Its GAME DAY!!!!
Well that time has finally arrived…..the Winnipeg Jets are about to kick off their 2026-27 National Hockey League campaign on Friday evening when the Boston Bruins come to town for a visit. The Canada Life Centre will be rocking tonight when the slightly revamped True Northers take to the ice at 7:00 pm CDT, as the crowd will be anticipating seeing a much more youthful squad this season.
After an off-season filled with a ton of intrigue surrounding goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, ultimately a trade never did occur and that has resulted in the 3 time Vezina Trophy winner opting to stay at home and forfeit $38,659 per day while continuing his holdout. Apparently GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is willing to take his time and wait for a deal that he believes is right for the current state of the Jets, so while there are reports that Helly is apparently “itching” to get back to playing hockey…it does not appear that he will get his wish in the immediate future, unless something drastically changes to make other NHL clubs desperate to improve their goaltending situation. Maybe deciding to holdout while waiting for his “request” to be met was a miscalculation on his part? It certainly didn’t increase his trade value, so could ultimately make the whole process take longer. But that is in the past and I have decided that the amount of writing I’ll do about the whole situation will be limited to putting out an article when he is actually traded. Until then….the pouting goalie will vanish from my mind.
Besides the much-hyped 8th overall selection in the 2026 Entry Draft, Viggo Bjorck, Winnipeg is also suiting up a couple more rookies for opening night in Brad Lambert & Tyrel Bauer, as well as almost-rookie Isak Rosen. Tonight will also be the first opportunity to see other newcomers dress for their first Jets’ regular season match, with starting tender Stuart Skinner, defenseman Mario Ferraro, as well as back up goalie Clay Stevenson. So a lot of new faces to learn…fortunately the rosters below have their jersey numbers so we can identify the newcomers.
The opposition tonight have already opened their season with a 3-0 win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday, giving the fans at the Madison Square Garden an early chance to bask in the feeling of supporting a winning team. Since there is very little team information from this season for Boston and none for Winnipeg, here is how the 2 franchises performed last season:
Both the Bruins & Jets had a player hit the 100 point plateau last season, with Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele setting a career high with 103 pts and Boston star David Pastrnak exactly hitting that number. Other big point producers playing tonight include Jets’ forwards Kyle Connor (92 pts) & Gabriel Vilardi (69), as well as the Bruins’ Morgan Geekie (68) & Pavel Zacha (65).
Via PuckPedia, here are the projected starting line ups for Winnipeg & Boston tonight……….
WINNIPEG JETS LINE UP
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BOSTON BRUINS LINE UP
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I am running out of time as I still have a bunch of errands to run before heading out of town for my niece’s wedding, so I apologize for the less in-depth preview than normal. Looking forward to seeing the B’s young James Hagen play tonight, as well as newly re-signed Fraser Mitten (who had a goal & an assist in the opener).
Also hoping that Winnipeg head coach Scott Arniel’s lines find some chemistry together, as the Jets are going to need depth scoring if they want to compete in 2026-27. I am sure Scotty does too….as he is in a contract year and True North coaches don’t have the same job security level as GMs do in this city.
Last season I ended up combining the Preview & Recap articles in an effort to save me a bit of time. While have Mullayo along this year will be helpful, it doesn’t ease the burden for the game related articles. Yet, I really like having a new post for the Recap…so we will give that a try and see how it goes. In other news, during my visiting with other NHL fans when I shared my Team Talent Ranking spreadsheet with them, I came across a Habs fan that is currently taking their Masters degree in Winnipeg. When they heard about the potential need for writers at Arctic Ice Hockey, I was informed that since they follow the Jets almost as intently as the Canadiens they would be willing to volunteer to help out. Still need to have some further discussions after my busy weekend is over, but hopefully our site will be welcoming another voice in the near future. Will keep you updated.
Go Winnipeg Jets!!!!!
