Saturday night hockey is back, and the Winnipeg Jets are wasting no time getting their first look at the 2026-27 preseason schedule. They’ll face the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place in the opener of a four-game exhibition slate, with the regular season now two weeks away.
This is the first night of preseason across the league, with seven games on the board as teams begin a shortened training camp ahead of the new 84-game regular season. For Winnipeg, it’s also the start of a stretch that will help sort out an opening night roster, even if this first lineup is built mostly around youth and prospects.
The Jets’ injury list is short, but it does include Walker Duehr, Garrett Brown, and Elias Salomonsson, who is targeting a return in late October. Edmonton’s absences are Alec Regula and Mattias Janmark, both dealing with undisclosed injuries. They’ll skate with the Oilers in camp, but neither is expected to play in any of the team’s four preseason games.
Winnipeg’s projected lineup features Thomas Milic in goal, and he’s the confirmed starter for tonight. Milic will be in the mix for the backup job depending on how the Connor Hellebuyck situation plays out. Up front, the Jets are giving some of their most intriguing young players a chance to make an early impression, including a first line of Isak Rosén, Viggo Björk and Brad Lambert.
That trio is worth a close look, especially Lambert. The 22-year-old Finn is aiming for what should be his first full NHL season after getting an extended run last year.
In 25 games, he put up 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points, mostly in a limited bottom-six role. Now, there’s a real opening for him to push into the top six, and this is where that conversation starts.
The rest of Winnipeg’s lineup reflects the same theme. The Jets are dressing Rosén, Björk, Lambert, He, Yager, Ford, Chibrikov, Zhilkin, Gregor, Barlow, Julien and Wahlin, with Fleury and St.
Ivany on one pair, Thrun and Bauer on another, and Phillips with Gustafsson on the third. Behind Milic, Poulter is also listed.
Edmonton’s group looks much more experienced. Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid headline the first line with Vasili Podkolzin, while the second unit includes newly signed players Formenton and Joseph alongside Colton Dach. The Oilers are also expected to use Tristan Jarry in goal, the only returning goalie from last season.
Jarry, acquired last season, is set to ramp up as the likely starter for Edmonton on opening night, while Frederik Andersen is projected to take over once he returns from a knee injury. Devon Levi also brings upside into the mix.
Podkolzin is the Oilers’ player to watch. Since being acquired ahead of the 2024-25 season, the 25-year-old has taken a big step forward, breaking out in 2025-26 with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points in his second straight 82-game season. His mix of size, pace and physicality gives Edmonton another winger who can fit alongside either Draisaitl or McDavid, and he could be pushing toward the 20-goal mark this season.
Puck drop in Edmonton is set for just after 7:00 pm CT. For Winnipeg, it’s a first test for a young roster against a far more seasoned opponent, and with only four preseason games on the schedule, every one of them matters a little more.
In Other News...
Hellebuyck Standoff Just Put Even More Pressure On The Jets
Connor Hellebuycks situation has already become one of the biggest storylines hanging over Winnipegs offseason, and now the market around him is shifting again. Florida had reportedly explored a trade package for the Jets goaltender, but the Panthers have since moved their attention to Brady Tkachuk, taking those original pieces off the table while still leaving the possibility of future interest open.
For Winnipeg, the bigger issue is that the standoff has only added pressure to an already delicate situation. Hellebuycks trade request has put the Jets in a difficult spot, and his absence from training camp has pushed the matter from routine trade chatter into something far more serious for the organization to manage. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Nearly Made A Huge Blue-Line Splash Fans Never Saw Coming
Talk around the league this week has again drifted to the kind of trade chatter that can reshape a roster in a hurry, and the Jets remain part of that conversation because Connor Hellebuyck keeps coming up as the sort of goaltender teams would love to chase if the price were right. Florida reportedly made a significant push to try to land him from Winnipeg, with players and draft capital in the mix, a reminder that the market for elite talent can get serious fast even when nothing ultimately happens.
The Bruins, meanwhile, were doing their own blue-line digging, exploring what it would take to pry Filip Hronek from Vancouver and floating an offer built around a prospect and first-round picks. The Canucks, though, are not interested in moving him, which leaves Boston looking elsewhere for help and keeps the bigger question hanging over all of these calls: which teams are willing to pay the premium when the right name becomes available, and which ones are just checking the temperature. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Camp Already Has One Big Tension Around Opening Night
Training camp moved into its second day at the Hockey for All Centre, with Nino Niederreiter, Adam Lowry, Cole Perfetti and coach Scott Arniel all available to the media as the Jets continued the slow build toward the regular season. It is the time of year when every detail gets a little sharper, from line combinations to schedules, and Winnipeg already has a practical wrinkle to sort through before the opening night buzz really starts.
The club has had to adjust the start times for 12 home games after Manitoba decided to stay on daylight time year-round, a small change on paper that will still affect how the first few weeks of home hockey feel for players and fans. Before that becomes part of the nightly routine, a Prospect Challenge game in Edmonton offers a look at mostly young Jets players, with the game set to be streamed on the teams website. [Read more 🡒]