Jets’ First Month of 2026-27 Will Be a Gauntlet

The Winnipeg Jets will have to fight through quite the gauntlet early on in the upcoming season.

The Jets’ 2026-27 schedule dropped yesterday — THW broke down their 84-game slate here — and one thing that stands out is the number of strong opponents they will face through the first month.

It will be a tough early challenge for a club looking to rebound after a highly-disappointing 2025-26 in which they missed the playoffs.

Playoff-Calibre Opponents Abound Early

11 of the Jets’ first 16 games from Oct. 2 through Nov. 3 are versus teams that made the playoffs last season.

Of their first half-dozen opponents — the Boston Bruins (Oct. 2), Detroit Red Wings (Oct. 4), Pittsburgh Penguins (Oct. 5), Colorado Avalanche (Oct. 7), Anaheim Ducks (Oct. 9), and Minnesota Wild (Oct. 13), only the Red Wings failed to make the postseason. The Avalanche, Ducks, and Wild all made it past the first round.

Of the next seven opponents over the next 10 games — Chicago Blackhawks (Oct. 15), Carolina Hurricanes (Oct. 17 and Nov. 1), St. Louis Blues (Oct. 20), Dallas Stars (Oct. 22), Montreal Canadiens (Oct. 25 at the Heritage Classic and Nov. 3), Florida Panthers (Oct. 27 and 30), and Tampa Bay Lightning (Oct. 29) — only the Blackhawks, Blues, and Panthers did not qualify for the postseason.

Two games are against the high-octane, electric Canadiens squad that advanced to the Eastern Conference Final, and of course, two games are against reigning Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes.

Oh, and of those four games against teams that did not make the playoffs? Two are against a Panthers club that won back-to-back Cups in 2024 and 2025 and are widely expected to bounce back after being swamped with injuries last season (but still finished two points ahead of the Jets).

Only the Blackhawks finished below the Jets.

Head coach Scott Arniel better hope his club sustains no serious injuries in preseason, and he and the Jets leadership core must ensure everyone is on board with playing at full speed and intensity right from the home opener’s puck drop. Nothing less than their best game will be good enough to win against these teams.

Setting Realistic Expectations For Jets’ First Month

The Jets’ offseason additions and departures have them younger and ideally faster than last season, when they were too old and too slow to keep up. They have a nice blend of established players with good track records of success and young ones the organization is hoping will take steps forward, but question marks remain about how much impact some of the young players will be able to make and which veterans will be able to bounce back after underperforming last season. An even bigger question mark is whether goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who the Jets’ success has often ridden or died with, will still be with the team.

If the Jets can snag around half the points available over this first stretch — say, by going 8-8-0 or 7-7-2 — we could say they weathered the early storm. Then, they’d have 16 points in their pocket and 68 more games to get 76 or so more. It took 90 points to make the playoffs in the Western Conference last season — the Los Angeles Kings took the second wild-card spot with that number — but with the schedule expanded to 84 games from 82, it may take 92 points to make the dance.

Jets Got Off to Good Start Last Season That Proved Fraudulent

An interesting wrinkle to this is that the Jets didn’t get off to a bad start last season, points wise. While most people consider wins wins, sometimes how a team wins actually does matter.

While the Jets started last season 9-3-0, the underlying numbers screamed that regression was inevitable. Indeed, after that start, they went 6-18-4 over their next 28 to sit dead last in the league by Jan. 5. While they dug themselves out of that hole somewhat to finish 27th league wide, they were never a true threat to re-enter the playoff picture.

The first month of 2026-27 won’t likely make-or-break the Jets’ season — U.S. Thanksgiving is a better benchmark to judge whether a team will be playoff bound. However, a combination of their record and underlying numbers after fighting through this gauntlet will still show something about what this edition of the team is made of.