Draft Preview Musings
By now NHL fans are looking towards draft day with some hope and perhaps trepidation as to who their teams will draft or what moves may be made. Today we say the Sabres trade fro Vesey’s right and the Leafs move to get a goalie in Andersson from Anaheim. At some point there should be even more action and it’s starting to come from all corners of the NHL.
With the Panthers adding the rights to Keith Yandle too there seems to be moves coming to address the future for proactive teams. Combine that with Pierre Lebrun saying he knows of a few teams who may lie low and pounce a few days after July 1st makes the upcoming 10 days all the more fascinating.
If you are a Jets fan how beholden to the 22nd pick gained in the Andrew Ladd deal are you now that you know some of the expansion draft parameters? While some teams may decide to go big game hunting either via trade or Steven Stamkos does it make sense for a team like the Jets to try a rather mild type move?
The Jets need help on LHD and that seems to be the obvious move that they might or should make. However if the 7-3-1 protection proposal becomes the format what 3 defence players would the Jets protect if nothing changed on the blue line?
Byfuglien- check
Trouba- check
Myers- maybe
Enstrom- maybe
Stuart- no
Chairot-no
Postma-no
See the problem- ad in a LHD and Chevy better be certain that one of his prospect (Morrissey) is ready to be a full time NHLer in 2017 because it’s likely that Enstrom is the one left unprotected.
The debate over Laine versus Puljujarvi for the Jets seems done, at least in the public forum but what about internally? With the talented Finns being set at 2-3 by almost all draft models do the Jets take a chance on a player who might not be healthy by the time camp comes around? That’s Puljujarvi in the event you did not know about his status.
Since the deal that sent Bickell and Teravainen out of Chicago there were some reports that the Jets had been seeking the talented forward from the 2012 draft as part of the deal for Andrew Ladd. It did not happen but some Jets fans have been rather vocal about him being much better than the consolation prize in Marko Dano. While Dano’s body of work is 46 games less than Teravainen’s can we make any conclusion about either at 115 vs 69 NHL games played?
So the image above shows that Dano, in limited time, may be equal to Teravainen and possibly better in some areas, he’s also a year younger. Think of Dano another way, what does he do in an environment where he is given chances to succeed instead of being in dog house? However he may be at risk in the expansion draft depending on how the Jets elect to protect forwards.
Scheifele- check
Wheeler- check
Ehlers- protected
Little- check
Stafford- UFA
Perreault- UFA
Connor- protected
Laine- protected
Lowry- maybe
Copp- maybe
Thorburn- no
Burmistrov- UFA
Armia- maybe
Petan- protected
Add in the Kosmachucks, Cormiers and others and the Jets could be relatively unscathed but would certain to lose one of Copp, Armia, Stafford, Burmistrov or Perreault depending on contract status at the time. Right now we are going off of leaks not official rules and thus impending UFA players might be considered different than those under contract.
The bigger picture here is that come next year it’s going to be very clear how well the draft and develop process has worked with the level of youth that will be used to fill out the roster.
But before we get to that point it’s time for a poll:
Should the Jets trade the 22nd draft pick this year for depth on D?
Yes
No
Post in the comments.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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