.

"Viggo's a special player. Just a real special talent," Cheveldayoff said. "The things that jump off the page are first and foremost his compete. He's one of those guys when you go to scout him and you watch him play and you become a fan. You're not a scout anymore."

Not only is Björck a good fit for the Jets' team, but through his limited interactions, Chevy said his persona will be a good fit for the organization and the city of Winnipeg. 

"You can't forget this interview," he said of the Jets' NHL scouting combine meeting. "Just a real infectious personality, really confident, really humble and just a player that knows who he is, knows what he's all about."

He shared a story relayed by Winnipeg's European scouts, who met Björck for coffee before a key Swedish Hockey League matchup against Friday's No. 2 overall selection, Ivar Stenberg, to which Björck made it clear he was going to give it his all.

"They asked him what he thought was going to happen in the game tomorrow," Cheveldayoff recalled. "He said, 'We're going to win. I'm going to make sure.'"

And according to the Jets' scouting staff, the teenager backed up his words with a strong performance in the victory.

"The guys that watched him that night said he was an influence and a factor in that win."

Although listed at 5-foot-10, Cheveldayoff quickly dismissed any concerns about Björck's size, pointing instead to his strength, intelligence and ability to play against professionals.

"He's not small," Cheveldayoff said of Björck's 'thickness'. "He might be a little bit shorter than some people, but he's not small by any means at all."

More importantly, the Jets believe that it is his hockey IQ that truly allows him to thrive in situations where others might struggle.

"I don't want to call it hockey sense because hockey sense would be selling it short," Cheveldayoff said. "It is hockey IQ, and it's very, very high."

For a team that last found itself drafting inside the top 10 back in 2016, the opportunity to land a player it viewed as one of the elite talents in the class made it very clear they weren't ready to trade him away. And even as the trade calls poured in, Chevy and the Jets had already made up their collective mind: Björck will be a Jet.