And so it begins…….the marathon to become the next Stanley Cup Champion has officially begun. The start of a new season is probably the only time all 32 National Hockey League franchises feel pretty good about their clubs. Only the actual grind of the 82 game regular season will separate the pretenders from the contenders, but at least the chase is afoot!!
After a pre-game skate here in the Peg, the Winnipeg Jets flew to Alberta today in preparation for Wednesday night’s game against the hometown Edmonton Oilers. Rogers Place will host our club’s first official game of the campaign, as the True North franchise will clash with superstars like Connor McDavid & Leon Draisaitl.
Winnipeg will try to contain Edmonton’s talent by limiting dangerous chances against…and when they are unable to Connor Hellebuyck will be called upon to save the day. The veteran tender is coming off a Vezina-worthy campaign in 2023-24 and finished the pre-season in good form. Bucky did have to deal with a personal issue that required some time away from the team, resulting in the 31 yr old missing the team’s practice before they flew to Alberta. Fortunately he did get a 40 minute on ice session with Dominic Toninato & Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, so he won’t have to rely solely on the pucks he sees during the pre-game skate.
Not sure anyone was paying attention to Kevin Sawyer during the last pre-season broadcast, but he mentioned that opposing teams were taking advantage of Winnipeg by selecting Adam Lowry’s off-side for their powerplay face-offs. While I agree that is a weakness for the Jets’ penalty kill, I didn’t see his reasoning that was why it was important for Rasmus Kupari to be in the lineup. Yes, he is right-handed but his face-off percentage last season wasn’t great (46.7%) and another right-handed regular PKer was much better, Mason Appleton (52.9%).
With 3 players on injured reserve (Ville Heinola, Logan Stanley, & Jaret Anderson-Dolan), the Winnipeg Jets have used all but $976,309 of the available salary cap. Fortunately, the club will be accruing a lot more space when they can get down to 23 players, instead of the current 26 on the NHL roster.
Here is the Jets’ projected lineup for Wednesday’s contest, courtesy of PuckPedia….
The Oilers are coming off a long playoff run and should represent a real challenge to the Jets early in the year, something Winnipeg may not see much of with only 2 of last year’s playoff teams in the first 10 matches. Edmonton is definitely icing a veteran roster, with only 3 of the starting forwards under the age of 30, and are expected to be once again among the league’s best. The Oilers’ GM definitely had some cap aerobics to perform as he has got the team barely under the cap (a mere $53 dollars in space).
Here is what the Edmonton Oilers’ lineup should look like tomorrow, courtesy of PuckPedia…
The Oilers started off so slow last season that it ended up getting their head coach fired….I doubt the Jets can expect the same thing to occur after the northern Albertan franchise came that close to the Cup. Winnipeg also began poorly in 2023-24, dropping 3 out of 4 & 6 out of 10 before they began to pick up wins regularly.
So how will this year kick off?? You’ve had a chance to see the lineups, so lets hear your predictions in the comment section.
Before I sign off, thought I would mention that the Manitoba Moose played their last exhibition game on Tuesday versus the University of Manitoba. Still unsure of the outcome, but do know that Chaz Lucius, Nikita Chibrikov, & Elias Salomonsson were all in action. Since Brad Lambert was given a rest, he’ll have to wait for the Moose’s season opener to don a Manitoba jersey for the first time this year. That contest will take place just 4 days from now in Iowa. Moose @ Wild on Saturday, Oct 12th vs Wild at 6 pm CST.
The season is Manitoba’s 25th in existence if you include the minor league franchise’s time in the American Hockey League and International Hockey League. There is plenty of young talent (to the lament of a large portion of the Jets’ fanbase), so they should be very entertaining to watch. If you are interested in getting your hands on some affordable tickets, check out the link below:
https://moosehockey.com/memberships
How great is it that we get to start the year with a late game?? 9 pm CST puck drop on a Wednesday….thanks a lot, Gary!!!
