Winnipeg Jets set to open training camp on Thursday

The Winnipeg Jets will begin on-ice preparations for their 14th NHL season since relocating from Atlanta when they hold their first training camp practice sessions on Thursday morning and afternoon at Hockey for All Centre.

A total of 53 players will be split into two groups, dubbed Team Neufeld and Team Lesuk, for the first two days, leading into the start of the pre-season on Saturday night versus the Minnesota Wild.

Forward Cole Perfetti is listed on the roster despite remaining unsigned when the camp roster was released on Tuesday afternoon.

Connor Hellebuyck heads up a group of five goaltenders that will include NHL veterans Kappo Kahkanonen and Eric Comrie as well as drafted prospects Thomas Milic and Dominic DiVincentiis.

Thirteen of the 16 defencemen on the camp roster are players signed to NHL deals by the Jets organization, along with free agent invitees Ashton Sautner, Dawson Barteaux and Dylan Anhorn, who are under contract with the AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose.

Josh Morrissey, Dylan DeMelo, Neil Pionk, Dylan Samberg, Colin Miller and Logan Stanley are the returning veterans on the blue line. They are joined in the competition for NHL jobs by Ville Heinola, who spent an injury-shortened season with the Moose; former free agents Haydn Fleury and Dylan Coghlan, who signed two-way deals in the off-season; and highly regarded 20-year-old prospect Elias Salomonsson, who helped lead Skelleftea AIK to a Swedish League championship this past season.

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Seventeen of the 32 forwards listed on the camp roster played at least one game for the Jets during the 2023-24 season. That group includes Brad Lambert and Nikita Chibrikov, who made impressive NHL debuts in the season finale versus Vancouver.

Among the new faces attending their first training camp in Winnipeg are NHL veterans Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Mason Shaw and former Pittsburgh first-round draft pick Brayden Yager, who was acquired from the Penguins on Aug. 22 in exchange for Rutger McGroarty.

Recent Jets picks from the 2023 and 2024 NHL entry drafts who will also be attending camp include forwards Colby Barlow, Jacob Julien, Connor Levis, Kevin He, Markus Lopenen and Keiron Walton.

On-ice sessions are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday at Hockey for All Centre.

The Jets begin a six-game pre-season schedule on Saturday with a 7 p.m. faceoff versus Minnesota.

Pregame coverage begins at 5 p.m. on POWER 97.

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