From the outside looking in it appeared the Pats made way too many trades at the deadline. Also, the players you brought in appear to be "me first" type of players rather than team players (Watt, DePape) and you already have a somewhat flaky guy as your top centre (Kraus) who doesn't always show up. Having said all that, the talent is there and if they can play as a team and not as individuals they'll do well in the playoffs. MJ doesn't have the offence, so they'll go as far as their defence and goalie take them. Swifty and Bdn are very similar, built around speed, likely neither team is going to go deep in the playoffs this year.
Never argue with idiots, they just drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.