I agree. Additionally, Josi is a fantastic player, but he's also had the luxury of playing substantial portions of his career with some pretty solid veteran blueliners. Could he handle, at 23/24, being THE guy on an extremely young defense over an 82 game season? There's no doubt he's capable, but I would be extremely surprised if he didn't have some struggles without Weber beside him. Jones has great potential, but is just so inexperienced overall still. We've seen flashes this season, and we've also seen him play like a rookie. We also still have very limited NHL-ready blueline depth outside of what's with the big club. I just think, regardless of improvements to our offense, we are overestimating what our defense will be capable of without Weber anchoring it.
Also keep seeing this notion that "Preds had great defensemen before and didn't win anything, ergo...." Problem is, just because it didn't work for us doesn't mean the strategy doesn't work. New Jersey is an obvious example during their Cup runs. The Ducks Cup team was not a juggernaut offensively, they did it with two Norris-caliber defensemen, a standout goalie, a go-to shutdown line, and a couple real good offensive pieces (Selanne and MacDonald-Getzlaf and Perry had played well but were nothing like the players they are today). The Kings, despite the obvious talent of their squad, won on goaltending and defense. No question the Preds need to bolster their offense, and there are real questions about how we'll be able to get it, but I'm still not sure this team comes out for the better trading Weber.