Rumor: All Purpose Trade Proposals, Speculation and Rumours - 2023/24

[BarnabyJones PI]

He is unpredictable, that's why some, like Scheifele, don't like playing with him.

The context you are not wanting to look at is the team that he is a part of in the PO, and his usage. It is like all these people emphasizing Ehlers' PO performance think that he is the whole reason Jets lose 4 straight games. He is part of that bad PO team and has to wear that. But that also means that he isn't getting any help. Like other Jets in the PO, he is being setup to fail - and he does. Hockey is a team game and Jets fail in the PO as a team.

I've not made this point. He's one of the key reasons though. I'm definitely making that point, and will continue to do so whenever the subject comes up; and that trusty red light goes off warning me.

If Ehlers is going to be elevated by a number of key posters here, as to the main reason why the offense is (relatively) successful in the regular season, those same people can't (but they will) all-of-a-sudden downplay his importance when things go South every time the playoffs come; at least the past 3 sweeps. You have to be a bit clued-in as to why the team is struggling, and he's the main common denominator; I'd say going back to Vegas in 2018.

He missed the first 2 games vs Edmonton, and that was the last series we have won.

I haven't heard too much from @Gm0ney or @Maukkis and a long list of others, who overlap in a love of analytics and Ehlers being their favorite player, to give even the slightest reason as to why they think he fails in the playoffs. All intelligent people (save for the teen who only posts other people's work). And when I say reason, I'm not talking about how "every one on the team bombed" or "he's being deployed incorrectly", "usage", etc.

I mean, why is he playing so poorly relative to how he plays in the regular season, considering he has success leading a 2nd unit (though the "leading" part is debatable but I'll go with it here), driving the 2nd unit, against (in theory) more favorable matchups. Sure, he might put up better numbers on that 1st line in the playoffs, but what's happening to him with his own line? Why gloss over that?

The analytical-type will hijack a celebratory thread, on a +5 game winning streak, to tell you what's not working, yet, Ehlers fails again, nothing is said by (most) of those same people. Fascinating. You have all of that intelligence, and information at your finger tips, and no one seems to be the least bit interested in investigating "Why Ehlers isn't good in the playoffs?"

 

[Buffdog]

I've not made this point. He's one of the key reasons though. I'm definitely making that point, and will continue to do so whenever the subject comes up; and that trusty red light goes off warning me.

If Ehlers is going to be elevated by a number of key posters here, as to the main reason why the offense is (relatively) successful in the regular season, those same people can't (but they will) all-of-a-sudden downplay his importance when things go South every time the playoffs come; at least the past 3 sweeps. You have to be a bit clued-in as to why the team is struggling, and he's the main common denominator; I'd say going back to Vegas in 2018.

He missed the first 2 games vs Edmonton, and that was the last series we have won.

I haven't heard too much from @Gm0ney or @Maukkis and a long list of others, who overlap in a love of analytics and Ehlers being their favorite player, to give even the slightest reason as to why they think he fails in the playoffs. All intelligent people (save for the teen who only posts other people's work). And when I say reason, I'm not talking about how "every one on the team bombed" or "he's been deployed incorrectly", "usage", etc.

I mean, why is he playing so poorly relative to how he plays in the regular season, considering he has success leading a 2nd unit (though the "leading" part is debatable but I'll go with it here), driving the 2nd unit, against (in theory) more favorable matchups. Sure, he might put up better numbers on that 1st line in the playoffs, but what's happening to him with his own line? Why gloss over that?

The analytical-type will hijack a celebratory thread, on a +5 game winning streak, to tell you what's not working, yet, Ehlers fails again, nothing is said by (most) of those same people. Fascinating. You have all of that intelligence, and information at your finger tips, and no one seems to be the least bit interested in investigating "Why Ehlers isn't good in the playoffs?"

To be fair, the "sample size" argument isn't without merit. Anyone can go cold for 5 games. Cole did it for 21.

However, at this point we've developed a decent sample size of sample sizes.

What I find funniest is that I'm constantly accused of building strawman but anytime Ehler's playoff performances come up, its an army of strawmen, like you mentioned...

 

[gojetsgo]

'22 & '23 were Ehlers' worst years for missing games. He has 3 82 game seasons in the NHL. '23 was Vilardi's highest games played. Look back further at his missed games. HockeyDB follows him back to 2016. He doesn't have a single complete season in that time. It is every single year with him.

