The Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club today issued the following message to our community:

We are extremely pleased that the combined efforts over the past several months between the NHL and the NHLPA have resulted in a tentative agreement on a new10 year Collective Bargaining Agreement.

We would like to acknowledge and thank all of our fans, partners, broadcasters, employees and our community for being patient with our organization, the League and the Players during the negotiation process that led up to this exciting news.

In the coming days we expect the agreement to be ratified and within the same time frame also expect to receive confirmation of the new 2012-2013 schedule, the commencement date of training camp and the date and time of the Winnipeg Jets home opener at the MTS Centre.

Upon confirmation of the revised 2013 schedule fans can expect to receive, within two business days, their Jets season ticket package via Canada Post.  Upon receipt, season ticket holders can log on to MY JETS ACCOUNT for complete account updates.  

The Winnipeg Jets will continually provide regular updates to all of our fans as new information becomes available to us.  Please refer to our website at www.winnipegjets.com on a regular basis.

On behalf of True North Sports & Entertainment Limited and the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club, we thank you for your patience and look forward to another exciting season of Winnipeg Jets hockey at the MTS Centre and on TSN Jets & TSN 1290 in 2013.

Sincerely,

James C.R. Ludlow                                                  Norva Riddell

President & CEO                                                     Senior VP, Sales & Marketing

September 16, 2012

Re: NHL Work Stoppage

As you may now be aware, the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association were unable to successfully conclude negotiations for a successor Collective Bargaining Agreement to their current Agreement, which expired at 11:59pm on Saturday, September 15th, 2012. Accordingly, a work stoppage has commenced which is expected to delay the opening of training camp and may cause games to be cancelled. We do not yet know how many games, if any, may be cancelled or for how long the work stoppage will occur. It has and continues to be the League’s objective to successfully conclude negotiations for a new Agreement.

In our most recent correspondence with you, we indicated that we would immediately advise you as to what our contingency plans would be with respect to the payments we have received from you pursuant to your Ticket Purchase Agreement.

Please be assured that you will receive full credit for your season ticket payment on account with us for any and all games cancelled. To that end, the Winnipeg Jets have established the following policies with respect to cancelled games, account credits and/or refunds of season ticket payments:

- The Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club will provide a full account credit or refund to you, as Primary Account Holder, for any cancelled pre-season and/or regular season games during the 2012-2013 season.

- As a Winnipeg Jets Season Ticket Holder, in good standing and who has paid in full, you will have the following two options:

OPTION A

Retain your season ticket payment with the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club and credit for cancelled games will be applied to your account.

By selecting Option A you will receive the credit equivalent to simple interest calculated at an annual rate of 3.0%, based on the full amount paid from the point at which the Winnipeg Jets first pre-season game is cancelled on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 to the date on which Winnipeg Jets hockey resumes at the MTS Centre for the 2012-2013 season.

A credit equivalent to simple interest will continue to be calculated at an annual rate of 3.0% from the date Winnipeg Jets regular season play resumes for the 2012-2013 season to the date your 2012-2013 playoff invoice is due or your first or second installment payment is due for the 2013-2014 season. This calculation will be based on the balance of funds held in your account which represents the cash equivalent value of the number of games cancelled, as a result of the work stoppage.

The total value of games cancelled in the 2012-2013 season, plus the interest equivalent credit as described herein, will be applied to your account to be used as a set-off against your 2012-2013 playoff invoice or the first or second installment payment due for your 2013-2014 season tickets; or, alternatively,

OPTION B

Request a refund of your season ticket payment for cancelled games using the same method of payment as your initial payment.

By selecting Option B you will earn simple interest calculated at an annual rate of 1.0% on your account balance from the date on which the first pre-season game is cancelled on Tuesday, September 25, 2012.

Refunds for games cancelled, commencing with the month ending September 30th, 2012, will be issued to you, along with interest earned, within 10 business days of the last day of each succeeding month and will be based upon the number of games cancelled in the prior month.

You will continue to earn interest on your account balance until such time as Winnipeg Jets hockey resumes at the MTS Centre for the 2012-2013 season.

In order to select the option most suitable to you, please click on the link and select either Option A or Option B by Friday, September 21st, 2012 at 5:00pm. If you have not selected an option by that date, we will assume you have agreed to select Option A.

Account updates will be available on your “My Jets Account” monthly, commencing October 31st, 2012.

In all cases please note that games may only officially be cancelled by the NHL. It is possible that games may be rescheduled by the NHL for a future date; rescheduled games are not considered to be cancelled games for the purpose of calculating credits or interest. We will continue to keep you informed should any schedule changes like this occur.

Thank you for your continued patience and support. Irrespective of the timing of the resolution of the collective bargaining negotiations we are busy making preparations for another exciting season of Winnipeg Jets Hockey at the MTS Centre. We will continue to make investments throughout the year in the MTS Centre with the addition of new washrooms, concession improvements on the 100 and 300 concourses as well as further refinements to our digital properties, all with the desire of continuously improving your fan experience at the MTS Centre.

Please also visit our website at www.winnipegjets.com/nhlworkstoppage where we have prepared and posted an FAQ summary for your reference. Again, it is the hope of all involved that agreement on the terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement will be reached in the near future.

TRUE NORTH SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED / WINNIPEG JETS HOCKEY CLUB INC.

Ever since the fateful Friday night in January when the NHLPA rejected the realignment proposal, we knew the Jets would once again be faced with a challenging (some would say burdensome) schedule. Earlier today, with the release of the 2012-13 NHL regular season schedule, we finally get to see in living colour what the schedule looks like for the Winnipeg Jets in year two of Jets 2.0.

NB: A work stoppage would obviously throw this schedule into disarray. For the purposes of this analysis, we will assume a new CBA is agreed to relatively painlessly, and this schedule will remain as valid for the entire season.

The details  

• Jets open the season Saturday October 13 home versus Carolina
• Jets close the season Saturday April 13 at Ottawa
• Final home game on Thursday April 11 versus Florida
• Traditional New Year’s Eve game at 400 PM on Monday, December 31 versus Tampa Bay
• Weekday home games (excluding New Year’s Eve) are at 7 PM Central, except for January 2 versus the Minnesota Wild (630 PM Central)
• Jets play on Black Friday (day after US Thanksgiving) at 2:00 PM in Philadelphia
• No Teemu game in Winnipeg
• 3 games in 4 nights versus Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Jose
• A Saturday night home game versus Vancouver with a 9:00 PM puck drop in Winnipeg
• 19 Saturday games (12 at home, 7 on the road)
• Of the 12 home Saturday games, 6 are in the afternoon, 1 is at 9:00 PM, 5 are 6 PM puck drop
• 6 Monday games (one is in the afternoon at NYI on Martin Luther King Jr. Day)
• 19 Tuesday games
• 5 Wednesday games
• 16 Thursday games
• 9 Friday games (one is in the afternoon at Philadelphia on Black Friday)
• 19 Saturday games (7 in the afternoon—6 at home and one on the road in Los Angeles)
• 8 Sunday games (3 at home in the afternoon, 1 at home in the evening, 2 on the road in the afternoon)
• Five out of seven October games on home ice
• Longest road trip is six consecutive games (November 17 – November 27)
• Longest home stand is five consecutive games (January 11 – January 19)
• Three, five game road trips
• Visits from Western Conference teams Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, St. Louis, Columbus, Minnesota, Phoenix, Calgary, and Vancouver
• Visits to Western Conference teams: Edmonton, Colorado, Columbus, St. Louis, Dallas, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose, Detroit,

Which game are you most looking forward to?  Which team do you wish was visiting the MTS Centre but won’t be next season.  Sound off in comments.

For those wanting to take a look at the complete Jets 2012-13 schedule here is a pdf.

We have already discussed the approximate value of contracts that both Kane and Pavelec will demand this summer, but let’s take a closer look at Kane’s game as a whole.

Last season, fans everywhere in town would dismiss Kane’s goal-scoring ability by saying he was too one-dimensional; that he could only score goals.  Well, first off, scoring goals is a talent that few have, so if Kane is going to have one talent, it is beneficial for the Jets to have that be goal scoring rather than hitting or blocking shots.

Another common complaint of Jets fans was that Kane’s moves with the puck quickly became predictable.  They lamented that he would seemingly only go down the left wing and either continue to skate wide or use the same toe-drag move on the defenseman.

While there is truth to the fact that Kane is limited in his offensive moves, frankly, he still scored—a lot.  Never mind the fact that Kane’s linemates this season were not exactly Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (his linemates at the World Championships in the spring).

After hearing the above complaints, we thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at exactly where and how Evander Kane scored his 30 goals this season.

Before examining each goal, here is a list of the games that Kane scored, how many shots he had in that specific game and how many minutes he played in that specific contest.

Listing of Evander Kane’s Goals in 2011-12

We know that Kane popped 30 goals last season at the age of 20 and that he scored more goals than any other Jet player in 2011-12. Impressive? I think so.

Consider the fact that Kane finished 25th in the NHL in goals last season and was the youngest goal-scorer ranked in the top 30.

We know the British Columbia native can score, so let’s now examine how he scores his goals.

How Evander Kane Scored in 2011-12

Goal Location

Some NHL players are hesitant to go to the net.  They prefer to hang around the periphery and avoid the physical pounding that one will face when hanging right around the top of the opposing netminder’s crease.  Evander Kane, on the other hand, seems to thrive on taking such a beating and eliciting such attention.  He consistently uses his big body to crash the net and demonstrated a willingness to incur the physical attention of the other team’s big, strong and mean defensemen.

Just where were Kane’s goals scored from last season (not counting his empty net goal from the neutral zone):

While Kane is a left winger, he does not score all of his goals from that side of the ice.  Kane often moves to his off-wing in the offensive zone, especially around the net, where he ably one-timed shots into the back of the opposing team’s net. 

The above data indicates a couple things.  Kane is certainly not shy about going to the dirty areas.  He scored many goals from just above the crease/bottom of the circles.

It also indicates that he has a terrific shot.  Kane scored nine goals from above the hash marks.  A player like Kyle Wellwood is not going to snipe a ton of goals from above the hash marks, but Kane’s shot gives him the ability to beat net minders from afar.

Type of Shot

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Evander Kane has a terrific wrist shot.  It is not only a lethal, powerful shot, but also his release is so quick and he has the ability few players have to shoot while skating full speed.   Kane probably has a top-five NHL wrist shot and it is no surprise that 23 of his 30 goals in 2011-12 were scored, in some form, utilizing that very shot.

As you can tell below, Kane is not apt to score with slap shots—and if you watched the Jets play, you know he hardly attempted a slap shot all season long.  That is not necessarily a bad thing; some players are just like that.

