The National Hockey League will announce the Winnipeg Jets’ quarter-century teams on January 10 2025.
The league made the announcement over the weekend, stating:
“The NHL will honor its best players from the past 25 years in a multi-phased Quarter-Century Team selection and celebration. The campaign will be rolled out in three phases, with each accompanied by a robust content campaign across all NHL platforms to reflect selections and encourage fans to participate in the debate.“Starting at the Discover NHL Winter Classic later this month and continuing daily through January, the NHL will reveal each Club’s First and Second Quarter-Century Teams. Both the First Team and Second Team will consist of three forwards, two defensemen and one goaltender. Each Club’s First and Second Quarter-Century Teams will be selected by a panel of media, retired players and executives specific to that Club. Players under consideration for selection are those who have appeared in a game for the respective franchises since Jan. 1, 2000.”
The Atlanta Thrashers are still connected to the Jets so you might expect to see hockey hall of famer Marian Hossa on the Jets’ First Quarter Team. Additionally, it’s hard to argue that Connor Hellebuyck isn’t already the greatest goaltender in Jets franchise history, so he is likely also a lock for the First Quarter Century Team. In this writers opinion Josh Morrissey and Dustin Byfuglien are locked down as the top two defenders.
Blake Wheeler is easily the greatest right winger the Jets have ever had when he was at his prime he is an easy pick. This now boils down to the Jets greatest center-man. This is where we can debate Mark Scheifele and Brian Little. I think the vast majority of us will say Scheifele over Little but I’ve been wrong before.
The real fun will come when the the Jets’ second team is announced. Who are the third and fourth best defenders to play for the Jets? Dylan DeMelo, Toby Enström, or even Jacob Trouba? Does Thrasher Ilya Kovalchuk make the second team or Kyle Connor? We just have to wait until January 10th to find out.
The rest of the NHL’s 31 teams will have their own Quarter Century lineups announced from December 30th to January 31st, and it will be interesting to see how teams like the Seattle Kraken turn out at the end of this exercise. You can find a full list of the rollout dates by clicking here!