I sincerely hope that turns around for him. But it hasn't yet.

and it's been every single year with ehlers since 17-18... you can say he played the full 82 this year but he missed the entire preseason, had to skip practices and didn't go to the world championships because he was dealing with a neck injury this season, both players have been unable to stay healthy, both players have played nearly the same amount of games in the past 4 years

 

[bumblebeeman]

I've not made this point. He's one of the key reasons though. I'm definitely making that point, and will continue to do so whenever the subject comes up; and that trusty red light goes off warning me.

If Ehlers is going to be elevated by a number of key posters here, as to the main reason why the offense is (relatively) successful in the regular season, those same people can't (but they will) all-of-a-sudden downplay his importance when things go South every time the playoffs come; at least the past 3 sweeps. You have to be a bit clued-in as to why the team is struggling, and he's the main common denominator; I'd say going back to Vegas in 2018.

He missed the first 2 games vs Edmonton, and that was the last series we have won.

I haven't heard too much from @Gm0ney or @Maukkis and a long list of others, who overlap in a love of analytics and Ehlers being their favorite player, to give even the slightest reason as to why they think he fails in the playoffs. All intelligent people (save for the teen who only posts other people's work). And when I say reason, I'm not talking about how "every one on the team bombed" or "he's being deployed incorrectly", "usage", etc.

I mean, why is he playing so poorly relative to how he plays in the regular season, considering he has success leading a 2nd unit (though the "leading" part is debatable but I'll go with it here), driving the 2nd unit, against (in theory) more favorable matchups. Sure, he might put up better numbers on that 1st line in the playoffs, but what's happening to him with his own line? Why gloss over that?

The analytical-type will hijack a celebratory thread, on a +5 game winning streak, to tell you what's not working, yet, Ehlers fails again, nothing is said by (most) of those same people. Fascinating. You have all of that intelligence, and information at your finger tips, and no one seems to be the least bit interested in investigating "Why Ehlers isn't good in the playoffs?"

Nobody can give reasons Ehlers has performed worse in the playoffs. It's both too hard to quantify and we are also all random people with no special information to know these things. At best we can conjecture he is injured or too soft or mentally weak, but these are all just random things I'm making up.

Especially expecting posters who's favourite player is Ehlers to speak out against him doesn't make sense to me. They're probably going to complain about the players the don't like, and really all the Jets deserve it after that playoff performance.

 

[Maukkis]

I've not made this point. He's one of the key reasons though. I'm definitely making that point, and will continue to do so whenever the subject comes up; and that trusty red light goes off warning me.

If Ehlers is going to be elevated by a number of key posters here, as to the main reason why the offense is (relatively) successful in the regular season, those same people can't (but they will) all-of-a-sudden downplay his importance when things go South every time the playoffs come; at least the past 3 sweeps. You have to be a bit clued-in as to why the team is struggling, and he's the main common denominator; I'd say going back to Vegas in 2018.

He missed the first 2 games vs Edmonton, and that was the last series we have won.

I haven't heard too much from @Gm0ney or @Maukkis and a long list of others, who overlap in a love of analytics and Ehlers being their favorite player, to give even the slightest reason as to why they think he fails in the playoffs. All intelligent people (save for the teen who only posts other people's work). And when I say reason, I'm not talking about how "every one on the team bombed" or "he's been deployed incorrectly", "usage", etc.

I mean, why is he playing so poorly relative to how he plays in the regular season, considering he has success leading a 2nd unit (though the "leading" part is debatable but I'll go with it here), driving the 2nd unit, against (in theory) more favorable matchups. Sure, he might put up better numbers on that 1st line in the playoffs, but what's happening to him with his own line? Why gloss over that?

I place zero weight on playoff performance. With small sample sizes, you're going to get misleading results, which people can and will misinterpret to their detriment. Controversial? Sure. Do I care? Nope.

However, despite what I said above, there is one aspect of playoff hockey that is proven by the numbers and the eye test alike that could matter here. We know that Ehlers is among the best skaters in terms of drawing penalties with his speed, and since teams get away with more infractions in the postseason, Ehlers' play-driving can be interfered with more easily. And when you're the only one capable of skating the puck out of your own zone on your line, well... you've already mentioned what that could lead to.

The playoff sample sizes are absolutely abysmal and hence not worth mentioning here (91 ES minutes in the last three postseasons = jack shit), but since Ehlers' penalty differential is roughly in the top 30 in the entire league in the regular season, it should be a non-trivial issue. Whether this is fixed by getting rid of Ehlers outright is a question that many other posters seem to have an answer to. Based on how the series against the Avs went, I'd say that slower is not what we would have needed to be.

