That defense tho... plus the big man buff may leave when that contract is up too. That depth in the bottom 6 too... that’s a lot to sacrifice. I think you did the best you could with the situation though. Just kinda shows even if things went Winnipeg’s way that team is not a cup winner

Hallander is the 2nd best offensive prospect after Samuel Poulin. You wont get a 1st for a bottom 4 dman and a 3B Center

Yes cause everyone knew Kempny would be the missing defenseman the Capitals needed to finally capture the cup or that Vegas would get to the cup final in their first season with Englland, Sbisa and McNabb as half of their defense.. Lol

Point is ya never know, that group might be better then it looks on paper and anything could happen, the Pens won cups without the most impressive looking defense core either.

Letang, Ian cole, Schultz, Trevor Daley, dumoulin, maatta, etc isn’t terrible at all so I’ll assume you are referring to the 90’s. Vegas over performed, and I point you to the blues, the capitals, both pen cups, hawks 3 cups, Kings 2 with doughty, Martinez, muzzin, etc. that defense wont win you playoff series

I think you are wrong about the defence. Niku is looking more and more like a Toby enstrom (making him a #2/3d) samberg is nhl ready now and is big. He also has some offensive potential. I think that he will be a top 4 d not soon after he comes into the league. Heinola is oozing with talent. It could be Stanley instead and heinola spends another year in the A. Kovacevic is nhl ready as well. His defence is there and he is starting to show an offensive side to his game that could make him a steal. The d-core is improved imo over 2019-2020 because it will progress toward getting better as the season goes along. It will have some growing pains but it will be good.

Buff can still take over games and JoMo is becoming elite. I also do not think buff retires unless injuries continue to take a toll. Yes losing Trouba hurt but it’s time to pick up your losses.

That bottom six is very good imo. They are 2 lines that would provide good secondary offence. Also add in the fact that the jets will have 2 very good offensive top lines with finally having a legit 2c and all

I think this defence will be good. Vegas is a perennial contender and they don’t really have anyone beyond Schmidt and Theodore. Mcnabb would be equivalent to samberg and buff and JoMo are better than both of Theodore and Schmidt. also remember that most (actually almost all) teams don’t have an offensive lineup as good as his one.

I think you are really overlooking some young guys. These are guys that would have been on nhl teams a year earlier (except heinola). They are more than nhl ready and deserve their shot.

Compare that with this d-core. Letang and dumoulin < JoMo and buff
Schultz=Niku (I assume niku is a 30-40 pt offensive d-man or just keep pionk and move niku)
Ian cole < samberg
maata = kovacevic (kovacevic might even be better)
Don’t know much about Daley but heinola is really skilled. Then there is put extra in poolman. He isn’t bad as well and would be a regular on most teams

The blues had peitrangelo, parayko, and Dunn, then a bunch of role players. Jets have JoMo and buff to equal 2 of those and whichever one of pionk and niku wouldn’t be a large downgrade on dunn

Caps d-core was considered very weak an young but look where that got them. Point is the goal is to get the the playoffs and go from there. This d-core is young but they are nhl players and infact are all really good. Even if they don’t do great in 2020-2021, this d-core will be after the expansion draft. Not to mention that even with the large cap raise the jets do t need to pay anyone big meaning hey can add for once

I don’t agree but that’s OK maybe I’ll be proven wrong. But usually having a bunch of young guys in your defense doesn’t end well unless they’re just beasts. I’d take letang and dumoulin at their primes or younger than they are now when They won their cups over buff And morrisey. Just saying. It’s fine to be optimistic but you’re putting a whole lot of confidence in unknowns moving forward .

That is true but JoMo and buff are not unknowns. If buff’s mins can get toned down, he is elite. That is a good start. After that they are unknowns yes but the floor for all these players is 3rd pairing d-men. If they all underperform, go out and get a rental too 4 d and you’re set. The offence has no major holes. Even if not, this season will not be lost as the season after will have all these guys potentially playing at top 4 levels.

