Going into this off-season a lot of people figured that the Jets were going to be faced with a lot of questions on the defence and the pairings. When you take a step back, it’s not as questionable as one might think. It might be a defence core of questionable quality, but the pairings are pretty cut and dry.

There are currently 7 defencemen on the roster but only 6 spots. Logically speaking, I feel that Chiarot is the odd man out so when I was messing around, the pairings for me looked like this:

Morrissey – Trouba

Kulikov – Byfuglien

Enstrom – Myers

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Not surprisingly these are also the projected pairs on DailyFaceoff.

The reason this isn’t as shocking as it should be is that these make the most sense. We saw Morrissey and Trouba together last season and it worked. They’re the future and can hold things down the best at the moment. Kulikov didn’t come to the team to be on the third pairing and I’m not going to be the person to tell Byfuglien that his minutes are reduced to almost nothing. Enstrom and Myers both had injuries and need time to determine where they should really be. It makes sense to gauge where they are on the third pairing. That still leaves Chiarot sitting on the outside looking in until someone is injured. The only questions I can really see about the defence are what do we do with Chiarot and what do we do when someone gets injured.

For Chiarot, there is the option of waiving him or just having him ride it out in the press box. If he rides it out in the press box, it answers the injury question with ease. If he goes down to the Moose, he might stay there and during times of injury, we could see Poolman come up.

In an alternative reality, we could see Myers shift up to the 2nd pairing, Byfuglien go back to forward, and Chiarot play the third pairing full time. Thankfully we live in this reality and I doubt this situation will happen.

What Would You Do JetsNation?

With all of this in mind, what say you JetsNation? What do you have as projected pairings? Do you think it’s far more complicated than this? Do you want to see Chiarot in the press box or in the AHL?

Let us know what you think in the comments below, @ reply us on our Twitter page or leave us reply on our Facebook page.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Planning a summer getaway?

What Would You Do for your dream vacation? The Nation and Contiki want to help you get there.

Visit www.contiki.com for the best vacation ideas around the globe, and enter promo code PPCTHENATION on any trip, 7 days or longer, and get $100 off your trip.