 

[bumblebeeman]

To be fair, the "sample size" argument isn't without merit. Anyone can go cold for 5 games. Cole did it for 21.

However, at this point we've developed a decent sample size of sample sizes.

What I find funniest is that I'm constantly accused of building strawman but anytime Ehler's playoff performances come up, its an army of strawmen, like you mentioned...

I'm not sure you know what a strawman argument is.

 

[BarnabyJones PI]

To be fair, the "sample size" argument isn't without merit. Anyone can go cold for 5 games. Cole did it for 21.

However, at this point we've developed a decent sample size of sample sizes.

What I find funniest is that I'm constantly accused of building strawman but anytime Ehler's playoff performances come up, its an army of strawmen, like you mentioned...

There is a lot of moving the goal posts with sample size; we both know this (just saying). I personally think that 37 games in, is an ample amount of time. For me, I don't think of 1 playoff game = 1 regular season game; I don't know what that number would be, 7:1 (?). Also, those 37 games coincides with his prime/peak years (22-28).

 

[Buffdog]

I'm not sure you know what a strawman argument is.

So you're saying that when someone mentions Ehlers playoff performances and the OP changes it to "well, everyone else sucked" isn't a strawman? By definition, that's refuting the Ehlers criticism by inserting someone else's failures. Kinda fits the definition to a T

 

[10Ducky10]

The Jets playing like dogshit in the playoffs wasn't Ehlers' fault but he had a hand in it.
He has been horrible in the playoffs.
Make a deal around Pulock for Ehlers.
We won't have to watch him hit the ice and look at the ref to see if his acting drew a penalty.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Maybe walk that back a bit, because I certainly question it. Again, I'm assuming you're going off of xG%, because that's the only stat that backs up what you say.

Maybe this is where the "you hate advanced stats and you hate Ehlers" shit comes from. Neither is true.. what I hate is this kind of conclusion being drawn from one metric that in and of itself is highly flawed

Is Ehlers a great player? Yes

Are advanced stats a useful tool? Yes

Is Ehlers "unquestionably our best forward" based soley on advanced stats? No

For example, Schief plays a more important and more difficult position vs better opposition and he outscores Ehlers in terms of actual points. Of course this is where the old "P/60" and "5v5" comments will pop up like clockwork... but at the end of the day, games aren't only played at 5v5 and unfortunately, they only count the goals you score (not the ones you could have scored with more ice time)

So if given the choice between keeping Schief or Ehlers, it's Schief 100 times out of 100 for me. Same said for Lowry, and maybe Connor

The statement that Ehlers is "unquestionably" our best player is a bit over the top. Clearly, it can be questioned. I think he is our most skilled or talented forward. You probably question that too though.

But 5v5 or P/60 are hardly extreme stats, or manufactured stats. They are not even "advanced stats". Yes, Scheifele outscores Ehlers in actual points. Does he outscore the opposition?

You agree that advanced stats are a useful tool but argue vehemently against any use of them to actually analyze anything. Or maybe it is just anything that contradicts your opinions.

 

[cbcwpg]

There doesn't have to be an analytical proven reason for poor playoff performance... But the fact is there are certain players that can not / will not / never will produce in the playoffs. The reasons don't matter. What matters is identifying the problem and doing something about it.

Either find a solution that makes him perform better OR if that means moving on from Ehlers, that's what it means.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

Nothing says possible like a coach having to convince players to accept his roster decisions.

I tried to think of players who have, in one way or another, been linked to trades in recent times, and the only semi-plausible replacement for Ehlers that I could think of was Brady Tkachuk, and even that's quite a stretch in terms of plausibility. In terms of point production, 95% of the players close to Ehlers are totally unavailable. It's a struggle to come up with anything for this.

I can't see any trade that fully replaces Ehlers. But he might be replaced by committee and the return could still fill a hole.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

A lot of things have to go right to offset the difference.
I hope if a trade happens, those things you believe materialize, or it could turn into a long season.

Could be a long season if we keep Ehlers and just run it back with the same gaps and all of our best players 1 year further past their peaks. If our goaltending is merely good next year, we have the same D corps and no, or inadequate 2C it will be a long season.

 

[Jets 31]

Maybe walk that back a bit, because I certainly question it. Again, I'm assuming you're going off of xG%, because that's the only stat that backs up what you say.

