Hockey’s back!

It’s been an awfully long time since we’ve seen the Jets play meaningful hockey. While the preseason is important, it can’t compare to the regular season when games actually matter in the standings. In terms of the game at hand, the Jets begin their season in New York where they are facing off against the Rangers.

There’s a million things to watch for during the first game. There’s new players in the lineup, different line combinations, and entirely new systems being utilized by the team. There are plenty of storylines to look for, but here’s the main things to watch in game number one.

It’s a rarity for the Jets to have a true rookie make the opening day roster. Usually taking the slow development approach, Winnipeg hasn’t had a same year draftee on their roster since Patrik Laine in 2016.

Even more incredible is how much Heinola’s preseason came as a surprise. While most people thought he was a really strong prospect, nobody had him pencilled into the opening night roster. Yet here we are. Heinola had a great training camp and certainly benefited from the Jets losing a few key defensmen in the off-season. In addition, the Jets currently have Beaulieu down with injury and Byfuglien suspended from the team.

Heinola’s style of play is not necessarily exciting, but he gets the job done. He’s not a flashy player, rather he prefers to use his intelligence and positioning to make sound plays throughout the game. He’s not a big man, but doesn’t need to be as he always seems to be in the right spot to make a play. His style is almost reminiscent of a younger Josh Morrissey which bodes really well for his future.

It’s always fun watching a rookie get their NHL debut. Heinola will do exactly that tonight which makes him one of the biggest storylines to start the year.

It was a twist of fate that saw the Jets trading Trouba to the Rangers only to see them get matched up in the opening game. Trouba has never played a game for anyone except Winnipeg and remains close with several members of the team.

When asked about his time with the team, Trouba had this to say.

Even though there are a wide range of emotions when it comes to Trouba’s time with the club, he was still an exceptionally valuable piece that the Jets will be hard-pressed to replace.

Seeing Trouba play his first game with another club will be bittersweet for fans and I’m sure some of the Jets players will have a few extra words if they meet Trouba on the ice.

Even though Trouba has been gone for a few months, it feels as though this game finally provides closure to his rocky tenure with the club.

The biggest storylines of the entire off-season were the holdouts of Winnipeg’s two star RFA’s, Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine. In the end, both players were able to get a new deal signed in time to play in game number one of the season, but neither player participated in any preseason games or drills.

With the team practicing Tuesday and Wednesday, that’s the only ice-time that Connor and Laine will get before taking the ice against New York.

There’s is definitely a cause for concern as Laine has been known to have slow starts to his season. Couple that with the fact that he missed most of the preseason and it might be an interesting start to the year. At least Laine was participating with a professional club in Europe so the hands and shot will hopefully be ready to go.

Connor on the other hand was only training by himself and might take a little bit of time to catch up to the speed of the game. Connor doesn’t struggle to play a fast style, but having limited ice-time with teammates will definitely take an adjustment.

The rest of the team all played in multiple preseason games so there shouldn’t be any worry of a slow start. The interesting thing to watch will be if Laine and Connor can keep up and start the season strong despite missing all of training camp.