Hey you make some great points and I don't exactly disagree, but just know that Dubois can't carry a team offensively like Schiefele has done for a long time. If we are looking to grow a new #1 center organically it's going to be awhile until we are a legit playoff threat again. I want the Captaincy given to Lowry or Morrisey complete agreement there. But I feel like Scheifele is just an easy target and losing him will quickly render the Jets a bottom feeder. I'm not convinced being a bottom feeder and hoping to strike gold in the lottery is any kind of strategy noawadays. Maybe you don't think losing Schiefele makes the Jets a bottom feeder, but I don't see any center on the Jets contributing 40 goals any time soon. The guy gets a lot of hate but he's a good player and most teams would love to have him.
I DO think that losing Scheifele makes Jets a bottomfeeder. But keeping him isn't allowing us to contend. It just keeps us in that mushy middle ground. That is assuming he is willing to stay at a reasonable cost. I suspect that either he will simply refuse to stay or he will demand too much on his next contract.
Start by assuming Dubois is gone. Then add that we can keep 1 of Scheifele and Helle, but not both. Keeping just 1 of those 3 doesn't add up. If 2 are gone we might as well get the best return we can on the 3rd one.
It is a different story if we can keep both Scheifele and Hellebuyck. I think we could afford to pay them a fair amount. I wouldn't want to go max term with either. At that point it is a much more difficult question to decide if we WANT to keep them.
If it looks like we would be stuck with just creeping into a WC spot and being bounced in the first rd, like this year I would rather start the rebuild. If there is a reasonable path to retooling and getting better that's a different story. I don't see that path myself. We are back to lacking a 2C. We still have some significant holes in our D corps. I see the prospects being fed into the team just replacing what we have now as players drop out. We have achieved equilibrium in the 14th - 18th spots in the standings.
And there is no mention of a culture change in any of that. I think that if you agree that a culture change is necessary then you must agree that Scheifele and Hellebuyck need to go.