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The Winnipeg Jets training camp officially got underway today (September 17, 2026). The organization invited a total of 51 players/prospects
to attend. Their first of four-pre-season games is this Saturday, September, at Edmonton. The season opener is Friday,October 2.
Jets suspend Hellebuyck
Connor Hellebuyck has officially been suspended by Jets management after failing to report for training camp. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff will hold a press conference on Thursday morning to discuss the turn of events. This sequence of events is ultimately the worst-case scenario for the team. No one wanted this cloud hanging over the team as the new season gets underway.
Hellebuyck asked to be traded presumably at the conclusion of last season. When a trade did not come to fruition at the 2026 NHL Draft or during the course of the off-season, Hellebuyck and his agent made the trade request public in August. Things can get very ugly fast
if Cheveldayoff does not receive an offer from another GM to his liking for the all-world goaltender.
League problem?
It is becoming more and more common now for NHL players to demand trades from their respective teams and using their no movement clauses to force a trade to a very small list of teams. More often, it is American players asking to be traded from Canadian teams to a very
specific American market/team.
At some point, the league may have to implement some form of regulation where a player’s no movement/trade clause gets revoked when he asks for a trade from their respective team. However, there is a major problem. Such a change requires a Collective Bargaining Agreement amendment. The Players Association will fight tooth-and-nail against such a change.
Meanwhile, no movement/trade clauses were always meant to protect the players from being traded without some form of consent. Nowadays, however, they get used a weapon by the players and their agents to force a trade that handcuffs teams and their GMs.
Of course, who readily handed out such contracts in the first place? Yes, it was the teams and their GMs.
Jets core group unfazed
When asked about Hellebuyck’s trade request, the Jets veteran core group of players seemed unbothered by it, at least publicly. They reaffirmed their belief in the current Jets locker room dynamic. A major sigh of relief for all Jets fans: Their internal solidarity seems solid.
Roster battles: Opportunity knocks
With the Jets having a quiet off-season in terms of adding significant roster pieces, there is more opportunity this season than in previous seasons for prospects to earn roster spots coming out of training camp. Players like Viggo Bjorck, Brayden Yager, Brad Lambert, Isak
Rosen, and Elias Salomonsson all have realistic chances of being in the opening night line up.
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