Maybe this is where the "you hate advanced stats and you hate Ehlers" shit comes from. Neither is true.. what I hate is this kind of conclusion being drawn from one metric that in and of itself is highly flawed

Is Ehlers a great player? Yes

Are advanced stats a useful tool? Yes

Is Ehlers "unquestionably our best forward" based soley on advanced stats? No

For example, Schief plays a more important and more difficult position vs better opposition and he outscores Ehlers in terms of actual points. Of course this is where the old "P/60" and "5v5" comments will pop up like clockwork... but at the end of the day, games aren't only played at 5v5 and unfortunately, they only count the goals you score (not the ones you could have scored with more ice time)

So if given the choice between keeping Schief or Ehlers, it's Schief 100 times out of 100 for me. Same said for Lowry, and maybe Connor

Totally agree, well said, just look at how bad we were in both playoffs where we lost Scheifele. If Ehlers was our best forward losing Scheifele wouldn't hurt as much. Scheifele and Connor are our 2 best forwards then Ehlers would be our 3rd although i would like to see what Vilardi could do in a full season since he was basically a point per game . I love watching Ehlers but there is just no denying that he is a ghost come playoff time.Scheifele has 21 goals in the playoffs, Ehlers has 4 but Ehlers is our best player? Not to me he isn't anyway.

 

[NA Hockey]

He also played the system and had success doing it. Honestly I don't think there is going to be an issue with Cole unless he keeps crap usage.



Well the org has 5 years of control to show him he can succeed here. I'm not overly concerned, I expect he'll get into the in crowd as soon as next year and won't look back.

I think you are right that he will take off in the top six next year and play more than 16mins a night and score 60+ points and never look back. I think he is really happy playing in Winnipeg and looks to really like his teammates and the city. But I can understand that he would have been frustrated with usage. Even when he was near a point per game he was playing 14 mins or less a night. He was leading the team in PP points and was on the second unit. Never saw 4 on 4 or 3 on 3 ice and didn't even shoot in the shootout.

People keep going back to the slump for his reduced role. When he went cold for 10 games they moved him to the 4th line and then to the press box. That is why the slump lasted so long. They could have helped him and given him more opportunities like they did for others when they went cold to get him going, instead they did the opposite.

Interestingly:

Nino didn't score a goal in his last 21 games (including playoffs) and didn't miss a minute of ice. He also went a stretch earlier in the season where he had 2 goals in 24 games. So two separate long streaks and he didn't get benched or sent to the 4th.

Appleton finished the year with 1 goal in his last 17 games. He also had an earlier stretch with 1 goal in 17 games and earlier stretch with no goals in 25 games.. Yet he never lost ice.

Iafallo finished the year with 1 goal in his last 22 games. He also had an earlier stretch where he had 1 goal in 27 games and that was mostly on the top line and top PP. Never once scratched or called out.

Lowry started the year with two goals in his first 17 games. He also had a 21 game stretch with zero goals during the season.

There are others with long goalless and pointless droughts as well but no one was treated like Cole for their slumps.

If I was a player I would look at everyone around me and wonder why I was the only one being so easily demoted or scratched. I would wonder why I was playing 13 mins a game even when I was amongst the leaders on the team in scoring and my defensive numbers were very good. I would wonder why I wasn't on PP1 even when I had the most PP goals on the team at one point.

They also scratched him for AJF a career minor leaguer who has passed through waivers multiple times in the playoffs and for another player, Gus, who had 7 points in 39 games this year and has 14 points in 113 career games. Of course that will make player wonder what the heck is going on.

 

[BarnabyJones PI]

Nobody can give reasons Ehlers has performed worse in the playoffs. It's both too hard to quantify and we are also all random people with no special information to know these things. At best we can conjecture he is injured or too soft or mentally weak, but these are all just random things I'm making up.

Especially expecting posters who's favourite player is Ehlers to speak out against him doesn't make sense to me. They're probably going to complain about the players the don't like, and really all the Jets deserve it after that playoff performance.

That reads like a cop out (the first bolded part).

We're not talking about the average fan, passive lurker-type, we're talking specifically about the analytic set of people, who seem to be wanting to give off this perception that there's not much bias involved, they're (mostly) disconnected from the emotional side at the end of the day, that they're of sound mind. If those people write so many posts showcasing Ehlers' excellence, I would take them (much) more seriously if they showed that they were balanced.

Most regular posters here are always selling their ideas. If you want to show that you're coming from an elevated perspective, and you're hoping that people (the naysayers) will perhaps in time adopt some of your perspectives (like say, analytics), then these are key spots to show that you're balanced.

