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No Progress On Extension Talks Between Jets, Connor

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As expected from reports a few weeks ago, the Winnipeg Jets have begun extension negotiations with All-Star winger Kyle Connor. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much substantial progress made before the start of training camp.

Regardless, Connor is poised for a major payday, from the Jets or elsewhere, on the heels of a career year and with the salary cap continuing to rise. Although he didn’t match his career-high in goals, he did in points, scoring 41 goals and 97 points in 82 games, averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time per game.

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Kieron Walton Leaves Rookie Game With Upper-Body Injury

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  • Winnipeg Jets prospect Kieron Walton will not return to the team’s rookie contest tonight in Montreal, according to team reporter Jamie Thomas. Per his report, an upper-body injury is to blame. While it’s entirely possible that Walton was taken out of the game for largely precautionary reasons in order to protect his health in advance of the team’s full training camp, that is not clear at this time. Walton, 19, is a 2024 sixth-rounder whose stock as a prospect skyrocketed after a breakout 2024-25 campaign, one in which he scored 38 goals and 92 points for the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs. The 6’6 center is a long-shot to make the Jets out of training camp and any potential injury would only hurt his chances to make an impression in camp.

Jets’ Adam Lowry Continues To Recover From Hip Surgery

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Sept. 11th: Pushing back somewhat on last month’s report, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press spoke with Lowry today and indicated that although his recovery is going very well, he’s still targeting a return in late October or early November. Still, given that a sixth-month recovery would have projected Lowry for a late November return, today’s update indicates he’s on the early end of the recovery timeline.

Aug. 26th: In somewhat of a surprising revelation, given the original recovery timeline, the Jets shared an update of Lowry taking part in an informal skate this morning, donning his full equipment. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Lowry will be ready to start the season on time, but it does indicate he could be available far earlier than expected. An earlier return should prove a boon for Winnipeg, as they’re set to open the 2025-26 season with Namestnikov and the question mark, Jonathan Toews, as their top two center options behind Scheifele.

May 28th: Jets captain Adam Lowry won’t be available at the start of the 2025-26 season after undergoing successful hip surgery on Tuesday, per a club announcement. The procedure carries a five-to-six-month rehabilitation timeline, meaning he’ll likely make his season debut sometime in November.

While it could be a tough start to Winnipeg’s season without their top matchup and penalty-killing center, a roughly month-long absence shouldn’t impact the Jets’ offseason planning too much outside of adding a depth piece down the middle to give them additional insurance through the first few weeks of the campaign. A potential late October return doesn’t guarantee Lowry will miss enough time to qualify for a long-term injured reserve placement at the beginning of the season. Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff must presume Lowry counts against the salary cap to start the year.

The Jets’ center core of Lowry, Mark Scheifele, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Morgan Barron are all signed or under team control for next season, so there likely weren’t going to be many moving parts down the middle for Winnipeg this summer anyway outside of finding a potential upgrade on Namestnikov for the second line. However, Lowry’s absence for the first few weeks will likely allow the Jets to evaluate the readiness of their potential internal long-term replacements for Namestnikov in a top-six role. There’s 2023 first-rounder Brayden Yager, who’s primed to land an opening-night roster spot after scoring 25 goals and 82 points in 54 games with WHL Moose Jaw and Lethbridge this year. 2022 first-round Brad Lambert has gotten a couple of NHL reps over the last two years and might be a candidate as well, although he’s coming off a highly disappointing season with AHL Manitoba (7-28–35, -30 rating in 61 GP).

For Lowry, the hip rehab will mark an inauspicious start to the final season of the five-year, $16.25MM extension he signed in 2021. With Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti also eligible to sign extensions on July 1, it’s unclear how quickly Cheveldayoff intends to start those talks with his captain. However, it should be expected that they’ll do everything in their power to keep the 11-year veteran in the only NHL city he’s ever known.

If they do opt to engage in extension discussions this summer, AFP Analytics projects the 32-year-old to receive a two-year deal in the $4MM range per season. He’s coming off his third straight 30-point campaign and has averaged at least 15 minutes per game for five straight seasons.

Lowry’s injury also puts a small dent in his climb up the Jets franchise’s all-time leaderboard. His 775 games played are fourth in Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise history, and he needs 69 games to leapfrog Bryan Little for third – that’s still doable next year if he returns at the early end of his timeline and stays healthy the rest of the way. His 121 goals are 10th all-time for the Jets, his 152 assists and 273 points rank ninth, while his +50 rating ranks fourth.

Evening Notes: Atlanta, Kane/Toews, Hughes Brothers

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NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly spoke openly about the potential for an expansion team in Atlanta during a media availability on Tuesday. In it, Daly shared that the league hasn’t yet received a full proposal yet, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. Wyshynski further points out that a group backed by Krause Sports and Entertainment has received approval on a $3B arena development in Forsyth County, Georgia. They are one of multiple groups vying for ownership over a potential Atlanta squad.