Type of Play

The type of plays that Evander Kane scored on this past season contained a variety of different methods.  Many of them were based upon his blazing speed, terrific wrist shot and willingness to go to the net.

His speed creates 2-on-1 opportunities.  His willingness to attack the net results in goals that are the product of rebounds, scrums, tip-ins and cross-crease passes.  His terrific shot also allows him to score off the half boards.

All in all, people may complain about how Evander Kane plays the game—but he does one thing better than any other Jet—he scores.  In fact, he scores a lot and does so in a variety of different fashions that should lend well to scoring in the future.

The Jets have a few problems on the roster, Kane’s “predictability,” however, is quite far down that list.

1.  The team does not have a scorer in the top 69 in the NHL.

2.  Mark Stuart is 2nd in the NHL in blocked shots & plays approx 4 minutes less per game than the Habs Josh Gorges (1).

3.  Evander Kane takes the longest average shifts on the team for the forward position.

4.  Evander Kane sits fifth in the NHL in shots taken. Neal (1), Malkin (2), Nash (3) & Tavares (4).

5.  Mark Stuart is 6th in the NHL in minor penalties taken with 23.

As of now, 38 players remain in camp; of those 38, three of those players are currently injured.

Claude Noel addressed the media after the cuts were announced; he said a few things that were telling in trying to piece together this roster.

Noel on the target number of players:

“After the next two games, we’ve got to get a workable number, which should be around 25. 25 healthy close to that, not including injured players”

“I don’t know what our roster will hold, will it hold 22, or will we be playing with 23, these things work themselves out, you at least like to have an extra defensemen and an extra forward, maybe two in one of those positions.”

Here is some useful information on roster limits, for the purposes of this article; we will be selecting 25 players who will be on the roster, before they get down to 23 for opening day.

Noel on players with one-way contracts:

“I don’t think we’re going to be an organization that reassigns one way contracts to the minors, there are some in the National (Hockey) League that do that without missing a beat, but we don’t believe that’s an efficient way to operate.”

“If a player can play ahead of a player, a contract becomes a stumbling block, at the end of the day you’re trying to find a way to maneuver things so the guy that deserves to play (gets to play)”

This quote leads me to believe that all players with one-way contracts will most likely be on the team. The only way they wouldn’t be playing at the NHL level is if they were to be traded.

Here are the 20 players on one-way contracts, or players on two-way contracts who have a 99.99% chance of making the team (Kane & Burmistrov)

Player on One-Way Contracts

G- Ondrej Pavelec
G – Chris Mason
Total: 2 Goalies

Ladd – Little – Wheeler
Kane – Burmistrov – Antropov
Glass – Wellwood – Thorburn
_____ – Slater – _______
Stapleton

F – Kyle Wellwood
F – Tim Stapleton
F – Tanner Glass
F – Andrew Ladd
F – Bryan Little
F – Jim Slater
F – Chris Thorburn
F – Blake Wheeler
F – Nik Antropov
F – Evander Kane
F – Alex Burmistrov
Total: 11 Forwards

D – Zach Bogosian
D – Mark Stuart
D – Ron Hainsey
D – Johnny Oduya
D – Dustin Byfuglien
D – Tobias Enstrom
D – Randy Jones
Total: 7 Defenseman

Total: 20 Players
Spots Remaining: 5

Making this team is going to be tough; after doing some quick math, we have started out with 38 players in camp, subtracted 20 players who are all but assured an NHL roster spot and have then taken away three injured players who may start the season on the injured list (Eric Fehr, Aaron Gagnon, Kenndal McArdle).  This results in fifteen players fighting for just five spots. Taking into account, one of those five spots is for a goalie, there are fourteen players fighting for four spots (or a 28% chance).

In order to determine who has the best shot at making the roster we’ll go by the process of elimination.

Third Goaltender

Currently the third goalie in camp is Swiss netminder David Aebischer. Aebischer signed with the Jets to a tryout contract.  As per Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press, if the Jets were to sign Aebischer, they would have to come to a financial agreement with his Swiss club Lugano—something we do not believe will be a significant deterrent in the grand scheme of things.

Players on Entry-Level Contracts

These are players who participated in rookie camp, and remain in main training camp. It is likely these players will not make the Jets roster.  Instead, they are still in camp in order to provide management with an extended look at what they can offer in and amongst players significantly older and more experienced than them.

F – Mark Scheifele
F – Jordan DePape
F – Klarc Wilson

In the case of Mark Scheifele, he has exceeded anyone’s expectations.  He currently leads the team with six points in exhibition play. While he may belong at the NHL level (skill-wise), he most likely will not start the season with the big-club. Scheifele is only 18 years old, has only played one season of junior hockey at the CHL level, and with so many players likely guaranteed roster spots due to their contract statuses, he may not get the minutes on the NHL roster that would further his development. It seems like the Jets brass will take its time sending the youngster to back to Barrie where he can hopefully improve upon his 75 points in 66 games from last season and fight for another spot next September. IC’s Richard Pollock wrote about “Scheife-ling Expectations” last week, read it here.

Players on Two-Way Contracts

The Jets have let it be known that they would prefer their younger players to get more ice-time in order to develop. This is considered in trimming down the roster.

Due to the logjam at defense the following players will likely be eliminated.

D – Paul Postma

The 22 year old won’t get the playing time required at the NHL level. It is best to let him start the season in the AHL even though he has performed admirably, especially offensively, in exhibition play thus far.

D – Derek Meech

Meech has the most NHL experience of the remaining players, it looks as if he will start the season in the AHL, but will be back and forth all year in case of injuries or ineffectiveness.

After our process of elimination, four spots remain for the following eight players.

Two-Way Contracts
F- Patrice Cormier
F – Ben Maxwell
F – Spencer Machacek
F – Carl Klingberg

Tryout Contracts
F – Janne Pesonen – has the best shot to make the team of these three
F – David Koci
F – Troy Bodie

We’ll give a spot to the player who has the most NHL experience of the group in Patrice Cormier, he also brings versatility as he can play Centre and Wing. This may allow Antropov to play his preferred position of RW.

Spencer Machacek is the next one to make the team, at 22 years old he has two years of AHL experience where he increased his average points per game from 0.62 to 0.79.

The two remaining spots should go to the more experienced Troy Bodie and David Koci. This leaves Jason Gregoire, Carl Klingberg, and Ben Maxwell to get the bulk of the icetime in St. John’s.

Janne Pesonen is the last remaining name on the list. The veteran Finnish forward is in camp on a tryout. He has shown good hands and on ice vision, of the players on tryout contracts, he has the best chance to contribute.

With two exhibition games this week, the players “on the bubble” will do their best to impress in their quest to earn a roster spot on opening day.

John Albert

Akim Aliu

Chris Carrozzi

Ben Chiarot

Kevin Clark

Mark Flood

Mike Forney

Riley Holzapfel

Jason Jaffray

Arturs Kulda

Peter Mannino

Julian Melchiori

Eric O’Dell

Edward Pasquale

Travis Ramsey

Zach Redmond

Marco Rosa

Cody Sol

Shawn Weller

Shayne Wiebe

Two nights ago in an exhibition game, Jody Shelley of the Philadelphia Flyers drilled Toronto Maple Leafs forward Darryl Boyce from behind. Luckily, Boyce only suffered a broken nose on the play.

Jody Shelley, a repeat offender, received a ten game suspension, and will give up salary of just over $67,000.

Last year Blake Wheeler was on the Boston Bruins when Shelley ran over Bruins’ defenseman Adam McQuaid from behind. While the hit was brutal, he only received a 2 game suspension. This hit was considered when determining how many games Shelly would sit out.

Wheeler was also there when Matt Cooke came across the middle and ended Marc Savard’s career. The issue of illegal hits is something that has affected him personally.

“I was on the team when Mark Savard got hit pretty bad, obviously I’m pretty biased to (stricter suspensions). He was one of the best players in the game, and now he’s not able to play anymore. They’re doing the right things to make an example, so guys are a bit more aware on the ice. It’s a fast game, and some things are kind of tough, but it’s a good step in the right direction.”

Previous NHL Disciplinarian Colin Campbell was criticized heavily throughout the league, and on the Illegal Curve Hockey Show by IC’s Richard Pollock for the lack of consistency shown in his suspensions handed out.

With Brendan Shanahan taking the position of NHL Disciplinarian this season, the players expect to have some consistency in this year’s suspensions. So far, he has been thrown a few softballs, and has received a passing grade.

“He’s setting a precedent, that’s what you want. You want the same rules to apply to everyone, you don’t want a hit that might be questionable go unpunished, and one that looks pretty close to it earn a guy five games. You want to have consistency in the ruling, if that’s the way it is, you will know what will fly and won’t.”

Veteran defenseman Ron Hainsey says that Shanahan is communicating the definition of what is and isn’t legal.

“Matthieu Schneider and Shanny have been working together since the end of last season developing the wording of the rules. Headshots and hitting from behind are two things they are going to focus on. I know they have come up with a plan where there is going to be a staggered meaning to the suspensions. If is your first time you’re not going to get killed, but the second and third times are going to be looked at more severely, and you’re going to pay with your wallet and be away for a while.”

“What I think what was made clear from our meetings in the summer with the PA, the new wording of the rules was going to be strictly gone by, and repeat offenders were going to get hit. I know it heavily weighed that Jody was suspended twice last year, I think that played a big part in it. I think we had a good idea that in a repeat situation it probably isn’t going to be light.”

With a number of devastating headshots and illegal hits occurring over recent years, safety is a topic that has come up frequently.  Wheeler says the NHL has taken steps to educate players on what exactly is an illegal hit, and the increased awareness, should lead to some players changing their style.

“You see the video, what’s right, what’s not right, when you’re on the ice things happen so fast sometimes. Things that you don’t want to happen sometimes happen out there. I think the more awareness there is around the league, the more guys are going to start to change some habits. When you see a guy’s back, you can’t touch him, it’s pretty self explanatory now. It’s a fast moving game, but you’ve got to try as hard as you can to be aware. If we’re punishing people, I think you’re going to see some guys try to change their style a little bit.”

Shanahan has communicated guidelines on how suspensions will be handed out. We can only hope that most players now have a greater understanding of the consequences of their actions, and the amount of illegal hits will decrease this season.

Watch below Shanahan’s explanation of how he determined the suspension

With such a tight schedule, the Jets will be sending two teams on the road trip. One team is leaving Friday afternoon for Nashville and will play again on Monday in St. John’s. The other team will be playing on Sunday in Charlotte.

Here are the rosters

Now that people see what the actual tickets look like, what are your thoughts?  Like them, dislike them?  Let us know.

After the jump we get the updated info on how and when you can expect to receive your Winnipeg Jets season tickets.