If I am making a stretch it is with that 3rd pairing. Possibly none of those player make it. However, kovacevic could make the team next month but will likely be sent down. Look for him to be a beast in the a. A Stanley-kovacevic pairing would be better than good for a 3rd pairing

I don’t think you’ve seen Samberg or niku. They are beasts in their own right. Samberg is a big defencemen with a mean streak. His floor is a Brandon Carlo type of guy. Niku has a compete toolset to work with. He is undersized but he knows how to use his speed effectively. Watch this kid’s highlights. Just do it, you won’t be disappointed

Man is Dumolin overrated.
He's not even close to Buff or Morrissey.

The caps had Carlson, Orlov, orpik, kempny, etc. who played lights out. Blues had depth up and down the entire roster.

Letang was hurt, Maata was in his rookie/second season (and couldn't skate) and someone else was hurt I think, ik Shultz was our best d man one of the years... We also had MARK STRIET playing a decent amount

PIT rejects, A they're in way worse cap hell (19 mil to sign Murray Schultz galchenyuk Kahun McCann and a bunch of depth guys) and B there's a debate to be made that Hallander is our best prospect

Winnipeg had trouble doing anything in the playoffs with buff, morrisey, Myers, chariot, and trouba. With a weaker division than this year. It’s just not looking good at that defense. God forbid buff starts declining at 35....

They won one without letang yes, but again they had proven depth up and down the roster and the best 1/2 punch at goalie in the league hands down.

How about without hallander. Just the first

Still don't have the cap space

The jets outplayed stl. Hellebuyck lost us the first 2 games but the jets outplayed stl for the first 5 games (save the 3rd period of game 5 where it all fell apart) then in game 6 we didn’t show up. Saying we had trouble doing anything is just wrong

All of those peices are replaceable. Myers with niku. Chiarot with beaulieu. And pionk serves as somewhat of a replacement for Trouba (not really) let’s not forget that we didn’t have JoMo and buff (at the same time) for the majority of he 2nd half which put an emphasis on trouba’s importance. However with a healthy buff and JoMo, both buff and Trouba regressed

Fair enough do you think it’s fair though? Assuming pionk develops into a top 4 d

Yeah, value wise I'd be willing to give up a bit more than a first, I'm just extremely protective of giving up Hallander lol

I’m not saying this defence is on par with cup winners cause it’s not (it could be but likely not). However, most cup winners didn’t have an offence as good as this one. I’d say it balances out. And then we have hellebuyck who we all know landed a .913 while struggling

What if it was just pionk. Move Lowry elsewhere. What would you give. 1st?

... I can’t defend excuses. They should have been just fine without one defenseman. Pens did it with a worse defense on paper. That offense should have destroyed almost anyone in the division but didn’t. It is what it is. You are assuming these players will automatically be as good or better with a new team and scheme which is dangerous. Winnipeg was desperate to make a defense and got some nice players but i believe Winnipeg is in for an awakening quite shortly

Which cup winners offense wasn’t as good as Winnipeg’s if you don’t mind me asking. I’m curious

I'd probably give up a second+, but that depends on how Pionk does and how much cap space we've moved

They were just fine with one defencemen. The team just fell apart (apparently a locker room problem but that can’t be all). The jets had a healthy d-core for playoffs (well sort off of you count JoMo with one arm healthy but I digress) and outplayed stl. We dominated those games, ask any stl fan.

As far as the offence goes, it should have, but it didn’t because the top line got overworked and was toast by playoffs. The teams was destroying in the first half and then the top line just stopped scoring like they did before. The jets were a one line team and everyone knew it. Nothing new about hay but that one line just Ran out of steam.

I will obviously assume that if most of you team’a core is under 25. They are going to get better every year.

Don’t get me wrong but this years’ defence will be worse, however, it has potential to be decent. If not rental here we come.