The Winnipeg Jets have turned to a familiar face for their emergency backup goaltender spot, naming Cole Kehler to the role for the 2026-27 season Tuesday afternoon.
Kehler, 28, will be around for the full ride: all 84 games on the schedule. That means he’ll be on hand for the 42 games at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg and traveling with the club for the other matchups across the NHL’s 31 other markets.
Under the NHL’s updated Collective Bargaining Agreement, every team now has to designate an emergency backup goaltender to attend each game and be ready if both dressed goalies are unavailable. Kehler fits the bill for Winnipeg, with no NHL experience and fewer than 80 professional games on his résumé.
For Jets fans, his name won’t be completely new. The 6-foot-4, right-catching goalie from Altona, Manitoba, was at Winnipeg’s development camp as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and later spent the 2020-21 season in the organization.
Kehler’s junior career came with the Kamloops Blazers and Portland Winterhawks from 2013-14 through 2017-18, when he put together a 66-51-10 record, six shutouts and an .899 save percentage. He also skated in 23 WHL playoff games for Portland over his final two seasons in the league.
After that 2017 training camp look with Winnipeg, Kehler landed with the Los Angeles Kings organization as a free agent. Most of his time there came with the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets and Manchester Monarchs, with one AHL appearance for the Ontario Reign in 2019-20.
When he returned to the Jets organization in 2020-21, Kehler saw limited action with the Moose. Mikhail Berdin, a 2016 draft pick, handled most of the workload and appeared in 30 of 36 games. Kehler got into just three games, finishing 2-1-0 with an .861 save percentage.
He spent the next season in the ECHL before heading back to Altona, where he played high-level men’s league hockey with the SEMHL’s Altona Maroons for two seasons. Now he’s back in the NHL picture in a different way, and if Winnipeg ever needs him, he’ll wear No. 00.
In Other News...
Kyle Connor Carries One Huge Question For The Jets Offense
Kyle Connor has been one of the most reliable offensive anchors in Winnipeg since breaking into the NHL in 2016-17, and nothing about the Jets recent planning suggests that role is changing anytime soon. The left winger has long been the kind of scorer the team can build around, a steady source of production who has already delivered year after year and now carries the expectations that come with being one of the franchises defining forwards.
The larger question is not whether Connor will matter to the Jets, but how high his ceiling can still go as he enters a new phase of his career. Winnipeg needs him to keep driving play and finishing chances at an elite level if the offense is going to stay among the leagues most dangerous, and the early read is that he should remain in the range of a high-end first-line scorer. The only thing left to see is whether he can turn that dependable track record into another jump when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Face One Brutal Question With Their Franchise Goalie
Connor Hellebuycks status has put the Jets in a delicate spot, because the franchise goalie has now made clear he wants out after already letting the organization know earlier in the offseason. Winnipeg is dealing with one of the leagues toughest problems to solve at the most important position on the ice, and the timing only adds pressure as general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff weighs whether to keep waiting or begin seriously testing the market.
The challenge is made even sharper by how thin the goalie market looks right now, which can leave a team with leverage on paper but fewer realistic options in practice. Around the league, the Devils and Hurricanes have surfaced as the most logical landing spots in discussions, but Winnipeg still has to find a package that matches Hellebuycks value without settling just because the list of bidders is limited. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Fans Just Got A New Reason To Watch Quinn Hughes Closely
Nico Hischiers extension with the Devils was framed in familiar terms of loyalty and wanting to give back, but it also helped spotlight how differently star players can approach contract decisions as the NHL landscape keeps shifting. For teams like the Jets, who are always watching the market for the next move that could alter the balance of power, the bigger takeaway is how one major deal can ripple outward and change the way other front offices think about their own stars.
Quinn Hughes now sits in that wider conversation, with Minnesota GM Bill Guerin openly acknowledging there is still uncertainty around what matters most to him and leaving the door open to the kinds of possibilities that usually get attention around the trade deadline and beyond. Winnipeg fans have even more reason to follow closely because any major movement involving top-end talent tends to alter the same goalie market the Jets are already being linked to, and the next few weeks could show whether the leagues big names stay put or become part of a much larger shuffle. [Read more 🡒]