One reader has shared a letter he received from True North(Update:  After writing this post, and checking my mail, I too had received this letter from TN) which provides further details as to how/when you can expect delivery of your Winnipeg Jets Season Tickets:

So if you still haven’t received this letter or exhibition game tickets, fear not as they should be arriving just as soon as Canada Post can deliver them to you.

Last week TSN and the Winnipeg Jets announced a 10 year agreement to have TSN broadcast Jets games on a regional channel only available in Winnipeg, Saskatchewan, Northeastern Ontario, NWT, and Nunavut. Currently, the channel is only confirmed to be available on Bell TV. Many residents of the TSN Jets region, are left wondering how they will be able to watch them games. (I can’t speak for any of the cable operators outside of Manitoba so I will focus on Winnipeg.)

I am on Shaw or MTS, will I be able to get TSN Jets?

Edit: Sunday, September 18, 2011 – It has been reported that MTS will carry TSN Jets at the same price of $9.95 per month. The free preview will last until the end of October.

EDIT: Friday September 16th, 2011 – Shaw has tweeted (@ShawInfo):

“#Shaw is excited to announce deal to carry TSN Jets including a free preview until Dec 1. Stay tuned for more – Go #Jets! #NHL

Following the Free Preview – the channel will cost $9.95 per month

We will update the FAQ as more information becomes available

TSN has released the following statement

“TSN is in discussions with television service providers in the broadcast region with the hope of ensuring the broadest possible distribution of Jets games.”

What this means for consumers is that TSN and cable providers are negotiating how to package the channel with their current cable system. They will have to agree on fees paid to distribute the channel, as well as determine how to pass along any additional costs to consumers.

If you are currently on Shaw or MTS, it is important to wait with patience and hope that the cable companies come to an agreement with Bell Media. TSN Jets will be a necessity in many Winnipeg homes, it would be a shame if they were not able to negotiate a deal before the first exhibition game on September 20^th.

More of your questions are answered after the jump

What happens if they do not negotiate a deal with additional providers before September 20?

This is the absolute worst case scenario which I would like to think will not come to fruition. If a deal is not reached in time to see games, people may either be forced to switch television service providers or cause a public outcry to urge the two sides to come together.

Is this common in the television world?

A similar situation happened last year when TSN acquired the rights to air 24 Montreal Canadiens games regionally. When the deal was announced, the channel was available only on Bell and this statement was issued in the press release:

“TSN is working with other distributors in the territory to ensure the broadest possible distribution of the Montreal Canadiens games”

While the TSN Habs channel launch, has been similar to the TSN Jets launch (thus far), it is worth pointing out that the Habs and Jets markets are different. Every Habs game is currently broadcasted nationally on RDS, for the English speaking viewers, who have no problems with watching a French broadcast , they may not be interested in switching cable providers, or paying extra for TSN Habs. While in Winnipeg, many fans will not have a chance to see a game live, the demand for hockey here is at a peak and Bell TV could be the only option to watch regional games on television.

What happened?

In the TSN-Habs region, the major cable providers are Videotron and Cogeco who serve over 2 million customers combined. Currently, neither offers TSN-Habs. This could be due to a number of factors, but the main reason being the cable companies and Bell were not able to reach an agreement.

Viewers who were on Videotron or Cogeco, who wanted to watch Habs games, could either continue watching them for no additional cost in French on RDS, or switch providers to Bell to watch the 24 regional games. A number of customers threatened to cancel and switch to Bell, and some were offered a deal to stay at the current provider at a lower price. (I spoke to a friend who lived in Montreal for information on the story, he is a Videotron customer who did not even know there was a TSN Habs, he commented that he is less interested in the Habs, and will be purchasing NHL Centre Ice to watch Jets games (more on that later))

Edit: As of September 8th, 2011 TSN Habs is now available on Shaw Direct 448 in SD and 392 in HD, thank you to commenter Solanges for pointing that out

What may happen?

TSN Jets will have 60 games available regionally, and will be the only way for Jets fans in Manitoba and surrounding areas to watch those games. Deals will be most likely (author’s opinion) be made with other providers to offer the channel. However, if deals are not made, Bell may provide incentives (free equipment, installation, lower prices) for Jets fans to switch, the other cable providers may then counter by offering incentives for customers to stay.

The Jets are too important to Winnipeggers for the cable companies not to reach an agreement. I believe that an agreement will be reached and fans on Shaw & MTS will be able to watch the first regular season TSN Jets broadcast vs. Pittsburgh on October 17^th, 2011.

I live inside the TSN Jets broadcast region but don’t have Bell, can I watch the games on NHL Centre Ice?

For fans within the regional broadcast area, TSN Jets games will be blacked out on NHL Centre Ice, all other games will be available, but there will be no Jets games. The only way to watch the games broadcast on TSN Jets will be to order the channel.

I live outside the TSN Jets broadcast region, how will I watch the games?

For Jets fans outside of Manitoba and surrounding areas, TSN-Jets will not be available. To watch the games broadcast on the Jets regional channel, you will have to order NHL Centre Ice through your television provider or stream games online using NHL Gamecenter Live at NHL.com (this is a paid subscription service, which is quite good).

Other issues – CBC Manitoba HD

I can’t speak for MTS, but on Shaw channel 209, CBC HD is the Ontario HD channel. This means that during Hockey Night in Canada the HD game on CBC HD will be the Maple Leafs (or whichever game CBC Toronto is broadcasting). CBC has yet to release any information regarding which regions the various HNIC broadcasts will be available in, and any additional information about the Winnipeg Jets in HD being available to Manitobans. The season starts in almost a month (that soon already!?!) so there is plenty of time for those details to be released.

What should we do?

Currently, the only option that customers have is to wait. As the season becomes closer, we will have a better idea of the possible outcomes.

This article was written by Michael Remis follow him on twitter @mremis

One would think, that an NHL Launch Party, with a live network broadcast at The Forks, including big screens showing the opening games Maple Leafs vs. the rival Canadiens at 6pm and the Stanley Cup Loser Vancouver Canucks vs. the Crosby-less Penguins at 9pm.  A party, lasting all weekend until after the Jets first regular season home game would be a great idea, who wouldn’t want to attend such a function.

(Canadian Press)

Adding to the excitement, the celebration will feature a “major Canadian concert act”.  That is just the cherry on top of what will already be a weekend to remember.  At this point, most fans must be thinking “Wow, doesn’t this celebration just sound amazing, where do I get tickets to this event? Oh what? They’re free! Wow, thank you NHL.”

Continue reading after the jump.

One would think that would be the general reaction for most fans, until, the bomb drops, the bomb that names the rumored “major Canadian concert act” as Nickelback. Naturally, this caused a public outcry against the band and the NHL. The Winnipeg Free Press even published a very comical open letter from current and former music critics Rob Williams and Bartley Kives saying “We’re begging you…no Nickelback!”

***CAUTION, IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH, I MAKE POSITIVE COMMENTS ABOUT NICKELBACK, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK***

I’m going to be completely honest, if Nickelback did play, and only decided to play music that they had recorded prior to 2001, I don’t think that it would be a terrible thing. “Breathe”, “Worthy to Say” and “Too Bad” are still rocking arena songs that would get fans jumping.

However, it is “Too Bad” (see what I did there?), that they changed their musical style after the success of “How You Remind Me” and released the oh-too similar “Someday” and Photograph”. Here is a fan’s mash-up of “How You Remind Me” and “Someday” playing in each channel…oy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvujgcbaCF8

While I don’t think Nickelback would bring the apocalypse (Gasp!), the call has been made to consider someone else, lets take a look at some other alternative “major Canadian concert acts”. To do this, I’ll have to define “major Canadian Concert act” as a band with similar album sales and concert gross/production to Nickelback.

Believe it or not, Nickelback have sold 35 million album copies worldwide and were the 11 best music selling act of the 2000s. Just because they have sold a ton of albums, does not mean they are necessarily good.

Other “Major Canadian Concert Acts to Consider”

Rush

Also known as “The Holy Triumvirate”, Rush began in 1968 playing clubs in Toronto, Ontario. As depicted in the excellent documentary “Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage”, the band never received the mainstream success of a band like Nickelback, but their musical style has influenced a number of commercially successful rock acts and spawned a wide array of diehard fans. Rush have sold more than 40 million records worldwide, and their sales place them after The Beatles and The Rolling Stones for most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums by a rock band. Did I mention they were appointed to the Order of Canada in 1997?

Geddy Lee, best bass player, ever

After a 26 year hiatus of appearing in the city, Rush returned to Winnipeg in 2008, and developed a connection to the city after donating $100,000 of concert revenues to Winnipeg’s new Canadian Museum for Human Rights. They returned to the road in 2010-11 but did not make a stop in Winnipeg. There are no scheduled dates on their website, and their schedule appears wide open.

The Tragically Hip

The Kingston, Ontario band are no strangers to the city of Winnipeg or Canada’s game. Hockey, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Stanley Cup are just some idiom’s that have graced the lyric sheets in the liner notes of their classic albums. (Do people still read those?)

They have released 12 studio albums, won 14 Juno Awards, and have been inducted into Canada’s Music Hall of Fame & Walk of Fame.

The Hip have made trips here in 2009 (4 shows), 2007, 2005,2004, 2002 (2 shows), 2000, 1999, 1997, 1996 (2 shows), 1995 (2 shows), 1993, 1992, 1991 (2 shows)

While Gord Downie & co. have no scheduled tour dates for the rest of the year, they last played here earlier this summer in July at Canwest Global Shaw Park. I don’t think Hip fans in Winnipeg would be opposed to a return, but the concert organizers may consider someone who hasn’t played here so recently.

Neil Young

Winnipeggers are no strangers to “Uncle Neil”, as he was born here in 1945. After his family moved to Ontario shortly after, he returned in 1960 to attend Kelvin High School.

Young has accomplished more than anyone could dream in his 40+ years as a musician. He has been awarded the Order of Manitoba, the Order of Canada. He has released 34 studio albums, and been named to the Rock and Roll Hal of Fame twice (as a solo artist and as a member of Buffalo Springfield).

The 65 year old is a known hockey fan, being shown on CBC frequently during last year’s NHL playoffs sporting a Manitoba Moose hat.

Gotta support the team!

This decade, he has played in Winnipeg in 2006 with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, in 2008 with His Electric Band and for 2 solo shows in 2010. Young has no shows scheduled for the weekend of NHL Face Off. I remember the disappointment around the city when he pulled out of the Junos in 2005, if he made an appearance at opening weekend; I don’t doubt that he could tear the house down.

The Arcade Fire

Having never heard any music released post 1990, I will be the first to admit that I am not overly familiar with Montreal’s Arcade Fire. However, I am not completely oblivious, and am aware that this is a band on the rise. They burst onto the scene in 2004, and could be at their career peak after winning the Grammy for Album of the Year for the album “The Suburbs” earlier in 2011.

