Tanev left the organization after the 2018-19 campaign while Appleton was claimed by the Kraken in this past summer's Expansion Draft.
So far this season, Tanev has eight goals and 13 points in 25 games, while Appleton has four points in 14 games.
"As we all remember in Winnipeg, the style of game (Tanev) plays is fan friendly. He gets on the body, he's tenacious, and he's got a great personality and I think that comes out in his game," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "Mason had a bit of an injury there, but his years have always been the same. Play football, break your leg, come back and be real good at the end."
Maurice won't make any changes to the Jets line-up tonight, with Connor Hellebuyck getting his ninth consecutive start in goal.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Paul Stastny didn't take part in the morning skate but will paly tonight. There weren't any line rushes during the morning session, but the projected line-up looks like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Copp-Dubois-Ehlers
Stastny-Lowry-Vesalainen
Harkins-Toninato-Svechnikov
Morrissey-Schmidt
Stanley-Dillon
Beaulieu-DeMelo
There is one area the Jets want to improve on from the 4-2 loss to the Carollina Hurricanes on Tuesday night - moving their feet.
It was a point of emphasis during Wednesday's practice, and it will no doubt be brought up again before puck drop at 9 pm CT tonight.
"We didn't like the way we played against Carolina. Both sides of the puck," said Beaulieu. "This team is kind of similar, a little quick and kill plays. It's going to be the same style of game against as the Hurricanes. We know what to expect and we need a good win tonight."
The Kraken are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and, as Maurice pointed out, they have six victories against teams that currently hold down a playoff spot.
"The prep part of this is actually simple. Carolina is at 27.2 shots per game, these guys are 28, second in the league. The offence isn't coming easily tonight," Maurice said. "It's a good test then, because what we did to ourselves against Carolina - and Carolina was very good - we didn't skate well enough to change anything around us, and we'll need to tonight."
The consistent theme between Carolina and Seattle doesn't stop on the ice and Maurice believes their current general manager - Ron Francis - has a lot to do with the way the Kraken play.
Maurice coached Francis in Carolina from 1998-2004.
"You think of the game he played, while he was incredibly offensive, the best part of his game was actually his defensive game," Maurice said. "He's the smartest hockey guy I've ever met or spoken with about the game. He understands it at a very high level. He'll model players and pick players that can do those things."
Prior to Tuesday's loss to Carolina, the Jets had wins in three of their last four games.
Tonight, they want to get back on track and Maurice believes the group will be motivated to put the loss to the Hurricanes behind them.
"Even in that stretch where things didn't go well for us, there was only one game that concerned me," Maurice said. "Our last game was at least as bad for me as that one, so we've got a little bit of atonement here tonight. We have to be ready right from the get go."
