All 82 games in an NHL regular season count the same, but some dates on each teams’ slate stand out as must-watches for various reasons. Whether it’s because a long-time player is returning for the first time as a member of an opposing team, because of a budding or long-standing rivalry, or because a new franchise is coming to town, some games just have more hype around them than others.
Related: Breaking Down the Winnipeg Jets’ 2024-25 Schedule
The Winnipeg Jets, in the upcoming 2024-25 season, have some of all of those types of games on their calendar. Five in particular stand out as must watches, and we’ll look at each here.
1: Oct. 11, 2024: Jets Welcome Bedard and Brossoit For Home Opener
The hoopla surrounding home openers is always fun as fans usually pack arenas for their first chance to see their team in action during a game that counts. A win to begin the home portion of one’s schedule always feels a little extra important, even though a victory counts for two points like the rest of them. Leaving the home opener happy is something Jets fans have gotten used to: the team has won six straight dating back to the 2018-19 campaign.
The 2024-25 home opener is against a Central Division rival in the Chicago Blackhawks and is on a Friday night to boot, which should lead to a party atmosphere at Canada Life Centre. It’s also the first time former goaltender Laurent Brossoit — who was the league’s best backup last season and helped the Jets capture the William M. Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed in the regular season — will return to Winnipeg since cashing in on a two-year, $6.6 million deal with the Blackhawks this offseason. Whether he’ll get the start is unknown at this point, of course, but there’s a good chance he does get the call.
It’s also only the second time young phenom Connor Bedard will play in Winnipeg. The 2023 first-overall pick and defending Calder Memorial Trophy winner played his first-ever game in Winnipeg last December, but was out with a fractured jaw when the Blackhawks’ second and final trip to Winnipeg came around in January. That disappointed a lot of fans who bought tickets specifically to see the most-hyped player since Connor McDavid.
2: Oct. 28, 2024: The Always-Electric Jets and Maple Leafs Matchup in Winnipeg
Canada Life Centre is always rocking when the Toronto Maple Leafs make their annual visit. A lot of people in Winnipeg — especially those now in their late 20s and early 30s — picked the Maple Leafs as their team when the Jets relocated to Phoenix in 1996 and still root for the high-scoring Original Six franchise led by generational talent Auston Matthews.
The Jets/Maple Leafs rivalry really took off during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign, where the teams faced each 10 times in the temporary Canadian Division, but the rivalry is at its best with fans in the building. You can expect a lot of blue and white to dot the stands and competing “Go Jets Go” and “Go Leafs Go” chants to break out throughout the proceedings.
The Maple Leafs took last season’s matchup in late January, 4-2, during a time the Jets were struggling with injuries. That game in Winnipeg was the back half of a home and home (the Maple Leafs won the first half in Toronto three days prior, 1-0 in overtime.)
The last time the Jets beat the Maple Leafs in Winnipeg was in November, 2021, when they bested them 6-3 in a feisty barn burner that came just a few hours after the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders at IG Field across town to advance to the Grey Cup. Many well-lubricated and celebratory fans came directly from the football game to the hockey game, making the atmosphere raucous from the opening puck drop.
3: Nov. 5, 2024: Utah Hockey Club’s Inaugural Visit to Canada Life Centre
This will be Jets’ and their fans first opportunity to see the NHL’s newest club (unless the fans want to travel to Salt Lake City in the first month of the regular season.)
The Utah Hockey Club, which has relocated from Arizona after a long and twisty saga in Phoenix surrounding its sketchy ownership group and its lack of ability to make progress on building an NHL-quality arena, will feature many of the same players the Coyotes had last season, but they are a new team with significant new additions and a new hope for the future under new owner Ryan Smith nonetheless. Utah will also play in the Central as the Coyotes did, meaning this is a so-called “four-point game” the Jets would love to win.
Related: Ryan Smith Is Building Something Special in Utah
This matchup is also the first of only two total times in NHL history Utah will play in Winnipeg as “Utah Hockey Club” — they will get an actual team name and logo for 2025-26 — giving this game (and the other one in January) appeal from a “I saw the team when it had no name or logo” standpoint. It’ll be a fun piece of “over beers” conversation fodder some day for the fans who were there.
4: Nov. 19, 2024: A Clash with the Stanley Cup Champions
The Jets, who were knocked off in the first round of the playoffs for a second-straight season, will get their first look at the defending champion Florida Panthers at Canada Life Centre on Nov. 19. The Panthers have had some offseason departures, but games against Cup champions are generally seen as measuring sticks. It’ll be no different for the Jets, who still consider themselves in “win now” mode despite losing key players in free agency.
Unlike the Jets — who completely unraveled in the postseason and got crushed by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round — the Panthers came together to capture their first Cup in franchise history. It wasn’t easy for them: they knocked off the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers, but blew a 3-0 series lead in the Final to Edmonton Oilers before pulling out a Game 7 victory.
The Panthers’ players sporting bling should stick in the Jets’ craw a bit. Their coach, former Jets’ bench boss Paul Maurice, led them to a championship in just his second season at their helm. There’s no doubt Maurice walked into a great situation in Florida, but the four playoff series wins the Panthers just had en route to the Cup is one more playoff series win than the Jets had in the eight seasons Maurice finished as the coach.
Maurice walked away from the Jets in December, 2021 when he felt he’d taken them as far as they could go. Maurice certainly had his flaws and him leaving may have still been the best thing for the franchise, but his success since has opened up debate about whether he was the main problem or if his players’ lack of coachability was.
5: March 28, 2025: Brenden Dillon’s Return to Winnipeg As a Devil
There can be a variety of reactions when a long-time player of a certain team returns as a member of another, depending on the circumstances behind their departure. When defenseman Brenden Dillon returns to Winnipeg for the first time as a member of the New Jersey Devils, he should be received warmly.
The hard-hitting, hard-working blue liner wanted to re-sign in Winnipeg, but the organization let him walk into unrestricted free agency and he inked a three-year deal worth $12 million total with the Devils on July 1. He was a staple on the Jets’ top four over three seasons after being acquired from the Washington Capitals in 2021, suiting up up for 238 games and tallying 63 points. The now 33-year-old — often praised for being an outstanding teammate and a fierce competitor — led the Jets in hits in the past two seasons, and last season, had a career-high eight goals.
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In this contest against a Devils’ squad that will, by the time late March rolls around, hope to be in a playoff spot after taking a big step back last season, Dillon should get a nice video tribute and ovation. He deserves both.
Which Jets games do you think are must watches this season? Comment below!
