The team going into next year is absolutely a better team than last years team on paper.
Vilardi, Nino, Iafallo, Namestnikov, Kupari > PLD, Wheeler, Stenlund, Big Sak, Gagner, Toninato etc. Maybe you could argue a bit worse scoring points but miles better defensively.
If we lose Scheifele and Hellebuyck for absolutely nothing that helps us next year? Yeah, much worse.
If they go into this year with Scheifele and Hellebuyck the Jets are making the playoffs. Whether or not they should do that is a very valid question