Their last played here in 2010 at the MTS Cente to rave reviews, and have no dates scheduled the weekend of the NHL Faceoff. They are no stranger to playing free public concerts, as they are playing in Monteal in September 22 as a part of the Pop Montreal Festival. An appearance in Winnipeg would surely attract more than the 5,500 that were at the MTS Centre in 2010.

Keep in mind, that the quality of these bands are of much higher caliber (cost more $ to bring in) than bands who have previously played at the NHL’s Faceoff Event.

2010 – Hedley, Down With Webster, Hey Rosetta!

2008 – Def Leppard – memorable for singer Joe Elliot’s placing The Stanley Cup on a table upside down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npwMdSWSeZI

I only named a few bands I consider to be a “major Canadian Concert act” are there any other bands or artists that I am missing that could be included? Sound off in the comments.

Dennis Beyak Play-By-Play Announcer, Hockey on TSN

Manitoba-native Dennis Beyak will join TSN as the play-by-play announcer for Winnipeg Jets regional games on the new television channel TSN Jets and on Sports Radio 1290 in Winnipeg.

Born and raised in the small farming community of Winnipegosis, Beyak began his broadcasting career on CFAR 590 Radio doing play-by-play for the Flin Flon Bombers of the Western Canada Hockey League. Since then, Beyak has provided play-by-play commentary for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, Victoria Cougars, Seattle Thunderbirds and the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Beyak has also done television play-by-play for the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers and was the primary radio voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs since 1998.

Illegal Curve spoke with Dennis Beyak about his new position, the transition from television to radio, working with different analysts and his memories with the Leafs

Meet the rest of the team, after the jump

Brian Munz – Play-By-Play Announcer, Sports Radio 1290

Brian Munz joins Sports Radio 1290 as a play-by-play commentator for Winnipeg Jets broadcasts. He spent the last five seasons as the voice of the Manitoba Moose on Winnipeg’s CJOB Radio.

Munz began his broadcasting career with the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the BC Junior Hockey League. Following this, he spent five years calling Saskatchewan Junior Hockey games on 750 CJVR-FM for the Melfort Mustangs, Humboldt Broncos and Nipawin Hawks before making the jump to the WHL to do play-by-play for the Prince Albert Raiders in 200.

In 2004, the Regina native became the play-by-play voice of the AHL’s Edmonton Road Runners for one season before moving over to 630 CHED radio to host Edmonton Oilers broadcasts alongside Hall of Fame play-by-play broadcaster Rod Phillips and colour analyst Morley Scott.

Illegal Curve sat down with Brian Munz and chatted about his new twitter username, the transition from the AHL to NHL and his excitement over his new position.

Shane Hnidy – Analyst, Sports Radio 1290

Former NHL defenceman Shane Hnidy will join Sports Radio 1290 as a colour analyst for all Jets games this season. An 11-year veteran who’s played 550 NHL games with seven teams, Hnidy was a member of the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins last season.

Illegal Curve spoke to Shane Hnidy after the press conference, and got his thoughts on his new gig.

Here are the major points of the press conference

• TSN to deliver live coverage of 60+ Jets games on a regional channel to fans in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, parts of Northern Ontario, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut
• TSN Jets will be made available to television service providers in the Jets broadcast region
• The channel will launch September 20, and has been confirmed to air on Bell TV on Channel 1423 in HD, and Channel 423 in SD
• Sports Radio 1290 obtains exclusive radio broadcast rights to all Jets games including playoffs and pre-season games
• Manitoba’s Dennis Beyak and Brian Munz named play-by-play voices of the Jets
• Mike Johnson and Brian Engblom will share analyst duties for television
• Recently retired NHLer Shane Hnidy will be the radio analyst
• Winnipeg’s Sara Orlesky to lead newly launched TSN Winnipeg Bureau

Listen to the full press conference 

I was told that the tickets will be delivered in two phases.  Phase 1 is the exhibition games sometime in September and phase 2 will be the entire regular season package towards the end of September.

More on the means of receiving your season tickets after the jump.

I was informed that they are still working out the exact delivery method (whether you will be asked to pick up the tickets at the MTS Centre or whether they will be mailed out.

The gentleman explained that an email will be going out early next week (following the long weekend) with all the details.  So fear not Jets season ticket holders, while you might not have physical control over your tickets just yet, they should be in hand quite soon.

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Let’s take a look at the home and road goal differential totals for the Jets/Thrashers relative to the rest of the NHL:

More after the jump.

Here are the NHL home goal differentials from last season:

What about the road differential?

The Thrashers were nothing if not consistent, as the team was the fifth worst in terms of goal differential at home and fifth worst in goal differential on the road.  All in all, some terrible figures.

On Wednesday, we will look at how much of an effect playing in front of a packed house may or may not have on the Jets’ chances next season.

In fact a number of members of the IC Crew will be doing just this when they take on the New York area in November to celebrate the stag of Illegal Curve Radio show host Drew Mindell, by attending the Jets games against the Islanders, Devils, and Rangers.

Here are Dave and Ezzy’s Top 10 Winnipeg Jets away games for this season:

Dave’s Top 10 Winnipeg Jets Away Games

#10  Predators on Saturday, March 24th 

Reason:  A number of reasons jump out at me to attend this game.  One is I’ve always liked the Predators franchise.  I like the way they’re run, the loyalty they’ve shown the GM & Coach and the way they’ve built up the fan base.  As well, Head coach Barry Trotz is from Dauphin, Manitoba.  But the #1 reason to see this game is that the Preds are selling it as an opportunity for Thrashers fans to come down and cheer or jeer their former club.  If they show in big numbers, it could make an otherwise unremarkable game, quite significant.

#9  Wild on Thursday, February 16th

Reason:  Proximity could make this our best rivalry, although the Jets 1.0 and North Stars never really had much of anything in terms of mutual animosity.  You can expect a ton of Winnipeg support to be heading down to see this contest as they did during the 2011 NHL Entry Draft which should make the already incredible atmosphere at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul quite over the top.  Plus Minneapolis/St.Paul is one of the best cities to visit.
 

#’s 8 thru 1 after the jump.

#8  Capitals on Friday, March 23rd

Reason:  Could a sea of white wash out the arena full of red at the Verizon Center?  The crowds in Washington always seem to be partying and I love that the entire arena is decked in red gear.  This game could have some playoff implications as well.

#7  Leafs on Wednesday, October 19th 

Reason:  There are a ton of former Peggers’ who live in T.O. and I’m sure the A.C.C. will be rocking with Jets fans in what is the just the Jets 4th away game in their young existence.  

#6  Canucks on Thursday, March 8th

Reason:  I always liked the Flames even though when we weren’t having our hearts torn out by the Oilers, it was being done to us by Calgary but for some reason I never liked the Canucks (probably because of the playoffs in 92 & 93 and Mike Peca’s hit on Teemu Selanne).  Having said that, I love the city of Vancouver (easily one of the best cities in North America to live) and with the former Moose/Canucks relationship, the rivalry should begin anew between these two cities.

#5:  Canadiens on Wednesday, January 4th

Reason:  There seems to be something magical about the Bell Centre in Montreal.  Everyone I’ve ever talked to has said it just has a great atmosphere for hockey and to be able to cheer on the Jets in this arena would be quite fun.

#4  Flames on Friday, March 9th

Reason:  When we went down to support the Flames at Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004, we all wore our Jets gear and were warmly embraced by the Calgary crowd.  Perhaps it was nostalgia for our old Smythe division rivalry but we got a lot of love down in cow-town.  The Saddledome is a fun building and I’m looking forward to seeing the rivalry renew between these two teams.  (can anyone recognize which former Flame is embracing us?)

#3  Red Wings on Saturday, December 13th

Reason:  I spent a number of seasons cheering on the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena and I love the building and the people in Detroit.  It is a great sports town and my Jets gear always got a good reception when I wore it to games.  To be able to see the Jets playing again in this venerable building would be quite the thrill.

#2  Blackhawks on Thursday, October 13th

Reason:  The Hawks and Jets have a number of ties.  We have a former Hawks employee running the show in Winnipeg, they are led on the ice by captain Jonathan Toews (one of  our favoured sons) and I’ve always wanted to see a game at the United Center.

#1  Coyotes on Saturday, October 15th 

Reason:  The Coyotes home opener is going to be well attended…by Jets fans.  There are already rumblings that a number of Jets fanloyalists will be invading the Jobing.com arena to support the Jets 2.0 against the Jets 1.0.  As was the case when I picked the Coyotes as the 3rd home game to see, the rivalry is more fan centric, than between these two teams, but it should make for a really fun, hopefully respectful, game atmosphere.

Ezzy’s Top 10 Winnipeg Jets Away Games

#10 Leafs on Wednesday, October 19th

Reason:  I start my Top 10 list early in the season with the Jets first away game in Canada against the much hated and much loved Maple Leafs of Toronto. The Jets and Leafs will do battle four times this season but this game will be the first and will set the tone for the season series.

With that theme of Top 10 in mind, Illegal Curve decided to take a look at the Jets home schedule and try to limit ourselves to just 10 home games that most caught our fancy.  Recently, while discussing the schedule with a hockey fan, it was said “but who is going to want to see the Islanders or Hurricanes in December” and the answer was “almost anyone in Winnipeg”.

But in the interest of presenting a Top 10 list, here are Dave and Ezzy’s Top 10 Winnipeg Jets home games for this season:

Dave’s Top 10 Winnipeg Jets Home Games

#10  Hurricanes on Saturday, October 22nd

Reason:  It is the first Saturday night game and it will be featured on CBC.  As well, the Staal family is from “nearby” Thunder Bay, Ontario so it will be a homecoming of sorts for the Canes captain.  Of course with so many Staal’s in the Eastern Conference, I suspect the family might have to take up residence in the Peg’.

#9  Leafs on Saturday, December 31st

Reason:  I’m not really a Leafs fan, but you would have to imagine that the atmosphere will be quite charged for the New Years Eve game.

#’s 8 thru 1 after the jump.

#8  Bruins on Tuesday, December 6th

Reason:  The Stanley Cup champs are coming to town.  Always exciting to see the team which was last season’s cup winners.

#7  Kings on Thursday, December 29th

Reason:  I think the Kings could be a force this season, so they would be a worthwhile team to watch.  Will help that Kenora’s Mike Richards and Winkler’s Dustin Penner should have pretty sizable cheering sections.

#6  Capitals on Friday, March 16th

Reason:  Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin should make the game extremely entertaining.  Who knows perhaps we will even see Winnipeg product Jacob Micflikier suiting up in front of the hometown crowd.

