Count TSN analyst Craig Button as one of the many people that are impressed with what’s going on with the Jets.
“Think about what the Jets did on this road trip. They went to Colorado and beat a really good Avalanche team, obviously Kyle Connor was in the lineup, then they go in L A like you said, falling behind two nothing and they win that game, they're showing that they can play with top teams,” said Button.
“And I think that's, progression and last year near the All-Star break, it was all good. Right? But, and then that 21 game stretch, I think kind of exposed the problems that they have, and I don't think those problems exist now because they're bigger, they're stronger, they're faster and they’re deeper.”
The Jets simply are deeper because of the trade with the Los Angeles Kings in the off-season. The deal that saw Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari come to the Manitoba capital will be key to surviving the next month and a half to two months without Connor.
“Even if you go back to Vilardi getting hurt and Iaffalo moving up to that top line and then Kupari got hurt and then you move some other players into the lineup. Obviously Vilardi comes back, timing is good, bad timing to lose Connor and then he (Vilardi) steps in there,” said Button.
“To be a good team in this league, obviously, you need good players, but to compete with the best teams, you need to be deep, and the Jets are deep. And, and one other thing I will add to the fact is the players they got are smart players. Vilardi is a really smart player so he can adapt. Iafallo is a really smart player. He can adapt and Kupari knows what he is now, and he gives you a really good ability to move through different parts of the lineup. You never want to lose a good player, but even with Kyle Connor in the lineup, it takes pressure off those guys. They don't have to be always the guys to have to carry it.”
Vilardi had his own revenge last night at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles scoring his second goal as a Jet and adding three primary assists for his first career four-point game. Connor’s injury obviously opened a spot on the top line and Bowness had Vilardi.
“Yeah, we probably would have moved him up around that time anyways. The problem there is obviously Mark and Ehlers and KC were playing so well, so it wasn’t that he wasn’t ready to go up there, it’s that the other line was playing so well that we weren’t going to touch it,” said Bowness last night.
“That’s why we got Gabe. We saw it in training camp, we saw it earlier in the year. He’s a great fit with Mark, and when that line plays like that and Nik Ehlers skates like that, they’re tough to stop. We got a lot of major contributions from a lot of guys, and it was great Mark’s line was the biggest difference.”
