Logan Stanley vs. Jacob Middleton Winnipeg finished the season struggling with its depth defence, as blueliners Nate Schmidt, Neal Pionk and Dylan DeMelo combined for three points and a -8 rating in its first round series versus Colorado. The team attempted to make trades before the deadline for a top-four defenceman but couldn’t find anything suitable. Winnipeg now enters the postseason with projected cap space of around $13.6 million and can look to fulfill this need with a trade, or aim to sign one of the many enticing available defencemen like Detroit’s Shayne Gostisbehere. The 31-year-old American has seen ups and downs through his career - like being waived from the Flyers in 2021 before then bouncing around to the Coyotes and Hurricanes and then eventually signing with the Red Wings last season. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCXiDCrbLsE[/embed] When healthy, Gostisbehere has remained a solid top-four option with roughly 40-60 point production, which could work really well with the Jets. He hit career highs in the 2017-18 season with 52 assists and 65 points, which he came close to last season with 46 assists and 56 points. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Gostisbehere has the 18th-most points of any defenseman (148) and the 11th-most goals (37) over a 238-game span. Besides Josh Morrissey, no other Winnipeg blueliner recorded more than 35 points this past season with Neal Pionk and Dylan DeMelo coming close with 33 and 31 points respectively. Gostisbehere’s only problem may be his plus minus, that is 15th-worst over the past two seasons at -44 due to being on Arizona for 134 of 238 games. Being paired up with Morrissey or DeMelo (if he re-signs) could possibly elevate his game as the two were +36 and +56 over the past two seasons respectively. He shouldn’t cost much as he is older (31) and is expected to ask around $4 million per year or less, which could work as a great final piece, giving the Jets the top-four they desire with Morrissey, Pionk and hopefully DeMelo, if they can do some financial gymnastics to retain him.