#5:  Lightning on Saturday, April 7th

Reason:  Final game of the regular season.  Perhaps it will mean something, perhaps it doesn’t but should have a similar atmosphere as Game 1 did and who knows, it could have an impact on the playoff race.

#4  Penguins on Friday, December 23

Reason:  With all the concussion talk and uncertainty of his return in time for training camp I’ve bypassed the early Pens game in favour of the one 2 months later.  Hopefully by this time a healthy Crosby will be leading his Pens into Winnipeg.  I still remember having tickets with my grandfather to a Penguins game when they were supposed to be led into town by Lemieux, but Mario missed the Jets game on that road trip while recovering from injury.

#3  Coyotes on Thursday, December 1st

Reason:  I contend that the Desert Dogs could become the Jets biggest rivals due to our somewhat shared history.  As well the Internet has created a level of animosity that won’t likely be duplicated on the ice but has fans on both sides of the border salivating at the chance to stick it to the other side.  Battle of Jets 1.0 vs. Jets 2.0.

#2  Ducks on Saturday, December 17th

Reason:  Teemu, Teemu, Teemu.  This game could fall on my list if the Finnish Flash doesn’t return to the NHL but we don’t want to entertain those thoughts.  Of course long time Jets 1.0 defenceman and current Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle could bring us some nostalgia.

#1  Canadiens on Sunday, October 9th

Reason:  First official NHL regular season game in the history of the Jets 2.0.  Similar to my rational for the Leafs game on New Years Eve, this has more to do with the spectacle than who the Jets opponent is.  It is a game 15 years in the waiting, and Winnipeg is going to make this party last all season long.

Ezzy’s Top 10 Winnipeg Jets Home Games

#10  Bruins on Tuesday, December 6th

Reason:  The Bruins are the defending Stanley Cup Champions and a storied Original Six franchise so I would be remiss if I didn’t include them on this list. The Bruins have some of the best young talent in the game with Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. And of course the Bruins have 6’9’’ tower of power Zdeno Chara, who fans love to hate wherever he goes (especially Montreal, right Habs fans?).

#9  Wild on Tuesday, December 13th

Reason:  The Wild only visit the Jets once this season and as the closest NHL city to ours, it will produce a geographically friendly rivalry.  The Wild are going to be better this year with the addition of Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi but the main reason why this game makes this list is because this is the first game of a six-game homestand in December for the Jets and it comes at an important time of the schedue for both teams.

#8  Kings on Thursday, December 29th

Reason:  The Kings are one of the up-and-coming elite teams in the NHL and with the recent off-season acquisition of Kenora’s Mike Richards are now also one of the hottest tickets in the league. The Kings have always been popular in Winnipeg dating back to the early 90’s when L.A. had Wayne Gretzky so their will surely be a few Black and Silver jerseys in the crowd. The Kings also employ Drew Doughty, the best young defenseman in the NHL.

#7  Capitals on Thursday, November 17th

Reason:  Because the Thrashers were purchased by True North and moved to Winnipeg so late in the season (May 31, 2011) the Jets will actually play in the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division.  That means that Winnipeg fans will get to see the Washington Capitals three times, beginning with this game in mid-November. Alexander Ovechkin alone is worth the price of admission, while Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green and Alexander Semin aren’t too bad either. I have a feeling that the Capitals are going to be Winnipeg’s biggest rivalry this season.

#6  Penguins on Saturday, October 17th

Reason: Everyone knows the reason for this one. This will be the first chance Winnipeg fans have to see Sidney Crosby in the NHL (Crosby played at the MTS Centre in 2005 for Team Canada during a World Juniors exhibition game).  Perhaps Crosby will be injured (he has been out since last January with post-concussion symptoms) but Crosby may  be healthy too. It will still be a great game without Crosby because of the presence of superstar Evgeni Malkin, two-way forward Jordan Staal and standout defenseman Kris Letang. If I knew that Crosby was in the line-up, this game would be much higher on the list, maybe even as high as #1.

#5  Flyers on Saturday, November 19th

Reason:  The Flyers seem to always be in the headlines. The last time the Jets were in the NHL, the Flyers had the Legion of Doom line featuring Eric Lindros, Mikael Renberg and John Leclair. Now the Flyers have Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk and Danny Briere.  This will be an afternoon game on Hockey Night in Canada and will be the first of two visits to Winnipeg for the Flyers (The Flyers also play in Winnipeg on Tuesday, February 21st).

#4  Ducks on Saturday, December 17

Reason: Teemu Selanne’s potentially triumphant return to Winnipeg. I say that because Selanne was unsigned as of late August due to injury concerns.  In order to avoid being a bigger buzzkill than buzzkillington, we are going to assume that Teemu will be here (I imagine he will be in Winnipeg even if he ends up calling it a career in the NHL) It’s funny, Teemu only played here for 2 and half years but he was arguably the most popular Jet of all time (and yes I’ve heard of Bobby Hull, Thomas Steen and Dale Hawerchuk)

#3  Coyotes on Thursday, December 1st

Reason:  The Jets became the Coyotes in 1996 and ever since then we’ve lived with the ghosts of Shane Doan and Dallas Drake. Because the Coyotes nearly moved here in the spring of 2010, we have followed them even closer the past two seasons. I strongly believe that this is going to be an intense emotional game for Jets  fans as some of us still view them as our team in a way (maybe not so much anymore, sorry Atlanta!). Regardless,  we just don’t like the Coyotes here in Winnipeg.

#2  Habs on Saturday, October 9th

Reason:  The Jets play their first home game in Winnipeg since 1996. The entire city will be watching this game. Heck, the entire country will be watching the game (The Prime Minister has even said he will be in Winnipeg if he can make it). This game will be the first of 22 games to be broadcast on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada this year and it will surely garner media attention from all over Canada, the United States and beyond.  It’s the first of two meetings against arguably the most popular NHL franchise of all time. Is that enough of an explanation for you?

#1  Leafs on Saturday, December 31st

Reason:  It’s the New Year’s Eve game on a Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada. Anybody who knows me knows that I like to party and this game is going to be the biggest party of 2011.  I understand that the October 9th home opener against the Habs will be #1 for most people (including IC’s Dave M) but I’m looking forward to the party at the MTS Centre when the Leafs come into a party that we’re hosting on the biggest party night of the year. Get your champagne ready!

Remember, these are just Dave and Ezzy’s Top 10 lists.  You may have a completely different list.  We always want to hear what you have to say.  Let us know in the comments section, what your Top 10 would look like and why you chose those games.

We had a chance to catch up with the two cousins to ask them some questions about this project as it gets underway.

More on this exciting project after the jump.

IC:  What was your vision for this project and when did you start to think about undertaking it?

JS :  The original vision was simply to go on the road trip to be a part of the experience. That was an idea that came up almost as soon as the schedule was released. As our site, winnipegwhiteout.com has continued to grow in popularity, we decided it would be nice to do something for charity along the adventure. We wanted to be able to have video updates along the journey to encourage fans to tune in and increase their exposure. After speaking with our filmmaker Sebastian, the idea to shoot the documentary started to unfold. It was about a month ago that the idea to capture the passion of the fans became the primary vision.

IC:  You’ve entitled this film with the sub-heading ‘A movie for the fans, about the fans, by the fans’.  What do you think you will be able to achieve that might be missed by a more “official” documentary?

JS: While Marshall and I are not film makers by trade, I’ve been an aspiring filmmaker for a few years now. The skills I’ve learnt plus those of Sebastian who has released a short film, will ensure that this is an “official” documentary, shot in a more unconventional manner. We feel this will help translate the passion to the screen and thoroughly immerse the viewer in the passion and experience. Our end goal for this film is to produce a full-length documentary with a professional look and feel while capturing the passion of the fans, and we are very confident we’ll achieve that.

MS: It’s true that we’ve never taken on anything of this magnitude before, but as far back as I can remember I was always making movies for school assignments whenever I could. In fact, looking at them now I’d say some were documentaries. I even did one for Manitoba’s 125th birthday – if only I knew where that was. Essentially, we’re passionate about hockey and the Winnipeg Jets and first and foremost are fans. We’re confident that our passion will more than compensate for our lack of professional training to get a true edgy, raw look at fan passion.

IC:  Your site says your “original idea” was to drive 8000 km’s between Calgary, Winnipeg, Chicago, Phoenix and Las Vegas.  Do you still plan on following through with this as the main storyline?

MS: The main focus of the film will be to illustrate the passion of the fans. There’s no denying that we’re Jets fans, so of course the road trip will be a part of the experience. It won’t however be the main storyline. That said, as with any documentary, the story will continue to unfold on our travels and we’ll be there to capture the historic return of the Jets to the NHL

JS: As Marshall said the road trip will be there but the main storyline is the one the fans will create.

IC:  Have you already secured tickets to any of the games you are planning on attending?

MS: We’ve secured tickets for the games in Chicago and Phoenix. We’ll be 6 rows directly behind the Jets bench when they play in Phoenix. Winnipeg, as you know, is a tough one. We’re still exploring any possible leads to securing tickets to the home opener in Winnipeg. We’ve been talking to anyone and everyone. We’re happy to buy our tickets, but not $3000 per ticket for a P6 seat. That’s outrageous and we’re appalled at the fact a fan would consider selling seats at such a highly inflated price. Where’s their passion? We’d love to get some suggestions or help from your readers in being able to find tickets for that game.

JS: You can rest assured though that if we’re not in the MTS Centre, we’ll be right down in the heart of Winnipeg taking in the game with the fans. It’s one of those documentary experiences that we’ll just roll with. Of course, if you have three tickets that you’re willing to help us out with, we’d be happy to talk to you about them and would encourage anyone to email us at info@winnipegwhiteout.com if they have tickets they would like to sell at face value for that game or any other game for that matter.

IC:  What has the reception been like to this project?  Have you had any contact with True North?

JS: The reception since we announced the project has been exceptional. We expected the idea to catch on and be a success but we did not expect the type of exposure and positive comments we have received from our readers and the media this early into the proces.

MS: Since the beginning of June we’ve been talking with True North about our site. Once the schedule was released and this idea started to come together, we reached out to them again. We’ve had discussions with True North, the Blackhawks and Coyotes franchises and even the NHL to ensure that we’re going through the right channels and not stepping on any toes.

IC:  When do you expect this documentary to be completed?

JS: Our goal is to have DVD’s ready for Christmas. We should be able to narrow down a release date after primary shooting is completed in October.

IC:  You’ve partnered with Believe in the Goal, which is an extremely worthwhile charity.  How did you come to connect with them?

