The Winnipeg Jets are down to the finish line on roster day, with their opening-night group set to be submitted Monday afternoon as the countdown to October 2 against the Boston Bruins gets tighter.
Friday’s pre-season finale in Colorado wrapped up a short camp that ended with a 5-2 loss to the Avalanche. Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for Winnipeg, while Stuart Skinner stopped 28 of 32 shots. The Jets finished the shortened pre-season at 1-2-1 and now have a brief window to settle everything before the regular season begins.
The injury picture is looking cleaner, too. The only names left on the Jets’ injury report from training camp are Garrett Brown and Elias Salomonsson.
Connor Hellebuyck remains on the suspended list, and since his trade request still hasn’t been resolved, that situation is expected to stay in place until a deal is completed. Salomonsson, meanwhile, is ahead of schedule in his recovery from off-season shoulder surgery and could be back by mid-October instead of late October.
The projected lineup gives a pretty good sense of where things stand. Up front, the top unit appears to be Connor, Scheifele, and Vilardi, followed by Perfetti, Bjork, and Lambert. Niederreiter, Lowry, and Iafallo look locked into the third line, while Koepke or Namestnikov would slot with Barron and Rosen on the fourth.
On the blue line, Morrissey and DeMelo remain the top pair, with Samberg and Pionk on the second. The third pair looks to be Ferraro with St.
Ivany, though Haydn Fleury is the likely seventh defenseman. The only real question there was who would skate next to Mario Ferraro until Salomonsson returns, and St.
Ivany appears to have the edge.
In goal, Stuart Skinner is set to start the season as the No. 1, with Hellebuyck still pending a trade. Domenic DiVincentiis also seems to have claimed the backup job after Thomas Milic was loaned to the Manitoba Moose on Friday.
Winnipeg also kept trimming the camp roster over the weekend. Isaak Phillips, Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, and Noah Gregor were placed on waivers Friday, all cleared, and are headed to the Moose to start the season. Later in the day Sunday, Henry Thrun and Danny Zhilkin were also placed on waivers and are expected to follow the same path.
That leaves the Jets close to their final opening-night answer, with the last moves due before the roster deadline. The Hellebuyck situation still hangs over everything, but once the season starts, the focus shifts to the 2026-27 Jets and their opener at home against Boston.
In Other News...
Jets Just Addressed A Growing Goalie Problem Behind Hellebuyck
With Connor Hellebuyck away from training camp and a backup situation suddenly more delicate than the Jets would like, Winnipeg moved to shore up the position by bringing in Clay Stevenson on waivers from Washington. The addition gives the club a veteran option in camp and some immediate depth behind Stuart Skinner, while also letting the organization keep its prospects on their current path in the AHL rather than rushing anyone into a bigger role.
Stevenson arrives with professional experience in the Capitals organization, which is part of what made him an appealing pickup for Winnipeg at this moment. Washington had been bracing for the possibility of losing him and still has other goaltending choices in its AHL system, but for the Jets the bigger question remains how long they need to manage this behind-Hellebuyck uncertainty before the situation settles down. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Still Face One Tense Decision Before Opening Night
The Jets are still sorting through the final edges of their opening-night roster, with the club down to 24 healthy players after placing two players on waivers. One more move has to be made before the 4 p.m. CT deadline, which leaves Winnipeg with just enough time to decide how it wants to balance depth, flexibility and the last available spots on the roster.
What makes the situation trickier is the uncertainty still hanging over the waiver wire. There has been speculation about whether Winnipeg will claim a goalie, while the status of Danny Zhilkin and Henry Thrun remains unresolved. Away from the Jets own decisions, Logan Stanley also landed elsewhere, signing a one-year deal with the New York Islanders after a long stretch in free agency. [Read more 🡒]
Capitals Just Lost Goalie Depth At The Worst Time
Goaltending insurance tends to matter most when the season is already beginning to ask for it, and the Jets made a depth move with some future value attached. Clay Stevenson, who spent parts of last season with Washington and its AHL affiliate in Hershey, is now in the Winnipeg organization after being available on waivers.
Stevenson has one year left on his contract and will be eligible to test unrestricted free agency after the 2026-27 season, which gives Winnipeg a relatively short runway to evaluate him. For now, the bigger point is simple enough: the Jets added a goalie with NHL and AHL experience, and they did it at a moment when teams are always looking to avoid being thin at the position. [Read more 🡒]