Shoving it under a rug, or taking the "move along, nothing to see here" approach, isn't the way to go about it.

 

[Eyeseeing]

I've not made this point. He's one of the key reasons though. I'm definitely making that point, and will continue to do so whenever the subject comes up; and that trusty red light goes off warning me.

If Ehlers is going to be elevated by a number of key posters here, as to the main reason why the offense is (relatively) successful in the regular season, those same people can't (but they will) all-of-a-sudden downplay his importance when things go South every time the playoffs come; at least the past 3 sweeps. You have to be a bit clued-in as to why the team is struggling, and he's the main common denominator; I'd say going back to Vegas in 2018.

He missed the first 2 games vs Edmonton, and that was the last series we have won.

I haven't heard too much from @Gm0ney or @Maukkis and a long list of others, who overlap in a love of analytics and Ehlers being their favorite player, to give even the slightest reason as to why they think he fails in the playoffs. All intelligent people (save for the teen who only posts other people's work). And when I say reason, I'm not talking about how "every one on the team bombed" or "he's being deployed incorrectly", "usage", etc.

I mean, why is he playing so poorly relative to how he plays in the regular season, considering he has success leading a 2nd unit (though the "leading" part is debatable but I'll go with it here), driving the 2nd unit, against (in theory) more favorable matchups. Sure, he might put up better numbers on that 1st line in the playoffs, but what's happening to him with his own line? Why gloss over that?

The analytical-type will hijack a celebratory thread, on a +5 game winning streak, to tell you what's not working, yet, Ehlers fails again, nothing is said by (most) of those same people. Fascinating. You have all of that intelligence, and information at your finger tips, and no one seems to be the least bit interested in investigating "Why Ehlers isn't good in the playoffs?"

Ehlers actually scored the OT winner in game 3
Winnipeg did claw back in games 3 & 4 ( Edmonton blew it ) , but interesting enough the Jets only led 57 mins in the whole series. 51 of those minutes were in game 1 , the rest we were chasing.

 

[10Ducky10]

Ehlers actually scored the OT winner in game 3
Winnipeg did claw back in games 3 & 4 ( Edmonton blew it ) , but interesting enough the Jets only led 57 mins in the whole series. 51 of those minutes were in game 1 , the rest we were chasing.

or tied?

 

[Maukkis]

I can't see any trade that fully replaces Ehlers. But he might be replaced by committee and the return could still fill a hole.

This would be 100% fine by me, almost preferable in a way, but it would take an unreasonable amount of adjustment from an organisation that has shown minimal interest in stirring the pot in any fashion, unless forced to. My rough estimate is as follows:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi: same/slightly worse, wasn't good in the regular season or the playoffs
Nino-"Monahan"-Perfetti: significantly worse regardless of 2C
"Barron"-Lowry-Appleton: worse, Nino's absence should leave some kind of mark
Iafallo-Names-Chibrikov: slightly better, having Names here full-time should help

How do you fix this?

 

[Jets 31]

I place zero weight on playoff performance. With small sample sizes, you're going to get misleading results, which people can and will misinterpret to their detriment. Controversial? Sure. Do I care? Nope.

However, despite what I said above, there is one aspect of playoff hockey that is proven by the numbers and the eye test alike that could matter here. We know that Ehlers is among the best skaters in terms of drawing penalties with his speed, and since teams get away with more infractions in the postseason, Ehlers' play-driving can be interfered with more easily. And when you're the only one capable of skating the puck out of your own zone on your line, well... you've already mentioned what that could lead to.

The playoff sample sizes are absolutely abysmal and hence not worth mentioning here (91 ES minutes in the last three postseasons = jack shit), but since Ehlers' penalty differential is roughly in the top 30 in the entire league in the regular season, it should be a non-trivial issue. Whether this is fixed by getting rid of Ehlers outright is a question that many other posters seem to have an answer to. Based on how the series against the Avs went, I'd say that slower is not what we would have needed to be.

If Ehlers had only played 10 or even 15 playoff games i wouldn't be worried about his lack of production but 4 goals in 37 playoff games is a big enough sample to show that for some reason Ehlers can't get it done come playoff time. I don't really understand how you keep saying what happens in the playoffs doesn't mean shit , isn't the ultimate goal to win the Stanley Cup?

 

[Eyeseeing]

or tied?

Some of it for sure
Stop bringing logic to this conversation

Went back and checked mostly chasing

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

I've not made this point. He's one of the key reasons though. I'm definitely making that point, and will continue to do so whenever the subject comes up; and that trusty red light goes off warning me.

