I think id only give up Merkley if Hall was resigning for lime 9.5, which likely wouldnt ever happen

Jets have been down the road of picks for a rental, I think chevys given up on that lol. Jets decline, surprisingly, the jets need Appleton back ASAP. They have a full AHL 4th line that is desperate to get some players back. If anything WPG would go after a guy like hamonic who has a very high chance on signing an extension with the team.

Value is close but Sharks would have to give up an additional pick (probably a 2nd pick) and a player for cap relief considering the Vegas had to give up Brannstrom (his trade value is higher than Merkley at the time of the Stone trade) and a 2nd round pick to get a signed Mark Stone.

Then again a Hall trade would've to be a sign-and-trade because Shero would want to get as much as he can from that trade considering Hall has already lost value from wanting out of Jersey

If Hall is on the most team friendly extension ever, then yes id do that. Otherwise Merkley is kind of a no go

Idk, for a 2nd I'd think Chevy would do it, I just really hope he's learned that trading 1sts for rentals is a terribly bad move for a team based in Winnipeg.

The thing that puts me off of this is that he hadn’t made a move yet. I feel like it’s now or never. Our play isn’t sustainable and by TDL we’re most likely out of.a playoff spot

Oh I agree this isn't sustainable and as much as they've battled through adversity and found a way to win games they're really not playing a game that they're gonna win consistently with and really they haven't played any offensive powerhouses like Boston, Washington or Toronto(I'm assuming Keefe will get them rolling and Marner will make a huge difference), those teams might eat the Jets alive.
Any strong puck possession team will make the Jets look like an ECHL team.. Lol

I get the Jets have gone through a lot and are missing Little and Buff but they've also beaten some teams that were missing key players, like what are these upcoming Dallas games gonna be like now that the Stars have Hintz and Klingberg back, how will the Jets do against the Avs once Landeskog is back, we couldn't beat them when they were without Landeskog AND Rantanen ffs!

Honestly I think they've done as well as they have from strong play by both goalies and a bit of luck against weaker teams, some scheduling luck and teams that were missing some key players due to injury.

Most everyone wants to say it's a weak defense that's this teams downfall and that will definitely be the narrative if they do miss the playoffs but honestly they're really not the issue, it's the forwards that are the problem. I see there issues as mostly three or four things: 1) They dump and chase the puck way too much-Its often when they have a lane or space to carry the puck but they dump it for some dumb reason and just give it away which then they're chasing the play cause about 90% of the time the other team is exiting their zone easily and transitioning through the offensive zone towards the Jets end. Far too many needless dump ins, there's more then enough skill up front to play a puck possession game but they mostly dump it in like it's 1997.. Lol
2)Their dump ins are just terrible-Like how often against Nashville did they dump it in and Nashvilles D just grabs it and carries it out or against Dallas Bishop broke it up and passed it out himself or to a dman who easily carried it out, it happens constantly, they make poor dumps which are easily broken up and they rarely make them with a guy breaking in with pressure, this team has little in the way of a strong forecheck.
3)The forwards don't attack as a unit enough and there's very little puck support-Its mind boggling how often I'll see one of the Jets forwards entering the zone but they're going it alone with no one close enough to send a pass to or start a cycle with and pretty much every single line is guilty of it. I see it constantly where a Jet forward is in the offensive zone and his linemates are way too far away for possession to be maintained, the opposition closes in and the puck is turned over and they're transitioning out of their zone. They just simply keep far too much separation from one another in the offensive zone, it even happens when they're on the PP!
4)The wingers don't cover the opposition dmen in the defensive zone-Now this is how I think Maurice wants them to play but it's a failed strategy imo, the Jets wings collapse down in the D zone to the middle and to the faceoff line which leads the point men wide open and then when the puck is going out to them the wingers are scrambling out to defend against them but they're too late getting there, goalies aren't gonna stop point shots through screens or deflections too often and if the dman doesn't take a shot he has plenty of time to move the puck or make a pass, it also leads to tired players cause they're chasing the puck/play so much and racing out to the point, can you imagine how bagged out this 3 line team will be if they actually make the playoffs when they're running around their own zone constantly chasing the play. And what's most baffling to me about this is the wingers rarely get involved when they collapsed down in the D zone, they just stand there and watch, it's so very dumb, like if they were helping the dmen in puck battles and grabbing the puck and carrying it out it'd make sense but that's rarely what happens. They need to just cover the points and come down to the half wall for a break out pass and let the D and the center engage in puck battles to regain puck possession, this collapsing down then racing out to the point is just pointless and ineffective.
5)No one goes to the net-Theres not enough driving to the net from this forward group, not many garbage goals and no one getting in the goalies view of the puck, if these goalies can see it there's a good chance they're gonna stop it and it's especially a problem on the PP, not one guy on the 1st unit gets in front of the goalie too often to create a screen or distraction.

Anyway sorry for the long response and rant.. Lol
But these are the issues, the forwards just aren't playing right and until there's some fundamental changes to their style and attack I think it's gonna come down to goaltending to drag this team as far as it can go. I'm not a analytics/fancy stat person at all but I'm not at all surprised when I hear how the Jets advanced metrics are some of the worst in the league.
Adding a guy like Vatanen would help but when your forwards are playing brain dead hockey I'm not sure it's gonna help much.
The lowly, old and slow LA Kings just made them look terrible, thats pretty telling isn't it.