The Zetterberg Era
Ball Hockey Sucks
You take the franchise center every single time. Unless you are talking a player the caliber of a Lidstrom/Bourque/Potvin you are always far better off with the center. They impact the game far more than any but the most elite of elite defenseman will. Not to mention centers can play immediately and have an impact while even the most polished defenseman will take several years to really become dominant and the Wings are definitely not a team with the luxury of time considering the aging core.
Think of it like this, if you could take any player now to start a team, how high on your list would the first defenseman be? Would you take Karlsson over Crosby? Weber over Stamkos? Pietrangelo over Getzlaf? Suter over Malkin? I'm not sure if I'd take a defenseman over any of the top 10 centers in the NHL and when you are talking about Jones vs. MacKinnon I feel Mac is far more likely to be a top 10 center one day than Jones is to be a Norris-level complete defenseman. Wasn't Hedman rated even higher than Jones is? Larsson? Just goes to show how long it takes to develop a defenseman to that elite level compared to a center who steps in day 1 and does it.
In point of fact I would probably take two of those over the guys you mentioned in that matchup the non-penguins matchups.
I actually do think Jones is a generational talent on the backend. I mean that as in the true generational not the cheap kind or anything like that but a dominant force for 15 years. But like I said I am ridiculously high on him. Really I wouldn't consider it with any recent d-man but him. That is part of why I asked in the first place, I would be very happy with either of the big two. The interesting one would be if the Wings brass really like Barkov and went that way. Holland, Nill and the scouting guys can probably do whatever they want. I know picking the D-man is way more dangerous, but Jones is going to be an absolute stud.