MS: We first connected with Believe in the Goal after we made a pledge to our readers to donate $500 to a user submitted charity if one of our stories was incorrect. We wound up being correct, but decided to follow through and donate to charity anyway. Believe in the Goal was one of a handful of charities our readers suggested. After talking with Believe, we struck up a partnership to be our chosen charity for the upcoming season. Cancer has affected both mine and Jeff’s lives through friends and family members, so when the opportunity came up to do something to help raise awareness and funds for Cancer patient care it was a no brainer.

IC:  Do you have any favorite Winnipeg Jets 1.0 stories you’d like to share with our readers?

JS: I’ve mentioned previously about some player encounters that really made me a fan for life, but one thing I haven’t shared before was my experience at my first playoff game. I have to admit, I spent more time as a small child watching the outrageousness of the fans all dressed in white then I did the game. I guess you can say I inadvertaly started scouting for this project at that early age.

MS: Honestly there are a lot of great memories. Unlike Jeff, I didn’t have the chance to meet any of the players, and if I did, I don’t remember. I remember my first game though. It was Detroit at Winnipeg and I was there with my Cub Scout group. I’m going to sound old saying this, but there were a lot of players on the ice without helmets on which made no sense to me. That game was definitely a fun time. I got to go with my dad and a bunch of friends to watch my first live sporting event. I can’t recall if I was more entertained by the fans or the game, but it was definitely a great memory.

IC:  You’ve lived in Calgary for a number of years and have likely developed some allegiance to the Flames.  But now that the team is back in Winnipeg and will eventually return to the Western Conference, who has your loyalty?  Jets or Flames?

JS: Let’s just say that any Flames memorabilia I may have collected ‘went up in Flames’ on May 31, and that consisted of a t-shirt. I’ve still got all my Jets jerserys even the ones that don’t fit any more. My loyalty has always been to the Jets and I was one of the people that constantly got laughed at out here for saying they’ll be back… I’m happy to be the one laughing now.

MS: I supported the Flames because I lost the Jets and wasn’t about to let another franchise even consider moving away. That said, I’ve got my Jets back now so there’s no question – I’m red, white and blue through and through. Go Jets Go!

IC:  Anything else you’d like to share with our readers about this project?

JS: We’d like to just add that anyone who would like to get involved in this project is encouraged to visit our website JETFUELmovie.com. We’ve had some great stories submitted in just a few short days, but will still be accepting submissions up until filming starts October 7th.

MS: Heck, even while we’re on the road we’ll be taking ideas. They just might be hard to fit in, but we’ll consider any story about passionate hockey fans. You’ll also want to make sure that you connect with us on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook so you can get updated info while we’re on the road. There’s also whiteoutroadtrip.com where we’ll be setting up live streams and daily updates from the road during filming, so you’ll want to check that out too.

Stay tuned to Jet Fuel to find out all the latest with these two cousins as they film their Winnipeg Jets journey.

Illegal Curve has some very sad news to pass along.  James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail has reported that Winnipeg Jets forward Rick Rypien has been found dead in his Alberta home.

Illegal Curve offers our condolences to the family and friends of Rick Rypien.

Rypien played parts of five seasons with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and recently signed a one year contract with The Winnipeg Jets. Rypien had gone through personal struggles over the last two years and was excited to sign in Winnipeg.  Rypien was a hard-nosed hockey player who was a fan-favourite during his time in Winnipeg. He will be missed dearly. Rypien was only 27 years old.

But sometimes reading and occasionally commenting on a site isn’t enough for a reader.  You want to be an active participant in framing topics that pertain to your Winnipeg Jets.  This is where something like a discussion forum comes into play.

As I mentioned in the Morning Papers a few days ago, the Return of the Jets forum started by Darren Ford was closed on Monday, August 8th, 2011 after a steady 8 year diet of discussions regarding a possible return to Winnipeg of NHL hockey.  However just because that site shut it’s doors doesn’t mean that all Jets discussion has died on the internet.

After the jump we give you a quick intro to some of the Winnipeg Jets online forums that you can join to further discuss your Jets:

1.  HF Boards – This is the premier (and largest) hockey forum on the internet.  I believe they have somewhere in the range of 90,000 members and produce a ton of daily content.  Within this forum you have individual team boards and the Winnipeg Jets section is quite excellent.  The mods are really knowledgeable and helpful.  Nice mix of old Atlanta fans with new/old Jets fans.

2.  Jets Stream – The Winnipeg Free Press has brought Darren Ford on board to mod the newspapers own Jets forum.  The board is being developed by John White, Deputy Editor, Online at the Winnipeg Free Press and Winnipeg Jets live-blogger.

3.  Jets Hockey Forum – Many of the Return of the Jets faithful have migrated over here as their new home for Jets talk.

4.  Jets Believers – Similar to the Jets Hockey Forum (in that it also uses the same forum software as well as has many ROTJ’s members).  Requires mod confirmation before you are able to post.

5.  The Arena – Similar to HF but on a smaller scale, they have converted the old Thrashers page, into a Jets one.

6.  Our Jets – Easy to post format from this relatively new forum.

7.  All Jets – Another newer forum, started by one of our insightful readers, Luke Miguez.

8.  Winnipeg Jets Forums – An easy to use fan forum, which appears to be close to hitting it’s first 100 members.  Thanks to IC reader Jordan for posting in the comments.

Many of these forums (with exception of HF & the Arena) are in their infancy stages, so it is a good opportunity for fans to sign up early and join in on the discussion.  Even the established forums welcome new members to the fold.

As always, if a forum isn’t your thing, remember that we always welcome comments on any of our posts, so readers can always add their 2 cents.

If I’ve missed a particularly good Winnipeg Jets forum feel free to add it to the comments and I will update the above list.

Well here is a great opportunity to tell your best Jets story on TV:

Did  you attend Winnipeg Jets games as a kid with your family and are now looking forward to sharing your experience with your own children?  If so, we’d love to hear your story.

We are looking for fans of the Jets to tell their inter-generational stories of their love of the team and excitement for its return.

You could be selected to appear on camera for a documentary currently in production.

Click here to go to Frantic Films web site and download a casting form and return it to:

jetscasting@franticfilms.com or via fax at: (204) 949-0050 by August 12.

With all Winnipeg Jets games sold out this season, this will easily be the hottest ticket in town for 42 nights a year (playoffs pending).

How much would you pay to sit up here?

For the many of us, who were shut out of season tickets during the Drive to 13,000, how much is going to a Winnipeg Jets game worth? This is a question we’ll have to ask ourselves when purchasing tickets to games on the secondary market.

Read more about the current state of the Winnipeg Jets Secondary Ticket Market after the jump.

Not all of the season ticket holders have selected their seats, the tickets have yet to be printed, but season ticket holders business opportunists in Winnipeg and around North America have put their tickets on Stubhub for everyone to see.

I’m not here to pass judgment on people who sell tickets in the secondary market (aka scalpers), because it is inevitable. It is difficult to control and regulate, as IC contributor Jack Tadman commented in this article previously.

We can all see the tickets listed on Stubhub, but have any of them actually sold? What prices should people be looking at to pay in the future? Lets take a look at who is getting a head start on buying tickets in the secondary ticket market.

(For the record, if you are planning on buying tickets from a ticket reseller, the best prices are available as close to the event as possible, unless you are planning a trip, or absolutely need to secure your ticket, I would not advise to buy at this moment).

All prices and tickets listed are as of Friday, July 29, 2011. The highs, lows, and averages are based on a per ticket listing.

The table below will focus on only the tickets listed for the first month of the season, for the following reasons; it is in the middle of the summer, the tickets haven’t been printed, and the rest of the season is too far away to be valid. It is important to note, most of the listings, do not even specify what section and row the tickets are in, only by level (100,200,300, or price category p1,p2…etc)

While I don’t think anyone will pay the highest price listed for these tickets, with the length of time (72 days) between now (July 29, 2011) and the game (October 9, 2011), the sellers are just trying to “hit the lottery” and hope somebody bites. The highest prices should come down as the event nears.

Anyone can list a ticket for an extraordinary price, but has anyone actually paid top dollar for the once mythical Winnipeg Jets tickets. See below.

Sold tickets:

*The ticket sold at this price was a single ticket; single tickets will go for less than pairs as people prefer to sit with a friend than alone.

Aside from the inflated home opener , the actual tickets sold for the remaining October games are at an average of $173.4, ranging from $95 to $239

In a June article on “Houses of the Hockey” at The Score, Chris Matcovitch of TiqIQ listed his numbers for average secondary ticket prices for  as follows:

Vancouver – $280

Montreal – $249

Toronto – $219

Ottawa – $121

Edmonton – $116

Calgary – $108

Our current average of tickets sold for games in October would put us in the middle of the Canadian teams. Which is reasonable, given the “honeymoon” period that we will be experiencing for the first 3 years.

For those fans who would like to see a game, but are balking at the current prices listed on Stubhub and other ticket reseller websites, I would advise them to wait until as late as possible, a number of conditions could change which would lower the prices of tickets.

Some factors to consider:

• Time between purchase date and date of game (Prices will lower as the event nears as resellers need to sell their tickets quickly)
• Caliber of opponent  (A game vs. Pittsburgh will be more expensive than a game vs. Florida)
• Novelty of having an NHL franchise in Winnipeg (I would expect that games earlier in the year would be more expensive than games later  year) (Unless there is a playoff race)
• Quality of team on the ice (If the team gets blown out in the first month, ticket prices should go down, but if they are performing above expectations, the prices should increase).

While it is quite early to be buying tickets from resellers, it was interesting to look at how many tickets have actually been sold, compared to the elevated prices listed on Stubhub. We will revisit the topic as the home opener nears.

Readers: Respond in the comments below, if you don’t currently have Winnipeg Jets season tickets, what is your plan for going to see a few games? How much would you pay for tickets?

The author of this article is Michael Remis, you can follow him on twitter @mremis

Illegal Curve had the chance to get a quick late-night
scouting report on newly signed Winnipeg Jets Center Ivan Telegin.

Courtesy of Corey Pronman of Hockey Prospectus:

” (Telegin’s)a toolsy forward who has a lot going for him. He’s a big guy who at times can dominate physically, and has a decent skill set for a big forward in terms of his skating and puck skills. He can look a little lost though at times and his game to game effort level wavers. Sometimes he’s an absolute beast, and others times he kind of drifts.”

It was love at first sight for Eric Fehr with the new Winnipeg Jets logo.

“I loved it, I knew they wanted to go different than the old logo, t his one works out well.”

“I think it’s a cool design, I like the maple leaf in it, being a Canadian team, having some Jet and plane in it as well, I thought that was cool.”

“I think its great I think that Canadians are proud of the military it’s a great way to represent them on our logo.”

True North kept the identity of the logo so quiet, not even the players knew what it would be.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, so I’m not surprised, it’s a great look and I’m excited to wear it come the season.”

