The Winnipeg Jets are now exactly one week away from opening their 2026-27 NHL regular season at home against the Boston Bruins. The Jets are also exactly one month away from hosting the Montreal Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium for the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic. Tickets for all Jets games throughout the 2026-27 season are on sale now. The long days of the NHL off-season are finally over, as we’ll see regular season hockey next week.

Tonight at Ball Arena the Jets will play their fourth and final of four pre-season games to prepare for the 2026-27 NHL season. The Jets and Avalanche are one of just four games on the NHL pre-season schedule tonight, as this new shortened training camp wraps up before the new 84 game regular season game schedule.

The Jets will face off against a team that they’ve already beaten this pre-season, the Colorado Avalanche. The Western Conference championship went to the Vegas Golden Knights last season, but the Avalanche are favourites this season to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals out of the Western Conference. The Avalanche have one more pre-season game tomorrow in Utah, so they likely won’t use as strong a roster as the Jets will tonight.

The injury report for the Winnipeg Jets (including players who likely won’t make the team) still has three names: Walker Duehr, Garrett Brown, and Elias Salomonsson, who is still targeting his return in late October. The Avalanche have two players out with undisclosed injuries: Cale Makar and Trent Miner. Makar is reported to be ready for the Avalanche’s first game of the regular season, while Trent Miner will likely be the Avalanche’s 3rd goaltender this season and doesn’t have a known timetable for his return as of this morning.

Connor – Scheifele – Perfetti

Rosen – Bjork – Vilardi

Barron – Lowry – Lambert

Niederreiter – Namestnikov – Iafallo

Morrissey – DeMelo

Samberg – Pionk

Ferraro – Bauer

Skinner

DiVincentiis

The confirmed starting goalie for the Jets is Stuart Skinner, who is making his second start of the pre-season ahead of being named the Jets starting goalie for the season (pending Hellebuyck’s trade request). The Jets lineup looks pretty close to what it should look like on opening night, with a few younger players and AHL bound players getting a final look ahead of the regular season. The second line of Rosen, Bjork and Vilardi should be an exciting line to watch, and if that line has good chemistry it could be a good line to use once the regular season begins.

The Avalanche’s confirmed starting lineup is currently unknown, but it looks like Mackenzie Blackwood will start in goal with Ilya Nabokov serving as the backup. In terms of special teams, it appears that the Avalanche will have a loaded top powerplay unit (from their practice today), including MacKinnon, Landeskog, Kadri, Necas and the “day to day” Makar. Tonight will be the 3rd pre-season game for the Avalanche with their final game tomorrow in Utah, so Jets fans should expect a mix of experienced and younger players tonight for the Avalanche.

Puck drop in Colorado is set for just after 7:30 pm CT. Tonight’s game will be an exciting rematch from earlier in this pre-season, and both teams will be looking to get closer to making some tough decisions for their opening night lineups. It’s still a bit of a different feel having four pre-season games instead of six, as each and every game gets you much closer to the start of the regular season.

The 2026 NHL off-season is now over, with pre-season games wrapping up this weekend. All 32 teams are now close to naming their 2026-27 opening night rosters. Stay tuned here on Daily Faceoff Winnipeg for the latest news on the Jets training camp, as well as an article when the Jets name their opening night roster ahead of their home (and season) opener on October 2nd against the Boston Bruins.

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