Notably, Daly also voiced support for the idea of expansion overall. He told Wyshynski that the NHL is “uniquely positioned” for more teams because of how deep the player pool has become. Daly pointed towards the growth of smaller hockey markets as evidence of that growth, and said that adding new teams would be no issue for the NHL. That’s a strong bode of confidence towards the idea of expansion, though it doesn’t seem the league isn’t growing any more roots just yet.

Other notes from around the hockey world:

  • Future Hall-of-Fame winger Patrick Kane spoke with Wynshynski about Jonathan Toews’ return to the NHL. Kane called his former batterymate’s comeback a great story, and remarked that it’s been enjoyable to follow Toews’ return as the two still talk frequently. The conversation led to Kane, once again, receiving the question of whether he’d have interest in moving to his own hometown club, the Buffalo Sabres, in the same way that Toews chose to join the Winnipeg Jets. Kane batted away the question, instead affirming how much he’s enjoyed playing for the clubs he has already played for – including Detroit. He called the Red Wings a team on the rise, and the source of his career’s revival. Kane scored 21 goals and 59 points in 72 games with the Red Wings last season. It brought his total scoring with the club up to 106 points in 122 games – and his career-long scoring up to 1,343 points in 1,302 games.
  • Top New Jersey Devils centerman Jack Hughes also caught attention for interview comments on Wednesday. While participating at the NHL Media Tour, Hughes said that he would love to have a chance to play with his brother Quinn, whether that been in New Jersey or not, per Thomas Drance of The Athletic. The storyline of if, and when, the Hughes brothers would reconnect has been a rich one all summer. They’re a close-knit trio of brothers, including youngest brother Luke, with two-thirds currently playing in the Devils organization. But acquiring Quinn would be a near-impossible task for Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald. Quinn is among the league’s best defensemen. He won the 2024 Norris Trophy, and finished last season as a Norris finalist. New Jersey – or, any team – would need to sell the farm to land Quinn. Luckily, he is roughly one month away from his 26th birthday, giving the Hughes brothers plenty of time to regroup with their oldest sibling before he’s past his prime yeras.

Afternoon Notes: Thompson, Reichel, Ovechkin

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It has been an up-and-down year for Buffalo Sabres star Tage Thompson. He was excluded from Team USA’s roster at the Four Nations Face-Off in February, prompting a monster run through the rest of his games last season. He scored 33 goals in 57 games following the mid-year break, then added nine points in 10 games at the summer’s World Championship, including the decisive goal to earn the United States their first Gold Medal in recent history. As part of an extended interview, Thompson told Michael Russo of The Athletic that he’s hoping that goal can advance his spot on the watchlist as the USA prepares for the Olympics. He said:

I would hope scoring that goal would make a difference, but it’s also one play. It doesn’t define me as a player or mean that I had a great tournament or anything by that means… I want to be an Olympian, but getting the Sabres back into the playoffs is always at the forefront.

Thompson is undoubtedly one of America’s biggest scoring threats. His 120 goals in 225 games is the second-most from any American in the NHL since 2022, behind only Auston Matthews (142 goals in 222 games). Thompson has managed that feat despite playing for the only team to score more than 800 goals, and still get outscored, in the same timeframe. He’s the standing pillar of a struggling team, a point made literal by Thompson’s 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame. The United States tied Canada for the most goals (10) during their three games at the 4-Nations Face-Off. Adding a player of Thompson’s caliber to the lineup could be enough to will the Americans over their rival on the biggest stage next February.

Other notes from around the NHL:

  • Chicago Blackhawks winger Lukas Reichel told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times that he hasn’t been able to dodge trade rumors – even hearing them on the streets of his native Germany. Despite that, Reichel emphasized that his focus is squarely on carving out a big role with the Blackhawks next season. He scored a career-high eight goals and 22 points in 70 games last season, but still seems well capable of achieving more. The Blackhawks will have plenty of new faces challenging Reichel for minutes next year, including newcomer Andre Burakovsky and rookies Oliver Moore and Landon Slaggert. That competition will push Reichel to a breaking point. If he can show his might in the NHL, he’ll earn a strong role in the middle-six. If not, he could soon find a path away from the Blackhawks organization.
  • NHL legend Alex Ovechkin has departed from his native Russia to return to the United States for the 2025-26 season, shares Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Ovechkin will kick off his 21st season in the NHL when he lands back in Washington D.C. That mark will make him one of just 42 NHL players to appear in at least 21 seasons. The future Hall-of-Famer broke the league’s record for all-time goals last season, en route to an incredibly 44 goals and 73 points in just 65 games. It will be hard to relieve those numbers as he inches as he prepares to play in his age-40 season. Even then, managing even half of that scoring pace would put Ovechkin on pace for the highest-scoring age-40 season since Teemu Selanne posted 80 points in 2010-11.

Kyle Connor Expected To Make More Than $10MM Salary In Next Deal

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Unlike what transpired between the Winnipeg Jets and his former teammate, Nikolaj Ehlers, there’s more optimism in Manitoba that winger Kyle Connor will eventually sign a long-term extension to remain with the Jets. Unfortunately, extension negotiations between Connor and Winnipeg have been quiet this summer, as Frank Seravalli reported a few weeks ago.

