It’s a tad premature to start line projections given the fact training camp hasn’t even begun for the Jets but today bench boss Rick Bowness did provide some insight into how he might structure things.
What the bench boss who is entering his second season as head coach in Winnipeg did say during his first media availability of the new season was that he would start Gabe Vilardi on right wing with Mark Scheifele at centre and Kyle Connor on the left side. He then indicated he would start Alex Iafaloo with Adam Lowry at centre and Mason Appleton on the right side. And that Rasmus Kupari would start on the 4th line up the middle. He also confirmed that Cole Perfetti would get first crack at the 2nd line centre job.
Which leaves us filling in the blanks which isn’t a difficult job really. Nikolaj Ehlers and Nino Niederreiter would be the wingers on the 2nd line with Perfetti and most likely Morgan Barron and Vlad Namestnikov fill out the wing spots on the 4th line.
In theory the Jets could start the 2023-24 season as follows:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Perfetti-Niederreiter
Iafallo-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Namestnikov
Of course nothing is set in stone. That’s why there is a training camp. Rick Bowness was asked about the guys who could be seen as on the bubble making his job difficult by having great camps and this is what he had to say
“We want them to make that argument. We want them to show ‘I can help your team. I can make you closer to get the Stanley Cup.’ That’s the whole objective here is to get the best team on the ice that we can that moves us closer to winning the Stanley Cup”.
So we will see if any of David Gustafsson, Jansen Harkins, Axel Jonsson-Fjällby or someone else could insert their name into the above list.
