Winnipeg Jets’ most intriguing training camp battle in 2025

The Winnipeg Jets are looking to bounce back from a second-round defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars.

Winnipeg finished the 2024-25 NHL season with the league’s best record, winning the Presidents’ Trophy, but they will look a little bit different going forward.

Star winger Nikolaj Ehlers is now gone after signing a seven-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes. They tried to replace him up front with Jonathan Toews, but the Jets will still need a few more pieces to step up to fill the void that Ehlers left behind.

The Jets may need to make a few decisions heading into the 2025-26 season to replicate their regular season dominance from last season.

Jets set in net with Connor Hellebuyck, Eric Comrie

The one area Winnipeg does not have to make any decisions on is goaltending.

Even with Connor Hellebuyck’s recent struggles in the playoffs, he has proven time and time again to be one of the league’s best goaltenders. He won the Vezina Trophy for the second year in a row in 2025 after going 47-12-3 with a .925 save percentage and a league-best 2.00 goals-against average. These are numbers the star goaltender has replicated time and time again and he will be crucial in leading Winnipeg to success.

Eric Comrie joined the Jets via free agency last year and filled in perfectly as the No. 2 option. He went 9-10-1 with a .914 save percentage and a 2.39 goals-against average in 20 starts in 2024-25. His numbers made significant improvements since his 2023-24 season with the Buffalo Sabres — where he went 2-7-0 with an .874 save percentage and a 3.69 goals-against average in 10 starts — and he has now found a solid home in Winnipeg.

Sturdy Jets defense has depth slots up for grabs

The Jets are mostly set defensively after finishing last season with the fewest goals against in the entire league.

Winnipeg is returning three of its headliners from the 2025-26 season — Josh Morrissey, Dylan DeMelo and Neal Pionk — and all three of them are expected to log heavy minutes this season. The Jets do have a hole on the left side of their middle pairing for the time being with Dylan Samberg still nursing an injury which could keep him out for the start of the season, and they have several options to choose from.

Ville Heinola could finally take the next step and take a roster spot in training camp. The 24-year-old who the Jets selected with the 20th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft has played in just 53 games so far. He played in 18 games for the Jets last season, averaging just under 14 minutes of ice time per game and registering one assist.

The Jets could also turn to veteran blue liner Logan Stanley, who played consistent bottom-pairing minutes last season, or ex-first-round pick Haydn Fleury, who has yet to carve out a full-time NHL role at the age of 29.

It will be interesting to see how Winnipeg manages to survive early in the season with Samberg’s absence creating such a big hole.

Ehlers’ departure leaves questions to be answered for Jets offense

With the Jets losing such a consistent source of 20 goals per season, it will be a tough task for them to replace Ehlers.

Winnipeg signed Gustav Nyquist in free agency to help offset the loss, but the veteran winger showed signs of decline last season. He only scored 11 goals and 28 points in 79 total games last year, scoring just two goals and seven points in 22 games after he was traded to the Minnesota Wild near the NHL trade deadline.

Realistically, the Jets will need to rely on young wingers Gabe Vilardi and Cole Perfetti for more offense next season. There also is a possibility the Jets call on recent first-round picks Colby Barlow and Brayden Yager to help the offense out early in the season with captain Adam Lowry expected to be sidelined with an injury.

Barlow, the 18th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, put up 32 goals and 61 points in 62 games for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack in 2024-25. Yager, the 14th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft who the Jets acquired via a trade from Pittsburgh, had a combined 25 goals and 82 points in 54 WHL games for the Moose Jaw Warriors and Lethbridge Hurricanes before arriving at Jets training camp in 2025.

Winnipeg has plenty of options to choose from as it looks to reload and make another run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.