4:00 pm CT – TV: TSN 3; Radio: 680 CJOB/Power 97
WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets will open their preseason schedule today against the Minnesota Wild at Canada Life Centre (4 CT, TSN3, 680 CJOB).
The Jets held a scrimmage on Saturday, the first time they had any type of game situation since training camp opened on Thursday.
“Obviously, as you saw, we’ve been doing a lot of the d-zone coverage and building off of the battle drills the last two days, that was the idea. So that when we went into the scrimmage,” said head coach Scott Arniel.
“Some of the guys are going to be playing (today). It gives them a chance to get game ready. For other guys that aren’t, it’s just another step towards building towards the rest of the week that’s coming in camp.”
As is usually the case, it will be a lot of different faces in the lineup for the first preseason game. Neither Connor Hellebuyck or Eric Comrie will dress today. Colin Miller, Haydn Fleury and Logan Stanley are the veterans on the blueline. Morgan Barron and David Gustafsson will be the players with the most experience up front.
So, it will be a great opportunity for the likes of Elias Salomonsson, Nikita Chibrikov and Brad Lambert to catch the eye of the coaching staff. Another thing to keep in mind is that this will be the last time teams play six preseason games. The NHL schedule will bump up to 84 games in 2026-27.
“I don’t know how I want to go on it yet. It’s going to be very very hard. (Today’s) game, some young guys get to play some game and maybe go back to junior,” said Arniel.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get that opportunity again so it’s going to be interesting to see how it goes.”
In other leagues like the NFL, some veteran players don’t even play in any preseason games. Arniel doesn’t feel that will happen with his group.
“Maybe guys that just play one game but most of our group wants to play two,” said Arniel.
“I always talk to our veterans five or six days ago and get a little layout of ‘How many do you want to play?’ We have some guys that only want to play two. We have other guys that want to play three. I have one guy that wants to play six. I’ve already told him he’s not playing six and you probably know who that is…”
That would be Jonathan Toews, who will not be playing this afternoon against the Wild.
Jets Training Camp Groups – Sept. 21 pic.twitter.com/M4mEl4RklB
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