The Winnipeg Jets are now 37 days away from opening their 2026-27 NHL season at home against the Boston Bruins. The Jets are also 60 days away from hosting the Montreal Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium for the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic, with tickets for the Alumni game on October 24th going on sale for the general public tomorrow at noon central time. The long days of the NHL off-season are almost over, as we get closer and closer to the start of the 2026-27 season.

Tonight we take a quick break from the “goals and expectations” series, as we learned about a roster update for the Jets and Canadiens Alumni Game on October 24th. This game will take place at Canada Life Centre at 6:30 pm CT on the eve of the NHL Heritage Classic game on October 25th at Princess Auto Stadium. Earlier today, the Jets posted the updated alumni rosters for the Jets and Canadiens, with both teams still subject to change in the next two months.

Jets fans already knew about some of the most anticipated alumni that will be playing in this game, such as fan-favourite defenceman Dustin Byfuglien and former captain Blake Wheeler. Another former captain, Andrew Ladd, will be back in a Jets jersey, joined by several of his teammates from the early years of the Winnipeg Jets 2.0. The next most notable alumni forward that will be on the ice at Canada Life Centre is Bryan Little, a player who was with the Thrashers and Jets organization for his whole career.

Dustin Byfuglien “headlines” the defence group, and the crowd will for sure be loud when his name is called during introductions. Tobias Enstrom and Ron Hainsey are a few of the more notable defenceman that will playing, as fans will remember them from the early years of the Jets 2.0. Only one goalie is confirmed so far for the Jets alumni, and that is the right handed catching Michael Hutchinson. If there’s a way for the Jets to get Ondrej Pavelec back for this game that would be great, but it’ll be interesting to see which other goalie will get some time in the crease.

Two forwards that were featured on an earlier roster for this game which are not on this updated list are Nik Antropov and Drew Stafford. Fan favourite Chris Thorburn is back on the roster, reuniting with his old linemates Tanner Glass and Jim Slater. Behind the bench for this game will be the Jets first head coach (from the 2.0 era) Claude Noel.

The Canadiens alumni roster also was updated today, and there’s some intriguing names that will be on the ice at Canada Life Centre. Of course there won’t be any of the older Canadiens from the “golden age” of the Canadiens where they won plenty of Stanley Cups, but there’s still several very notable alumni who Canadiens fans will remember from the 2000s and 2010s.

Some of the notable forwards for the Canadiens are Mike Cammalleri, Maxim Lapierre and Mike Keane. The blue line features several former big names including Andrei Markov and Marc-Andre Bergeron. In net for the Canadiens will be Yann Danis and Jaroslav Halak, a goalie that Jets fans will remember well from when he was on the St. Louis Blues. Behind the bench for the Canadiens will be Chris Nilan and Lucien Deblois. This game is shaping up to be an exciting event that will be one part of the festivities leading up to the big Heritage Classic game at Princess Auto Stadium the following night, so make sure to grab your tickets for this alumni game starting tomorrow!

The 2026 NHL off-season is coming to a close as we hit late August, and teams will start hitting the ice for training camps beginning in early to mid September. Stay tuned for more “goals and expectations” articles leading up to training camp, as I’ll look at what to expect from 2026-27 Jets players throughout the lineup. Let us know on our Daily Faceoff Winnipeg socials if there’s a certain player you’d like us to cover next!

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