Mason Appleton

I mean, Ehlers is the big, the big difference.

And obviously there's other guys like, you know, Mason Appleton or whatever players here and there, but obviously Ehlers is the main one.

But when you're talking about where the jets are at and, Like everything that you said just now, Drew, I agree with.

And that would have been true with Connor Hellebuck as your goalie.

He's okay offensively.

He's not... you know, going to win you games, but he's good for 20 points, which is twice as much as what Appleton had.

And he lays literally like 300 hits.

Like this is exactly what everybody's been asking for kind of thing.

This year he's going to be playing bottom pair.

All of a sudden, like you can see a really quick pathway to like, replacing the old and bringing in the new.

The only thing I'll say that kind of makes me worry is that so many of the bodies on this team are still here, like Appleton, Rasmussen.

These guys need to get scratched or sent down to Grand Rapids, which they probably will.

Sure, they were able to trade away Vladimir Tarasenko for nothing, but he took up a roster spot for $4 million and didn't score more than, what, 30 points, was it? That wasn't worth it.

Mason Appleton, what does, what do you do for $2.5 million? Again, it's not that much, but it's still not worth it somehow.

Obviously, the, the contracts for your core are awesome.

Everybody-- Like, Mo Seider for under $9 million is a steal.

Who's to say? The first one is what I like to call the Adam Lowry running mate.

This was the Mason Appleton conversation for multiple years.

And then he went to Seattle and came back and, oh, surprise, it was multiple years again.

I think that Adam Lowry is coming into camp in better health than he was and there is expectation that he will contribute at a higher level than he did last year and there is also an inherent understanding in my opinion from the organization that likely the second line center will be a young green NHL player.

Adam Wari is going to have to be the matchup guy at full health.

That's the expectation.

So who does he play with? Because it used to be that Mason Appleton was stapled to one of his hips, no pun intended on his hip surgery.

And, you know, you'd have someone else, whether it be a Nino Niederreiter or Morgan Barron or you know, whoever it was, Brandon Tannum even kind of thing.

He might start on a fourth line or as a depth center.

Michael Rasmussen and Mason Appleton are also in the mix.

It's a crowded room.

Crowded room means tough cuts.

Look at the roster.

You have Marco Kasper, Dylan Larkin, Andrew Kopp, Mason Appleton, Michael Rasmussen, Emmitt Finney, Wilmer Skoog, and now Dillman.

That is a crowded center room.

Who gets the minutes?

You almost expect it.

Right now, as it stands, with Larkin on the roster, Both Michael Branzag-Negard and Nate Danielson have to kick out one of Appleton, Rasmussen, Comfort, Colasar for a roster spot.

I think NBN absolutely has it in the bag to kind of become an everyday NHL player because he's a young guy.

They'll want to give him the minutes.

And I think Rasmussen and Appleton and even Colasar, who brings a great physical element, not a lot production-wise, you know, can rotate out of the lineup.

while nbn gets regular minutes but then you add nate danielson to the mix as another guy like he's gonna have to earn it and i really want him to earn it because of the fact that it's so many years after the draft he's a top 10 pick like this is the time frame we should start seeing him be right especially

if larkin's not there man you like i said at the beginning like at the top of the show you need those that kind of young group that's breaking into the nhl to take a step forward if you want to you know stay afloat