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Winnipeg Jets: Adam Wazny sets up the 2015-16 season

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2015-16 Winnipeg Jets season.

Please take your seats. We have a lot to get through — about 82 games or so.

Popular opinion in these parts places the Jets as a team on the rise, earning this reputation on an immediate response to head coach Paul Maurice's tighter defensive ship and resulting surprising playoff berth in the ultra-tough Western Conference last spring.

And though things eventually came crashing back down to Earth against the Anaheim Ducks in April, the sentiment coming out of the post mortem was loud and clear — anything short of a playoff sequel will be a disappointment.

It's difficult to figure out how the NHL standings will shake down and where the Jets will fit in that puzzle in the first week of October, so let's look at what we know and what we're still waiting on as everyone readies for puck drop Thursday night in Boston.

What we know

Start with the obvious. Up front, the Jets have some solid pieces. Bryan Little, Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler will once again be asked to lead the charge, with Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry building off productive 2014-15 campaigns.

Mathieu Perreault remains an underrated threat and Drew Stafford will be asked to chip in some regular offence to justify the commitment management made to him over the summer.

Dustin Byfuglien, Tobias Enstrom, Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers anchor a strong blue-line, with Mark Stuart and Ben Chiarot rounding out the top six.

Winnipeg's post-season aspirations are directly tied to this defensive group. If they play up to the expected level, the Jets should be fine.

What we don't know

Three new faces — Nikolaj Ehlers (drafted 9th overall, 2014), Nic Petan (43rd overall, 2013) and Andrew Copp (104th overall, 2013) — have graduated from general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff's draft and development system.

Ehlers, 19, had three points in six exhibition games, while Petan, 20, registered two assists over that same span. The 21-year-old Copp was handed the fourth-line pivot spot in the off-season when the club elected to move on from Jim Slater.

All three have offered flashes of quality and comfort. That's a good thing. What measures against this optimism, however, is the false positive the pre-season sometimes provides. Many a young player has shown well in September only to disappear in October, so choose your fantasy teams with caution.

How these three acclimatize through the first month will be key. There will be good stretches and not-so-good stretches and some of this learning curve will bend to Maurice.

Mixing them into reasonable minutes is a two-way street: not only will the young blood have to earn trust, the coach has to show a bit of patience in the early going.

What we think we know

Alexander Burmistrov should help take some of the sting out of losing the versatility of Michael Frolik but as the returning Russian's quiet camp showed, this expectation is hardly a slam-dunk. How he fits in, how quickly he's able to find a rhythm in the NHL after two seasons of KHL freewheeling, is yet another storyline.

And it wouldn't be a Jets season preview without a comment on the goaltending, so here goes nothing: Ondrej Pavelec and Michael Hutchinson need to demonstrate they can be steady through a full season, not just run hot and cold in weekly spurts. This is the annual ask of Pavelec; consistency is a basic expectation of an NHL starter.

What about that elephant in the room?

The person under the greatest pressure might be Cheveldayoff, who must figure out what to do with Ladd and Byfuglien, two leadership cornerstones scheduled to be unrestricted free agents next summer.

The Jets are in a tricky spot here, especially with the captain. Ladd, 29, has watched the club hand out big raises on the premise of potential over the last four years. His case for a big raise is strong; he actually has the resume to back up his asking price.

Byfuglien's situation is equally perplexing. According to reports, there have only been preliminary talks between the Jets and his representation — odd given his stature on the team and impact on the ice.

Age (30) and declining production are the concerns from most, and with other large contracts approaching on the horizon the organization is obviously hesitant to commit long term. So, trade then? And when does that happen?

It's possible both Ladd and Byfuglien could suit up with the Jets this week or later this month, or maybe there's a chance Cheveldayoff will swing a trade in the early part of the season.

Until something happens, though, the circumstances surrounding both players — the asking prices, the contract terms, their potential value on the trade market — will be a big part of the 2015-16 season.