Pretty much. The goaltending is elite no doubt and so are the top 6 forwards. But the bottom 6 will be about the same as it has been in previous years (just below average) and the defense is going to be anywhere from good to average to brutal
I’ll go ahead and explain why I think the defence could be all over the place:
I’ll go into the parts we know first. Demelo really helped our back end when he came in. With him our d-core was miles better already. So it won’t be as bad as last year. Now, as good as kulikov was for a couple of games last year, he was terrible overall. Forbort is a definite upgrade over him. He’s not great but he’s passable. Finally, the poolman-beaulieu pairing was great last year. Therefore, if no kids make the team, this team is still better that the d-core from last year. It’s still below average but not brutal imo. Now if we get an injury under this scenario, it’s brutal lol
Scenario 2 which I think is more likely than the last. One of heinola or niku breakout this season and play in a top 4 capacity. This automatically makes the jets d-core average at least imo.
Finally, the last scenario and the one I’m hoping for, both heinola and niku breakout. This woudl guve the jets, though young, a very good d-core. I imagine something like:
JoMo-niku
Forbort-pionk
Heinola-demelo
I think with one rental (or a Roslovic trade) to get a top 4 d-man in forborts place makes defence a strong point in this scenario. Even without that trade, this d-core is good imo. Definitely has forbort playing higher than he should but that’s just to balance size and I think he can handle the minutes. That’s best case imo and not too unlikely. If heinola can impress enough after coming over and get into a few games and niku can show off the skill he has, this becomes a reality. That said, it’s a best case and best cases rarely come true. I just hope chevy makes a rental for a stopgap top 4 ld soon so this defence is at least average.