Jets’ Bjorck & Bauer Set to Make NHL Debuts

The Winnipeg Jets’ 2026-27 home and season opener will feature a double debut as centre Viggo Bjorck and defenseman Tyrel Bauer are both set to play their first NHL games.

Bjorck, the Jets’ eighth-overall selection in the 2026 Entry Draft, is their highest-profile pick in a decade. The 18 year old Swede will centre the second line between Isak Rosen and Gabriel Vilardi.

Bauer took a much longer route to the NHL. The Jets’ 2020 sixth-round pick spent four full seasons with the Manitoba Moose in the American Hockey League, during which he became one of the league’s most-fearsome enforcers and hard-hitting blue liners. The 24 year old will play on the third pairing with Mario Ferraro.

As for who will get to take their customary “rookie lap” first, Bjorck joked “I’m not going to fight him for it.”

“I’ve fought and clawed, both metaphorically and literally and now I just want to show that I can play as well,” Bauer said recently. “(Toughness) is always something that I have, it’s always something in my back pocket and something that I take a lot of pride in doing, for my teammates, for the city, and the people who invest in this hockey club. That will never change. But it’s very clear to me that in order to get to the next level, you have to play.” (From ‘Bauer better and better every year,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Sept. 28, 2026.)

Puck drop versus the Boston Bruins is at 7 p.m. Central tonight at Canada Life Centre. The Jets will be looking to start the season on the right note, while the Bruins will be looking to follow up their Tuesday season-opening 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers with another win.