Game Day Preview: Jets vs. Blue Jackets

Download a PDF of a “Line-Up Card” for tonight’s game. Perfect for following the players live from the MTS Centre or from the comfort of your own home.

When: Tuesday, September 20, 2011- Split squad game in Columbus starts at 6:00 p.m. CST, Split squad game in Winnipeg starts at 7:30 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

Records: Winnipeg (0-0-0), Columbus (0-0-0)

The Story: The Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets kick off their NHL pre-season schedules with two split squad games tonight, one in Winnipeg and one in Columbus.

For the Winnipeg Jets, the home game will be their first pre-season game since 1995 and the first chance hockey fans will have to see their recently relocated team play at the MTS Centre, the former home of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

The Jets currently have 65 players in training camp, and will dress 20 players for each of their first two pre-season games. The Jets will play seven pre-season games in total, including three at the MTS Centre; Wednesday, September 28th against the Carolina Hurricanes and Friday, September 30th against the Nashville Predators. The Jets next game will be on the road versus the Nashville Predators on Saturday, September 24th.

For tonight’s home game, notable starters for the Jets will include Captain Andrew Ladd, 1st Round Draft Pick Mark Scheifele, top defensemen Zach Bogosian and Dustin Byfuglien and Number-1 goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. For the away game, notable starters for the Jets will be forwards Evander Kane, Blake Wheeler and Carl Klingberg, defensemen Ron Hainsey and Randy Jones and goaltender Chris Mason. Top defenseman Tobias Enstrom, centre Bryan Little and recent acquisition Kyle Wellwood will not dress in either game for the Jets.

Here are the complete rosters with projected line combinations for Columbus, courtesy of Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.  Based upon practice, we have no idea what exactly the Jets lines will be, but I have posted a list of the split-squad lineup based upon their positions and possible combinations.  Upon finding out the actual lines for tonight’s game, we will post them immediately on IC. Update: Lines from today’s pre-game skate as posted by @SaraOrlesky:

Home game at MTS Centre

Winnipeg Jets Roster

Goal
Ondrej Pavelec
David Aebischer

Defencemen
Zach Bogosian- Mark Stuart
Dustin Byfuglien- Paul Postma
Arturs Kulda- Brett Festerling

Forwards
Andrew Ladd –Nikolai Antropov-Janne Pesonen
Jason Gregoire-Alexander Burmistrov -Shayne Wiebe
Ben Maxwell -Mark Scheifele-Kevin Clark
Ivan Telegin-Patrice Cormier- Troy Bodie

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster

Goal
Curtis Sanford
Allen York

Defencemen
Kris Russell- Dalton Prout
Grant Clitsome- Cody Goloubef
Aaron Johnson- Austin Madaisky

Forwards
Matt Calvert- Derick Brassard- Tomas Kubalik
Alexandre Giroux- Ryan Johansen- Derek Dorsett
Ryan Russell- Derek MacKenzie- Aaron Bogosian
Dane Byers- Martin St.Pierre- Cody Bass

Away game at Nationwide Arena

Winnipeg Jets Roster

Goal
Chris Mason
Peter Maninno

Defencemen
Ron Hainsey- Mark Flood
Randy Jones- Derek Meech
Travis Ramsey- Zach Redmond

Forwards
Evander Kane- Jason Jaffray- Blake Wheeler
Carl Klingberg- Tim Stapleton- Spencer Machacek
Tanner Glass- Jim Slater- Chris Thorburn
Riley Holzapfel- John Albert- Kenndal McArdle

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster

Goal
Mark Dekanich
Paul Dainton

Defencemen
John Moore- James Wisniewski
Marc Methot- David Savard
Nick Holden- Radek Martinek

Forwards
Vaclav Prospal- Antoine Vermette- R.J. Umberger
Maksim Mayorov- Sami Pahlsson- Jared Boll
Oliver Gabriel- Michael Chaput- Cam Atkinson
Dalton Smith- Boone Jenner- Lukas Sedlak

Game Notes:

……Columbus Blue Jackets superstar Rick Nash will not play in either game tonight……And remember to return to illegalcurve.com to participate in our game day chat led by IC’s Michael Remis.