Jets have numerous options at forward heading into training camp

The forward group that makes up the Winnipeg Jets roster changed significantly over the off-season. The additions of Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari as a result of the trade with the Los Angeles Kings (in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois), and buying out the final year of Blake Wheeler's contract, creates a number of possibilities for head coach Rick Bowness and his staff.

With a few weeks to go until training camp, WinnipegJets.com's Mitchell Clinton and Jamie Thomas gave their opinions on some of the possible combinations (with no input from the Jets coaching staff). What follows is a conversation between the two writers, edited for clarity.

JT: The consistent theme is there are options for the coaching staff, where they're not just going to be tied to 'this is what we have and this is where we'll put these guys.'

MC: I wonder if they'll start this season similar to last season, simply because they never really got to use Kyle Connor- Mark Scheifele- Nikolaj Ehlers that much. They put them back together partway through the year when Ehlers got healthy, but I think it took a little while for Ehlers to feel like himself. When he got going, he was really going.

It loads up offensively, two 40-goal scorers, and what I'm curious about is who Rick Bowness puts them against. If he goes with Adam Lowry's line against the other team's best, well now you have this trio against perhaps a second pair of D.

JT: If you want to load up, it's there. You have that option.

MC: If you move that around a little bit and move players to different lines and your options open up even further. NHL.com's Team Reset series had Cole Perfetti, Vilardi, and Vladislav Namestnikov on the same line. I thought that was interesting because all three of them have thoughts of playing centre - Namestnikov did it last year. It would be an interesting combo because there is some playmaking there, and Vilardi is a 20-goal guy. But then, where does Nino Niederreiter slot in? Then I thought, if Niederreiter with Vilardi, those are two big bodies that can make some space for Perfetti if that's how it works.

JT: I think Kevin Cheveldayoff kind of opened some eyes at the NHL Draft when he mentioned the thought of Perfetti up the middle. So where does that go in here? We've mentioned Vilardi, Rick Bowness leaned on Namestnikov last year when he needed a boost because he knows exactly what he's getting, and there is chemistry with Ehlers. I don't think Perfetti is a wildcard, but he's said that he likes centre. Cheveldayoff said at the draft we're going to have to get him a shot.

MC: I agree. That does present an opportunity to play both Vilardi and Perfetti on the same line. They're opposite hands, so they can both take strong side draws. Ultimately, on a forecheck or a back check, it's not so much 'I'm the centre, I'm doing this,' it's 'I'm the first one back, I have to do this.' It's going to be interesting to see how they put all this together.

JT: Also, Mason Appleton is healthy, so we're going to see the full capability of Mason Appleton. He gets traded here, was still working his way through things. Last year he had the injuries. Now he's healthy. That third line could be Morgan Barron, Lowry, and Appleton against the other teams best.

MC: They were good at that last year - Had 54 percent of shot attempts and nearly 62 percent of expected goals. The hope would be that with Appleton healthy he could get back to the type of season he had in 2021 when he had 12 goals. Now this begs the question, where does Alex Iafallo play?

JT: He was kind of a third line guy in Los Angeles. He's a great penalty killer, he's good at back checking, that's another guy you could throw on the third line if it's not working with Barron and Appleton.

MC: Iafallo is a double-digit goal guy the last five years. He didn't play a lot with Vilardi last year, but there was a bit. They outscored their opposition 13-5 and had an expected goal rate over 58 percent. Then I started wondering about a trio of Iafallo-Vilardi-Niederreiter. Good luck getting the puck off those guys.

JT: We'll be talking about Iafallo quite a bit. He's got good size. But also when you think back to Anze Kopitar's Hart Trophy season, it was Iafallo on his left side the whole time. It's not like this guy can't play in your top six either. We can look at him and say 'this is a third line guy,' but the fact he was that successful and that trustworthy for a player of Kopitar's status, goes to show how valuable he can be. What's going to be fascinating is how this breaks out in camp. Then you throw in Rasmus Kupari, who just seems to be stapled in. We talked so long about David Gustafsson being Winnipeg's fourth line centre, now it looks like Kupari is stapled in there. He's a guy drafted in the first round, still finding his game, but is another guy at 6'2".

MC: You're also going to have guys trying to get into that conversation too. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Jansen Harkins, Dominic Toninato, the list goes on, they're going to be battling as well.

MC: That whole middle group - line two and three if you will, and even four - is going to be fascinating to see how they're constructed. I wonder if they switch them up depending on the opponent a little bit. If you're going against full speed, maybe you adjust what your lines look like as opposed to what constitutes as big and heavy now.

JT: With everything they have, it's going to be based on match-ups. It has to be. Rick Bowness is going to be thrilled with the fact he knows that if something isn't working, he can move guys around. It'll be what teams present to them when they don't have last change on the road.