I'm sure we've been over it, but even ignoring Ehlers' impressive analytics, he's an elite offensive player. A legit top-line winger.
I know rate stats are like witchcraft or something, but the guy is 19th in the NHL at 5v5 in individual goals/60 over the past 3 seasons.
He's 49th in actual goals scored himself - ahead of a bunch of guys who've played way more minutes (Horvat, Caufield, Duchene, Terry, Seguin, Gaudreau, DeBrincat, Tavares, (Patrick) Kane, (also Evander Kane, fwiw), Eichel, Andrei Svechnikov. Actually, Eichel's played fewer minutes, but Ehlers scored more and so their g/60 is the same.
In points/60 he's 8th in the NHL over the last 3 seasons. Tied with Jason Robertson. Ahead of Bratt and Panarin.
In actual points, he's 64th - tied with Tavares, one point behind Suzuki, Barkov, Kopitar, DeBrincat, Giroux, and Marchessault. 64 out of 573 - and he missed almost 25% of the games over that period.
On the Jets at 5v5 over the last 3 seasons we have:
Connor with 120 points in 226 games and 3487 minutes.
Scheifele with 119 points in 222 games and 3583 minutes.
Ehlers with 111 points in 189 games and 2535 minutes.
So 9 fewer points than Connor, 8 fewer points than Scheif, in 37 and 33 fewer games, and 952 and 1048 fewer minutes. Say what you will about rate stats but Ehlers probably would've managed 9 or so points in 1000 more minutes...even if it were the playoffs!
Who's next?
Morrissey with 100 points in 238 games and 4558 minutes.
Niederreiter with 95 points in 230 games and 2972 minutes.
(then Dubois, Toffoli, Copp, Wheeler who probably aren't going to help replace Ehlers' production).
Then Namestnikov with 71 points in 230 games and 2636 minutes.
Hopefully Villardi can stay healthy and fill some of the gap. Also better hope the Jets are getting a big return on Ehlers and/or they hit a home run with some prospects...