Ben Chiarot has become the third member of the Winnipeg Jets defence corps for the game-six loss in St. Louis on Apr. 20 who has landed elsewhere for the coming season — and beyond.
Chiarot joins Tyler Myers, who inked a five year, $30 million deal with Vancouver on July 1, and Jacob Trouba, who was traded to the NY Rangers on June 17 for Neil Pionk and a 2019 first round draft pick. The Jets used that pick to select 18-year-old Finnish defenceman Ville Heinola four days later in Vancouver.
The loss of that trio leaves the Jets blue line with holdovers Dustin Byfuglien, Josh Morrissey, and Dmitry Kulikov as well as Nathan Beaulieu and Sami Niku, who played parts of last season when injuries struck Winnipeg’s defensive unit.
Much could change between now and opening night on Oct. 3 versus Trouba and the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, but based on the current roster, the defence pairings for that game would look something like Beaulieu and Byfuglien/Niku, and Morrissey/Pionk and Kulikov with newly acquired Anthony Bitetto battling the likes of Tucker Poolman, Cameron Schilling, and 2016 first round pick Logan Stanley Stanley for the seventh and possibly eighth spots in the rotation.
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