Born in Winkler, Manitoba, Fehr is excited at the opportunity to play in front of his friends and family.

“It’s going to be great, I have a lot of friends and family here I’ve played a lot of years in Manitoba, it’s going to be exciting coming home, playing in front of our fans.”

Having lived in the area, the fan reaction to the logo has not surprised Fehr.

“It’s great, its definitely what we expected, the fans are very passionate, and I’ve seen it throughout the years, and it will get stronger with an NHL team in the city.”

Read more from Eric Fehr after the jump

Like the rest of us, Fehr will have to wait patiently (if that is possible) to see what the new jersey’s will look like.

“I’m going to try to wait as patiently as possible, I’ve been excited about the logo, now I’m waiting to see what the jersey looks like. I think it’ll be a great look.”

“It’s nice to look good out there, I know they’ll do a great job to make sure we’re looking our best out there, and hopefully that’ll help us play our best.”

It appears that the coaching staff hasn’t talked hockey with the players yet, they are still in the process of getting to know each other.

“I haven’t talked hockey with any of the coaching staff, I’ve met a few of a guys and we’ve just talked about the city and different things, nothing hockey related as of yet.”

Fehr on his current shoulder rehab

“Shoulder rehab is going well, it’s right on schedule, just hoping to make it back as soon as possible, I don’t really have a timeline to follow, but I’m excited.”

Fehr feels some responsibility being the “Winnipeg Ambassador” to the team.

“A little bit, a lot of guys have played here in the American League or different times, I think they know what to expect from this city, I know they will enjoy it once they get here, and hopefully we’ll have a lot of fun this year.”

For anyone who grew up in Winnipeg, becoming a Winnipeg Jet is a dream come true.

“It’ s going to feel great, I’ve always wanted to be a Winnipeg Jet, growing up I followed the Winnipeg Jets, it’s really hard to believe there’s a team back here and I can be a part of it this year.”

“Definitely a dream come true, I’ve been following this team since I was a young guy, it’s really hard to believe there’s a team here right now, like I said being traded in the first year, being a part of the logo unveiling and being around when the jerseys are unveiled, it’s really cool.”

While Fehr is excited to be a Winnipeg Jet, it’s not easy being traded.

“Definitely mixed emotions, it’s tough being traded, especially for the first time, it made a lot easier when I found out it was Winnipeg, and I’d be able to come home, spend time with friends and family and play in front of these fans.”

Eric Fehr is active on twitter (@EricFehr) with over 29,000 followers, True North hasn’t given him any restrictions for now.

“I haven’t heard anything from them, I know that my previous team in Washington they were very concerned about what we were going to tweeting. Here, nobody’s approached us yet, I’ll make sure I’m on my best behavior.”

His Reaction to the organization so far

“It’s been great, they’ve been treating everyone well, I’ve been around the dressing room doing my rehab and training, everything’s been great so far.”

Listen to the audio of Eric Fehr speaking to the media

True North’s Mark Chipman had this to say about the development of the logo;

“We have always had a close relationship with 17 Wing throughout the years, dating back to our annual Manitoba Moose Military Night,” said Dorian Morphy, Senior Director, Marketing & Brand Management of True North Sports & Entertainment. “We are thrilled to be able to continue this relationship in a significant way. The design cues for the plane were inspired by the military jets flown by the Air Force over the years. So not only were we able to establish a new identity for our brand, but we were able to maintain a traditional, time honoured look to the logo.”

They also put together a very cool video;

The Jets have also put up a Brand Identity, by Reebok explaining to fans how they arrived at the above design.

IC’s Remis is down at the MTS Centre and says the linup to buy merchandise is already out of control.

A look back at our old logo after the jump.

As we have waited for the new logo these past few months, we wanted to take a look back at the logos that used to represent this team.  The Jets in their previous incarnations (both WHA & NHL) used 4 different logos, although the logo representing the late 70′s WHA Jets and the 80′s NHL Jets wasn’t a big deviation from the earlier version.

As someone who still loves his Jets jersey, I have a huge attachment to the old logo but count me as someone who is ready for change.

But more important than what we think is what you think.  Let us know in the comments section.

Above Jets logos courtesy of Chris Creamer’s sportslogos.net.

The Winnipeg Jets have made another addition to their coaching staff, hiring former Montreal Juniors and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles head coach Pascal Vincent.

Mr. Vincent has spent the past twelve years as a head coach in the QMJHL, leading the Montreal Juniors to a 46 win season in the QMJHL last season as head coach of the Montreal Juniors. This was good for the second best record in the “Q”. In 2007-08 as the head coach in Cape Breton, Vincent was awarded the Ron Lapointe trophy awarded to the top coach in the QMJHL.

Vincent has front office experience as well, as he was the GM in Cape Breton in 2007, so successful that he was awarded the Maurice Fillion trophy as the top General Manager after overseeing a Screaming Eagles team that reached the 3^rd round of the playoffs backstopped by current Winnipeg Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec.

Vincent’s coaching stats after the jump.

Pascal Vincent’s career coaching statistics:

In addition to the hiring of Huddy, the team also announced that Wade Flaherty has been hired as Goaltending Coach and Tony Borgford as Video Coach.

Huddy has been an NHL Assistant for the past twelve years with stints in New York with the Rangers, Edmonton, and Dallas. His longest tenure was with the Oilers from 2000-2009. He also served as head coach of the Huntington Blizzard of the ECHL in 1997-98.

Wade Flaherty has spent the past three seasons as developmental goaltending coach with the Chicago Blackhawks. He played professional hockey for 19 seasons, including three seasons in Manitoba with the Moose. He also was the goaltender for the Milwaukee Admirals when the team won the AHL Calder Cup in 2003-04 under the guidance of current Jets head coach Claude Noel.

Tony Borgford has been with the Atlanta Thrashers organization since its inception in 1999, and joined the hockey operations department in 2000. He became the Video Coordinator/Coach in 2002, a position he held with the Thrashers until the franchise’s relocation to Winnipeg. He will continue in the same role.

The Winnipeg Jets have swung an in-division deal, trading former 1st round choice of the Pittsburgh Penguins Angelo Esposito (20th overall, 2007,  2011-12 cap hit of $916,667 if playing in the NHL), to the Florida Panthers for Kenndal McArdle, himself a former first round choice of the Panthers (2005, 20th overall, 2011-12 NHL cap hit of $803,250).

McArdle has played 33 games for the Panthers over the past three seasons, registering 1 goal and 2 assists.

Instant Analysis: More than anything, this is a trade to see if a change of scenery can jump-start the careers of these former first round selections. So far, their NHL careers can be summed up as insignificant, but both Florida and Winnipeg are hoping that new surroundings can provide new results.

As Illegal Curve’s Richard Pollock tweeted (@ICrichyp), “McArdle is more NHL ready than Esposito and can compete for a spot right away. The Jets are creating nice competition for the bottom six forward spots.”

Fehr, from Winkler, Manitoba, is entering his 7th season in the NHL, having made his debut in the 2005-06 campaign. A right winger, Fehr had 10 goals and 10 assists in 52 games for the Capitals.

Analysis from Illegal Curve’s Richard Pollock: Eric Fehr struggled last season but had very nice offensive totals at ES the two prior seasons. Big guy, adds help on RW. Nice trade by Chevy. Fehr makes $2.2 mill in 2011/12 and is RFA the season after. So, Jets retain his rights for at least two seasons. Will be UFA after 2012/13. Fehr has not seen over 2:00 minutes per game on power play since entering NHL. The Jets could have Blake Wheeler and Eric Fehr as top two RWs. Wheeler is 6″5 and Fehr is 6″4. Nice size element.

From Illegal Curve’s Kyle Kosior: I like the Eric Fehr pick-up. Didn’t realize he was only 25. Wing is and will be a strength for Jets 2.0.

***More to come***

Ladd gets $4 mil next year and $4.5 mil for the remaining 4 years. Total. $22 million.

Instant Analysis: Good on Kevin Cheveldayoff and Craig Heisinger for finally getting Captain Ladd’s name in ink on a contract after weeks of negotiations. Ladd and his agent Mark Mackay could have filed for arbitration at 4 pm. CT today if they were unable to come to an agreement but lots of long hours obviously paid off here. The terms seem reasonable based on his age and offensive output last season but our Master Capologist Richard Pollock may disagree.

Ezra appeared on The Fan 960 in Calgary this evening to talk about the Andrew Ladd signing, you can listen to that here.

Read Ed Tait’s article in The Winnipeg Free Press here.

Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke to the media earlier this afternoon, Listen to the media scrum here

Stay Tuned to Illegalcurve.com for more analysis on Andrew Ladd’s contract in the coming hours.

As per TSN, the Jets have also agreed to terms with former Lightning defenseman Randy Jones for one year, $1.15 million. Jones has also played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Los Angeles Kings over a six-year NHL career.

Illegal Curve Analysis: Jones is a physical, defensive type who will solidify Winnipeg’s blueline with his leadership and experience. Jones is smart with the puck and has the ability to contribute offensively  (Jones had 33 points for The Philadelphia Flyers in 2007’08).

The Jets also signed Defenseman Mark Flood to a two-way contract on Saturday (terms not disclosed). Flood played for the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League last season, registering 40 points.

Illegal Curve Analysis: Flood was Manitoba’s best defenseman last season and True North Sports & Entertainment (owners of The Moose and Jets) is very high on him. Flood will be invited to training camp in the fall but will most likely start the season in The American Hockey League and be a call-up for The Jets next season.

Read Ed Tait’s story in The Winnipeg Free Press here.

Meech’s contract is worth $700,000 in the National Hockey League and $105,000 in the American Hockey League.  Meech is a former Red Deer Rebel (Western Hockey League) who spent last season playing for Grand Rapids in The American Hockey League. Meech won The Stanley Cup with The Detroit Red Wings in 2008.

Tanner Glass, a grinding forward who played for The Vancouver Canucks this past season, was signed to a one-year, $750,000 contract. Glass, a native of Saskatchewan, was originally drafted by The Florida Panthers.

Read more about the Glass signing here:

Aaron Gagnon, a centre, played last season in the Dallas Stars organization, spending a significant amount of time playing for the Stars’ farm team, The Texas Stars of The American Hockey League.

Read more about the Gagnon signing here.

Stay Tuned to Illegal Curve for all the latest Winnipeg Jets coverage. Happy Canada Day everybody!!!

Two weeks ago he received an e-mail indicating that True North had set up an account on their website; the e-mail included a username and a password. It appears that this portion was set up through Ticketmaster. In the e-mail it stated that season ticket holders would receive another e-mail with instructions between 6-8 weeks from that date to come to the MTS Centre and make an appointment.

