311 days later, NHL hockey will return to Bell MTS Place. On Wednesday afternoon, the National Hockey League announced its 2020-21 regular season schedule. League Commissioner Gary Bettman and Co. released the final draft of the 56-game calendar for the coming year of hockey. Beginning on January 13 and running through May 8, there will be games played every single day throughout the next five months.

The Winnipeg Jets will play out of the newly formatted North Division, facing off solely against fellow Canadian rivals throughout the course of the season. The Jets will battle the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators 10 times apiece, while playing against the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks nine times each.

Winnipeg begins its 2020-21 season at home in a renewed rivalry game against the Flames, which is right now scheduled to be held at Bell MTS Place (pending further government/health authority approval). The Jets will then hit the road for three games out east, before returning home for the longest homestand of the season (seven games, January 23 through February 4).

The Jets will close out the 2020-21 regular season also at home on May 8 in the second game of a back-to-back with Ottawa. The majority of the schedule features back-to-back or back-to-back and home-and-home sets with various opponents, thus limiting travel. Winnipeg’s longest road trip of the season will occur from March 18-29, where the team will play seven times as the guest.

Full Jets schedule listed below:

Some schedule insights:

• The Jets will battle the Flames three times in four days in early-February in Winnipeg
• Toronto will play host to Winnipeg three times in five days in March
• The Jets will take on the Flames in Calgary three times in a span of four days in late-March
• Winnipeg will host Toronto for a three-game-in-four-night stand in late-April
• It will be 311 days between home games at Bell MTS Place
• The Jets play on 12 Saturdays
• The month of March is Winnipeg’s busiest with 16 total games
• Winnipeg will participate in nine back-to-back matchups this season
• All-Canadian matchups is more than tripled in 2020-21 (196) from a typical regular season (58)

Game times are expected to be announced next week, once the Canadian provincial governments come to a conclusion on if home rinks will be allowed as host venues in the seven Canadian markets. If not, the league will look to implement a hub-city bubble for the North Division.

Carter Brooks

Carter Brooks - Associate Editor of Game On Magazine - is a news writer and sports columnist situated in Winnipeg, MB. On top of reading and writing, his favourite pastimes include camping, car-modification projects and coaching hockey. Carter can be reached at carterbrooks1994@gmail.com.