If Ehlers is going to be elevated by a number of key posters here, as to the main reason why the offense is (relatively) successful in the regular season, those same people can't (but they will) all-of-a-sudden downplay his importance when things go South every time the playoffs come; at least the past 3 sweeps. You have to be a bit clued-in as to why the team is struggling, and he's the main common denominator; I'd say going back to Vegas in 2018.

He missed the first 2 games vs Edmonton, and that was the last series we have won.

I haven't heard too much from @Gm0ney or @Maukkis and a long list of others, who overlap in a love of analytics and Ehlers being their favorite player, to give even the slightest reason as to why they think he fails in the playoffs. All intelligent people (save for the teen who only posts other people's work). And when I say reason, I'm not talking about how "every one on the team bombed" or "he's being deployed incorrectly", "usage", etc.

I mean, why is he playing so poorly relative to how he plays in the regular season, considering he has success leading a 2nd unit (though the "leading" part is debatable but I'll go with it here), driving the 2nd unit, against (in theory) more favorable matchups. Sure, he might put up better numbers on that 1st line in the playoffs, but what's happening to him with his own line? Why gloss over that?

The analytical-type will hijack a celebratory thread, on a +5 game winning streak, to tell you what's not working, yet, Ehlers fails again, nothing is said by (most) of those same people. Fascinating. You have all of that intelligence, and information at your finger tips, and no one seems to be the least bit interested in investigating "Why Ehlers isn't good in the playoffs?"

These are reasons, "every one on the team bombed" or "he's being deployed incorrectly", "usage". But I get what you want. You want a more specific to his personal play reason. What does he do wrong, or differently. I can't give you that. Is it what the opposition does to him? Maybe, but then why isn't that answer enough for all of the rest of the Jets roster?

You can put more blame on Ehlers because he is supposed to be our most talented forward, if not our best forward. But again, apply that to every other Jet in the top 6/top 4/goal. Do you think Jets would have won that series against the Avs if Ehlers had been press boxed? Would they even have somehow come closer?

I don't claim Ehlers has played well in the PO. He has not. And it isn't just that he has been unlucky either. He has played poorly. The best explanation I can come up with, and I know it is a poor one, is that his linemates are playing poorly, or he doesn't trust them to play well and he tries to do too much.

Whatever the problem, I think it is up to the coaches to figure it out and fix it. If your most talented player is playing that poorly you need to change something. Change his linemates, or instruct them to play differently. Do SOMETHING differently!

All the smoke seems to indicate that what Ehlers and management have both decided is to part ways. A very weak response but maybe the best thing at this point.

and it's been every single year with ehlers since 17-18... you can say he played the full 82 this year but he missed the entire preseason, had to skip practices and didn't go to the world championships because he was dealing with a neck injury this season, both players have been unable to stay healthy, both players have played nearly the same amount of games in the past 4 years

OK, I give up. If you can't see the difference, I can't force you to.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

This would be 100% fine by me, almost preferable in a way, but it would take an unreasonable amount of adjustment from an organisation that has shown minimal interest in stirring the pot in any fashion, unless forced to. My rough estimate is as follows:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi: same/slightly worse, wasn't good in the regular season or the playoffs
Nino-"Monahan"-Perfetti: significantly worse regardless of 2C
"Barron"-Lowry-Appleton: worse, Nino's absence should leave some kind of mark
Iafallo-Names-Chibrikov: slightly better, having Names here full-time should help

How do you fix this?

Ha! I don't.

But the 2nd line might include a rookie (Lambert or Chibrikov) or the return from Ehlers. That leaves Nino back with Lowry.

Or, we upgrade on D to compensate for a weaker F corps. Again, maybe the return for Ehlers helps.

 

[Eyeseeing]

I don’t get all the negativity towards Ehlers, like at all.
He plays with passion and he doesn’t shy away from the rough stuff.
He’s one of the most exciting skaters in the league.
The Jets knew what they had when they selected him so not sure why:

A. They have kept him as long as they have.
B. Figured out how best to use him.

That’s not an Ehlers problem that’s an organizational problem.

 

[gojetsgo]

OK, I give up. If you can't see the difference, I can't force you to.

I can see the point you are trying to make that vilardi has a history of not being able to play a full season where ehlers has, how ever I think the past 6 seasons of ehlers getting hurt or playing hurt is enough of a sample size to also state that it is also optimistic to expect ehlers to be able to remain healthy