i feel like gardiner and a second makes more sense for both teams then brooks and a first. Huge holes on left side of that d behind morrissey, and it helps the jets stay competitive for next season then just a b level prospect and a late first round pick

Also maybe marinchment over brooks or even Martin Marincin

Kulikov when he's healthy is absolutely suitable as a 2nd/3rd pairing dman behind Morrissey, and Niku has played himself into a roster spot many times over with his last year in the AHL. I wouldn't mind Gardiner, but you'd almost certainly have to dump Kulikov's contract, and that's just a couple too many moving parts for my taste. If a team looking for a left handed defender was willing to take his contract on for a lower tier prospect like Dano in return for a 2nd-4th round pick, then you'd absolutely have yourself a deal in regards to Gardiner.

Whoever plays on the 2nd pairing is going to get carried by Buff, and the expectation is that our 3rd pairing will be extremely sheltered, so I'm not as worried about defense as a lot of Jets fans. The only way that backfires is if we are as unlucky with injuries as we were this year, and even then we still did fine when our 7th, 8th, and 9th dman was on the ice.

I'd definitely be open to that possibility. Jets just need picks and prospects to put themselves in positions to trade up as high as possible, I'd consider Brooks and a late 1st sufficient payment for an extremely cheap high level RHD rental and a late 2nd, although I easily think you could make that 2nd a 3rd.