Would like to add, while he has been better, why on earth is he playing 25 minutes a night?. Injuries or not, he doesn't deserve this level of ice time. Blashill is nuts! We have been losing plenty lately, so not like he is making a positive impact playing nearly half the game. We are losing as is, so just let Hronek and Cholowski eat some minutes.
Also Shelby, what team is letting Jensen "cash in"? He is spare parts material, only on our injury riddled bottom end d-core is he even in the lineup regularly.
Maybe the increase in ice time is to help boost his potential value in a trade. Now instead of looking like a speedy limited 3rd pairing option, he's a speedy 3rd pairing guy that doesn't look completely out of place filling in for the 2nd pairing if needed.
I don't mean "cash in" as in he's going to get huge offers from teams or have a bidding war over his services, I just meant that he might try to get as much $ and/or term as possible given his age and relatively scant salary history.
Then again, who really knows... GM's like Bergevin and Chiarelli are still employed. I'll also bet if you climbed into a time machine a went back to 2/27/17 and posted in here that Brendan Smith was going to "cash in" that summer, Wings fans would be falling out of their chairs laughing.
I think it will also depend on how the UFA market shakes out. Karlsson, Edler, Gardiner, Stralman and Myers are probably the most sought after Dmen in the UFA class, but beyond them it's a mixed bag of aging/slowing vets, other teams scapegoats or spare parts similar in age to Jensen. Depending on who makes it to UFA status, Jensen could actually being one of the more favorable secondary options on the market, which could drive up his value.