Former Winnipeg Jets players are about to get a kind of homecoming many of them never had.
When Blake Wheeler recently appeared on Jets @ Noon, the former captain pointed out that several of his old teammates returning for the Heritage Classic alumni game in October will be stepping onto the ice at Canada Life Centre for the first time since leaving Winnipeg. Wheeler knows that feeling better than most. After signing with the Rangers for what became his final NHL season, he came back to Winnipeg as a visitor on October 30, 2023, and got a massive ovation along with a video tribute.
But as Wheeler noted, not everyone from that era got that same sendoff.
“I was lucky. I got to have this a little bit when I played the Jets as a Ranger but a lot of my teammates they didn’t have that.
And I think what’s going to be really cool for them is just sort of the reception that they’re going to get. The appreciation the fan base has for what our generation, that second version of the Jets means and meant to that town.
So they’re going to really feel that in a way that they probably haven’t which I’m really excited for them to experience.”
That idea hits home when you look at the alumni list. Some of these players left Winnipeg and never came back as opponents, which means they never got the chance to hear that building erupt for them one more time.
Tobias Enstrom is one of the clearest examples. He spent his entire NHL career in the Atlanta/Winnipeg organization, left after the 2017-18 season, and continued playing in Sweden. He has not been back on the ice in Winnipeg since his final season with the Jets seven years ago.
Dustin Byfuglien is in that same group. The fan favourite still draws a roar whenever he appears in a video tribute, but he hasn’t played a game on Winnipeg ice since the 2018-19 season.
The list goes on from there: Nik Antropov, Anthony Peluso, Jim Slater, Tim Stapleton, Derek Meech and Grant Clitsome all left the Jets without later appearing in Winnipeg as visitors.
Bryan Little and Mark Stuart are also on that list, though both have had their own return moments. Little was honoured by the Jets in 2024 with a pre-game skate around the ice and a standing ovation during the game. Stuart was welcomed back in March of 2023 when he returned to Winnipeg as a member of the Oilers coaching staff.
That’s what makes the Heritage Classic alumni game feel different. It gives fans a chance to greet these players properly and give them the kind of reception they missed when their time in Winnipeg ended.
And in Winnipeg, that kind of appreciation comes naturally for the players who helped define the second version of the Jets.
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