The Winnipeg Jets continue their off-season with just under a month until the 2026 NHL Draft. As tomorrow is the start of the June, the start of the Jets Nation “year in review” series is right around the corner. The series will likely begin with some of the standout players from the Jets, followed by others throughout the Jets lineup in no specific order. Before June, there’s a final update to be done on the 2026 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland.

Heading into yesterday’s semifinals, all five Jets players at the tournament were still alive for a chance at a gold medal. Nino Niederreiter and Team Switzerland were heading into the semifinals with a perfect record. Their opponent was Team Norway, the “surprise” team of the tournament who have exceeded all expectations up until this point, including defeating Czechia and Sweden in round robin play.

The other semifinals featured four Jets players. Team Canada had Mark Scheifele, Gabriel Vilardi and Dylan DeMelo, all three of which have made solid contributions throughout the tournament in different ways. Canada’s opponent was Team Finland, who had Ville Heinola. Going into the tournament it was unknown what Heinola’s role would be, but he ended up being one of Finland’s most important defenders.

Team Switzerland continued their perfect tournament with a 6-0 win over Norway on Saturday. Norway showed why they deserved to make it to this point of the tournament, keeping this game close for a while, but eventually the host Swiss rolled away to victory. Six different players scored for Switzerland, but Niederreiter wasn’t able to pick up any points in this game.

Semifinals number two was much closer throughout the game. After an early goal from Finland, Team Canada scored two goals in the 1st to take a 2-1 lead into the 1st intermission. Dylan DeMelo picked up a secondary assist on Dylan Holloway’s go ahead goal. The 2nd period was where things went wrong for Canada, with Finland scoring 3 goals including two in less than two minutes. Heinola didn’t get any points this game, but he contributed in shutting down Canada in the 3rd period to secure the 4-2 upset win to advance to the gold medal game against Team Switzerland.

The bronze medal game on Sunday morning saw Team Canada taking on Team Norway for the second time in this tournament. Despite the final shots on goal being 46-24 for Canada, Norway found a way to win their first ever medal at the IIHF World Championship. Early in the game it was Norway who played the style they wanted, and they managed to take a 1-0 lead into the 1st intermission.

After a second Norway goal halfway into the game, Canada started to pick up the pace, but Norway continued to shut them down. Robert Thomas scored two goals in the final 90 seconds of the 3rd period to send this game to overtime, but Noah Steen was the hero in the 3 on 3 overtime for Norway, scoring the goal to win the bronze medal game for his country. Scheifele had some chances this game, but none of the Jets three players picked up a point in Canada’s final game, as they finished in a disappointing 4th place.

The gold medal game was a battle between Ville Heinola and Team Finland against Nino Niederreiter and Team Switzerland. Finland was looking for their 5th gold medal at this tournament, while Switzerland were looking for their first gold medal after four silver medals since 2013.

The first twenty minutes was scoreless, but the game featured a handful of penalties, a disallowed goal and a high energy Swiss crowd. Switzerland opened the 2nd period with a 5 on 3, but were unable to score the game’s opening game. Finland outshot the Swiss in the 1st period, but the 2nd period saw Switzerland in control for the majority of the time minus one powerplay for Finland. This was a tightly contested game, and the first goal of the game seemed like it wouldn’t happen until the 3rd period.

At least that’s what most people thought, but instead the game went a full 60 minutes without a goal. For the second straight IIHF World Championship gold medal game, an overtime was needed to decide a scoreless game. After an entertaining championship game and overtime, it was Konsta Helenius who eventually scored the overtime goal to win the championship and gold medal for Team Finland. Ville Heinola leaves the IIHF World Championship with a gold medal to add to his young career.

The 2026 NHL Draft will take place at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, and it will begin on June 26th. The Winnipeg Jets will be selecting 8th overall in the first round, as the Jets will add their newest top prospect to their prospect pool.

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