With season alterations forced by the coronavirus pandemic, the Winnipeg Jets will begin their quest for the Stanley Cup in just three weeks from now, on Aug. 1.
The Jets will play all their games at Rogers Place in Edmonton, along with the 11 other Western Conference teams.
Teams in the Eastern Conference will also drop the puck on Aug. 1, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
The Jets will battle the Calgary Flames in Game 1 of their best-of-five play-in series on Saturday, Aug. 1 at 9:30 p.m. CT.
The teams will also square off Monday, Aug. 3 at 1:30 p.m. CT, and again Tuesday, Aug. 4 at 9:30 p.m. CT.
If Games 4 and 5 are necessary, they will be played Thursday, Aug. 6 and Saturday, Aug. 8, with starting times yet to be determined.
The Jets will open their training camp Monday morning, July 13, at Bell MTS Iceplex, with all workouts being closed to the public.
Winnipeg rode a four-game win streak into the forced shutdown, and they’ll look to begin rebuilding that momentum when training camp kicks off on Monday at the Bell MTS IcePlex.
“You remember where we were at before this thing hit so that’s going to be the biggest thing for every team is just trying to get that confidence almost and trying to win those first couple games,” says Jets forward Andrew Copp.
Copp played an integral part in negotiating a new collective bargain agreement with the league, while representing NHL Players Association. The new agreement will run through the 2025-26 season.
The 26-year-old Jet says being able to have fans in the arena beyond the 2020 playoffs is crucial.
“The biggest point is being able to handle that downside of possibly playing with no fans or limited fans or no fans throughout the year. The biggest thing for us is making sure we can have fans, and hopefully that leads us in a direction where the loss overall isn’t as big as it could be,” he says.
The Jets will travel to Edmonton in just two weeks to begin their play-in series round of the 2020 NHL Playoffs.