That salary would quickly become the highest on the Jets, beating out the $8.5MM AAVs for Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck. Regardless, it should be a more than palatable price for Winnipeg, given that Connor has been a higher-than-a-point-per-game player for the last five years, while crossing the 90-point plateau twice. Meanwhile, even at a record-setting salary for the team, Connor would only be the fifth-highest-paid winger in the league.

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Jets’ Josh Morrissey Fully Recovered From Knee Injury

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Jets star defenseman Josh Morrissey has recovered fully from the knee injury he sustained in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and will not have any restrictions heading into training camp, he told Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press last week.

Morrissey, 30, had to battle through quite a bit of physical adversity in the postseason after finishing fourth in Norris Trophy voting in the regular season – his third straight top-10 finish and the highest placement of his career. He sustained an upper-body injury early in Winnipeg’s come-from-behind Game 7 win over the Blues in the first round that caused him to miss the first game of their second-round tilt against the Stars. While he played the bulk of the Dallas series, he couldn’t finish what ended up being their final contest of the season in Game 6 after sustaining an injury to his left knee while getting tangled up with Stars forward Mikko Rantanen.

Most were expecting Morrissey to be able to go for camp when he said that he wouldn’t require surgery following their elimination, shortening his recovery timeline. All in all, he was only off the ice for around a month while rehabbing. “I’ve been skating for two months now and it feels as good or better than it did before,” he told Wiebe. He also said that he sustained a similar injury in his right knee two years ago during their first-round series against the Golden Knights, meaning he “knew the protocol” and “knew the plan.”

Having Morrissey at full availability out of the gate will be a crucial step for a Winnipeg roster that will need to rely heavily on its defense after losing a key top-six forward piece in Nikolaj Ehlers to free agency. Luckily for them, their group of defenders remains almost entirely unchanged from last year’s Presidents’ Trophy win. Morrissey, Dylan DeMelo, Neal Pionk, and Dylan Samberg will continue to comprise one of the league’s most competent two-way top-four groups after Pionk signed a massive six-year extension midseason and Samberg inked a three-year settlement with the Jets this summer to avoid an arbitration hearing.

The lefty now enters his 11th year in Winnipeg after being taken 13th overall in the 2013 draft. He has three years left on his deal with a $6.25MM cap hit – part of an eight-year deal signed in 2019 that ranks among the league’s most team-friendly deals. Over the last three years, only Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar have produced more assists among defensemen than Morrissey’s 167.

Kyle Connor Remaining Patient On Extension Talks

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Friedman believes players like Tuch and Connor are in similar situations. Both are coming off what could be considered the best seasons of their careers, and both have one year remaining on their current contracts. Tuch matched a career high with 36 goals last season for the Sabres, while Connor finished just three points shy of 100 with the Jets.

Outlining Toews' Journey Back To The NHL

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  • Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press outlines the journey that center Jonathan Toews went through to get back to being ready to give playing in the NHL another opportunity through Ayurvedic and Panchakarma treatments. The 37-year-old had to step away from playing in 2023 due to the lingering effects of long COVID and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome.  However, he’s ready to give playing another go now after signing a one-year deal with the Jets at the start of free agency.  The agreement pays him a base salary of $2MM while he has an additional $5MM in potential performance bonuses ranging from games played to Winnipeg’s playoff success.

Manitoba Moose Hire Bob Nardella As Assistant Coach

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A former third-string option at the NHL level enjoyed his time in the ECHL so much last season that he wants another go at it. According to a team announcement, the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have signed netminder Jon Gillies for the 2025-26 campaign.

Despite being in the professional ranks for the last decade, Gillies is best known for his work at the collegiate level. Putting together an impressive season with the NCAA’s Providence College, Gillies managed a 24-13-2 record in 39 games with a .930 SV%, 2.01 GAA, and four shutouts during the 2014-15 season. Gillies played so well behind the Friars that they were able to win the first National Championship in program history.

He put together a few good years with the AHL’s Stockton Heat, but couldn’t replicate the success he had in college. From 2015 to 2023, Gillies managed a 78-71-32 record in 184 appearances with a .904 SV% and 2.94 GAA with the Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues, Arizona Coyotes, and Columbus Blue Jackets organizations. He played in seven games for the Solar Bears last season.

Other notes from this evening:

  • The Colorado Avalanche are getting some good news from one of their better bottom-six players. According to AJ Haefele of the DNVR Avalanche podcast, Logan O’Connor’s recovery from surgery is going ahead of schedule. He posits that O’Connor should only miss between 10 and 16 games, which would forecast his return to early November, nearly a month earlier than expected.
  • The AHL’s Manitoba Moose are adding some veteran experience to their coaching staff for the upcoming season. Earlier today, the team announced that they’ve hired Bob Nardella as an assistant coach for the 2025-26 AHL season. Nardella has spent more than a decade with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, moving from the team’s skills coach to the assistant coach before serving as the head coach last year.

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