Now he just had to spend the rest of the time scouring the P5 seats (grey) trying to determine where in fact he’d like to sit for the next 3 years.

Read more about the seat selection process after the jump.

Surprisingly, 2 weeks later the e-mail arrived, it was on a Friday night, at midnight (aka early Saturday morning). This e-mail indicated that the recipient was to make an appointment for the next week to come to the MTS Centre and select their seats. Making an appointment was very similar to buying tickets to an event on Ticketmaster, a credit card was required to “buy” the appointment, but no money was charged. He knew he would have to act quickly, as it is first come, first serve for seat selection. Even at 1am, his first choice for an appointment time was quickly taken.

He had tickets in section P5, but later found out that some other P5 holders did not receive their e-mail quite yet.

Before the appointment, season ticket holders are required to print out and bring a form which includes a questionnaire, it asks to rank 3 sections of preference, seat number preference, row preference, as well as preference to sit beside another season ticket holder.

When arriving at the appointment, he took the escalator up to the 300 level, bringing the admission ticket and printed form. The process is like Ticketmaster, but in person. A True North representative, will give season ticket holders about 2 or 3 options to select your seat, they do not show you what else is available, and according to them everything else has been reserved. (The season ticket holder whom I spoke to had doubts whether or not this was actually true). It was noted that the first 6 rows in the upper deck, had been already taken by Moose season ticket holders.

He picked the seats he wanted, and even had a chance to sit in them. It was noted that all of the seats in the upper deck provide great views; however, he told IC that rows 11 and 12 (the back two rows) have a partially obstructed view of the scoreboard due to the roof & awning.

While he did not see any construction, he stated that he would not be drinking beer on that level, as there were not nearly enough bathrooms. The True North representative indicated that they would be adding more bathrooms, as well as permanent concessions. When asked if they would prefer if “trough” style toilets should be installed, the season ticket holder did not think there would be enough room for them to fit.

That is one season ticket holder’s account on the seat selection process, if you have already selected your seats; feel free to post in the comments.

The draft order:
1) Remis
2) Dave
3) Richard
4) Drew

The even number rounds will be in reverse order, so Drew will pick 1st in round 2, and so on.

See all of our choices, after the jump.

Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

Or do we?

While the temperature starts to rise, making us want to forget all about hockey for awhile, we need to remember that here in Winnipeg there are a significant number of dates that will play an integral role in our team’s development.

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, Assistant GM Craig Heisinger and the entire True North staff will have to burn the midnight oil as they not only prepare for next season but essentially turn an AHL operation into an NHL one.

Here are the dates you are going to need to mark on your calendar this summer:

June 21st:  NHL Board of Governors meet.  Will they or won’t they accept Winnipeg into the NHL.  This is 100% done.

June 24th-25th:  NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The team makes it’s first ever Winnipeg selection in the NHL draft.  The last time we were in this position, was fresh from the WHA when the Jets took Jimmy Mann with the 19th selection in the 1979 draft.  Expect a HUGE Winnipeg/Manitoba contingent to be on hand to cheer on Cheveldayoff/Heisinger as they make the 1st selection in the 7th spot.  IC’s own Kyle & Ez will be live at the Draft covering all the news via our twitter, @illegalcurve.

More important dates this summer after the jump.

End of June:  Seat selection begins for Season Ticket holders.  True North has stated that they expect this process to go for approximately 8-10 weeks.

End of June:  Team Name revealed?  Speculation is that the team name won’t be released at the draft and certainly not before the BOG’s meet.  We think its down to Falcons and Jets.  Some still think Moose are in play but we don’t think so.

End of June – Mid July:  NHL schedule gets released.  Last season the schedule was released on June 22nd (thanks Ben Wright).  I think people are eager to see who we face off against in our first home opener, when/if we play the Coyotes, as well as checking out if Teemu (assuming he re-signs) and the Ducks will be landing in the Peg’.

June 27th:  Deadline for clubs to make qualifying offers to their restricted free agents.  Our restricted free agents include; Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Ben Maxwell, Rob Schremp, Anthony Stewart, Zach Bogosian, Brett Festerling. The offers must be made by this date although they cannot be officially accepted until the 1st of July.

June 30th:  The top and bottom of the salary cap will be released.  True North has said they won’t spend to the cap, but our resident capologist suggests that the team will probably be in the 52 million dollar range.

July 1st:    Free Agency period begins in the NHL.  Will the team make a big splash?  All indicators seem to sugges they won’t.

Unrestricted free agents:  Radek Dvorak, Eric Boulton, Freddy Meyer.

July 5th:  Players must file if they want Salary Arbitration.  Expect Winnipeg to avoid arbitration as it wouldn’t be a good start to their relationshop with their players.

Mid July- Mid August:  Scheduled Arbitration Hearings.  According to the CBA, on the 5th of December the designated Salary Arbitrators provide 7 available dates for the period of arbitration.

Mid September:  Training camp opens up for the first time here in the city.  An NHL training camp is quite an interesting event.  Teams like the Red Wings go up north to Traverse City, Michigan and take over the town for a few days.  Will be interesting to see what True North has planned.

September 13th:  Release of NHL 2012.  While not a significant date/event for the hockey team, an important step in reclaiming that name recognition in North America.  While I believe the last game I ever owned was NHL 1996 for the SNES, will be nice to see the MTS Centre and our hockey team represented.  (Update:  I’ve been informed that NHL 2011 had the Jets and MTS Centre represented.  Regardless we like that it is now our official team and not a throwback.  Sticktap to IC reader cabbage).

End of September:  Pre-season exhibition games begin.  The city will be buzzing as we finally get to watch a home team playing in our barn.  People questioned Winnipeg’s dedication to the NHL when they saw that we didn’t sell out an exhibition game last season between the Hawks and Bolts but the reality is people in Winnipeg were sick of supporting someone else’s team.

Beginning of October:  The still unnamed team makes its NHL debut and begins the 2011/12 season in front of 15,000 insane Winnipeg fans.

As season ticket are being snapped up by the city of Winnipeg like a slurpee on a hot day in June (note to self – get slurpee after work), those of us who are sharing season tickets have begun to focus on which games we want to attend.

Whether you have a draft or randomly draw teams, everyone has a preference as to which games they want to see.  Will it be Game 1, or Teemu’s return, an old Smythe division rival or an Original 6 team.  We can’t create a Top 10 list because we all place different factors on what games are important to us.

Coincidentally we received an email from a longtime reader (Stevie from NYC, a former Winnipeger) who offered us his thoughts, which he wanted to share with his fellow IC readers.  In addition to enjoying his memories, why not let us know which are your top games that you are eager to attend.

by Stevie from NYC

One of my fondest memories of my childhood in Winnipeg was the yearly ritual every fall when my dad would come home late at night with an envelope that he would empty on our dining room table. The contents were the most exciting thing a young hockey fan could wish for – our share of season tickets for the upcoming Jets season!

We split our tickets (Section 28, row 3, seats 5 and 6, on the blue line, right by where Ron and Don would stand to do the HNIC preview and where the refs would come out) with two others, which meant I had the task each year of making a list of the games I wanted to see the most and then waiting to see what we got. I can remember the excitement of seeing a Pittsburgh Penguins ticket fall out of that envelope, knowing that I would get a chance to see #66 up close, or seeing the otherwise dreaded Oilers logo and know that I had a date with #99 and friends. Those were exciting years.

With NHL hockey poised to return to Winnipeg, and tickets going on sale as we speak, I thought it would be useful to put together a cheat sheet of the top teams I’d most like to see at the MTS Centre this season. Obviously scheduling will come into play (the first home game will be #1 on most of our lists, as will games receiving the Hockey Night in Canada treatment) but I still hope this is helpful and triggers some fun discussion.

#1. Anaheim Ducks: Teemu. No further explanation required. Only question here is whether you take this game over the first game of the season….and whether there is enough Kleenex in the city to wipe away the tears that will flow on this night.

#2. Vancouver Canucks: No guarantee they will be on the calendar in year 1, but the potential Stanley Cup champs and one of the Jets’ historical rivals (I remember being up 3-1 against them in the playoffs and Greg Adams sliding into the crease to score in OT like it was yesterday) will be a top draw with their roster of Moose alums.

#3. Detroit Red Wings: I’m sure I’m not the only one that felt weird cheering on the Wings against the Coyotes in the first round of the playoffs this year. The ’96 playoffs are fresh in the minds of many a Winnipegger and seeing Kris Draper and Nick Lidstrom will surely trigger some memories.

#4. Phoenix Coyotes: This game absolutely needs to happen this year (especially since it may very well be the Coyotes last season….stop me if you’ve heard that before). Sure to be some great chants at this one..hopefully some ladies have some creative signs and lines for one Mr. Bissonnete.

#5. Washington Capitals: Fans would be wise to soak in our one year Southeast division rivalry with Ovi the Great. Anyone who saw the Caps on HBO’s Caps/Pens 24/7 should be excited to see this squad. And speaking of Caps/Pens….

#7. Chicago Blackhawks: The first visit for Winnipeg’s Golden Boy, Jonathan Toews will surely be a cause for celebration, not to mention the sideplot of Big Buff and Andrew Ladd taking on their former club. Local cabdrivers may be less excited about a visit by a certain Mr. Patrick Kane.

#8. Edmonton Oilers and #9. Calgary Flames. The Oilers and Flames are classic Smythe Division foes, and while both these clubs are shells of their former selves, old rivalries will certainly be renewed in the years to come following realignment next season.

#10. Montreal Canadiens and #11. Toronto Maple Leafs. Where you rank the Leafs and Habs depends on ancient allegiances, but we’ll be getting two visits apiece from these clubs, at least a handful of which should make it onto the HNIC slate.#12. Boston Bruins. No matter who wears the jerseys, there is always something special for longtime hockey fans about seeing an Original Six franchise come to town. Bump them up a little hire if they capture Lord Stanley’s Cup.

#13. Tampa Bay. Like the Caps, we’ll be getting 3 visits from Vinny, Marty and Stevie this year, each of which promises to be a fast-paced, exciting affair. Lots of Canadians to cheer for on this team too.

#14. New York Rangers and #15. LA Kings. Seeing “Winnipeg” and “LA” or “New York” next to each other on the jumbotron will be worth the price of admission for these matchups.

Honorable Mentions: The Minnesota Wild and the Jets have the makings of a heated cross-border rivalry pending re-alignment, but the Wild are not the most exciting on-ice product. The one visit this year by the San Jose Sharks is sure to be a hot ticket as are the two visits by the Philadelphia Flyers – hopefully Flin Flon’s Bobby Clarke makes an appearance at these ones. The Ottawa Senators are Canadian…I guess that counts for something.

How does this match up with your vision?  Sound off in the comments section.