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In their final game before the Olympic break, the Winnipeg Jets got smacked 5-1 by the Montreal Canadians in front of a sold-out crowd at the Canada Life Centre on Wednesday night. In a rare occurrence, the majority of the fans in attendance on this night were Habs supporters. Connor Hellebuyck took the loss for the Jets. This convincing loss should all but seal any slim playoff hopes the Jets team had remaining for the 2025-2026 season.
Now that the regular season is on pause for nearly 3 weeks, let’s look at the Jets players who will be representing their respective countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics which are being held in Milano-Cortina, Italy.
Josh Morrissey
As he did at the 4 Nations tournament, Morrissey will be representing Team Canada once again. In all likelihood, he will be locked into that 2nd defence pair with Colton Parayko. The two of them played very well together at last year’s tournament and should be paired together once again to begin this short tournament. Due to illness, Morrissey was not able to play in the Gold medal game last year.
Kyle Connor
Connor was also a member the United States team that finished runner-up to Canada at last years 4 Nations tournament. It will be interesting to see where he plays in the line-up. At last year’s tournament, he began playing in the top-6 forward group. However, by the end of the tournament, he was made a healthy scratch by coach Mike Sullivan in the Gold medal game in favour of other forwards that were playing injured. With Mike Sullivan returning as the coach, it’s anyone’s guess where Connor will be slotted in the starting line-up.
Connor Hellebuyck
Hellebuyck was a lock to be the United States starting goaltender at the 4 Nations tournament last year. This time around, he may not be the starter. He missed some time earlier this year with a minor knee surgery. Also, his stat line this year is not as phenomenal as it was last year when he back-stopped the Jets to the President’s Trophy and in doing so won the Hart Trophy, Vezina trophy and Jennings Trophy in the process.
Nino Niederreiter
The all-time points leader from Switzerland was also the flag bearer for his country. It was a great moment for Niederreiter and his family. He will be playing in his 2nd Winter Olympics after he represented the Swiss in 2014 (Sochi). He should play big minutes for the Swiss squad.
Scheifele just missed
After injuries sidelined Team Canada forwards Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli, it certainly seemed like Mark Scheifele would get his name called for Team Canada. However, it was Sam Bennett and Seth Jarvis that were called up instead. Both players played on the 4 Nations Gold medal winning team last year. Very devastating turn of events for Scheifele as he is having a career year thus far.
