I like your analysis, but I still have a hard time seeing where Colorado is going to get offense from...They are going to need a dynamite PP.
Minnesota still has Chisholm, Bogosian, Merrill at the bottom of their defense. Guys like Hunt or Lambos might be called upon. Their forward group is uninspiring after the big guns. Recycling Nashville coaches has only got them so far.
Jets defense is probably what you describe it as, but I think getting the buy in to play team defense is something Arniel can work with...he did coach the team last year with a decent record. I think it's a tighter team without Dubois.
I'll go out on a limb and predict
1. Winnipeg
2. Dallas
3. Nashville
4. Chicago
As the playoff teams in the division. Chicago if they get a good start will get the fanbase rocking again.
They will probably get a good PP again as it was last year and the year after they won (around 24%). I think regular season we just need guys like Mackinnon, Rantanen and Makar to elevate this team. In the playoffs it's a different story though.
I can't remember what lines we were rolling in the 2022-2023 regular season but here's projected lines on season debut two years ago according to Kyle Fredrickson :
Line 1: Artturi Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen
Line 2: Valeri Nichushkin-Alex Newhook-Evan Rodrigues
Line 3: Andrew Cogliano-J.T. Compher-Logan O’Connor
Line 4: Lukas Sedlak-Ben Meyers-Anton Blidh
This team won the division with 109 pts. There was literally no moves during the TDL with the uncertainty of Landeskog situation. This year they will have a real #2C in Mittelstadt but the problem will be Landeskog's cap/uncertainty and Nichushkin's suspension early this season. If they can get two good lines with Mack-Drouin and Mikko-Mitts I have a good feeling they can go through until we get back Lehkonen and Nichushkin which would make two deep top lines.