Photo Credit: Conrad Jack (Inside The Rink)
The Winnipeg Jets will host the Montreal Canadiens in the 2026 Heritage Classic at Princess Auto Stadium on October 25th, 2026.
Sportsnet’s NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported back on October 19th that Winnipeg is a serious contender to host next year’s edition of the Heritage classic.
This will be Winnipeg’s second hosting the event since they hosted the Edmonton Oilers back in 2016. The 2016 event was hosted at Princess Auto Stadium, then known as Investors Group Field. The Jets last competed in the Heritage Classic in 2019 when they faced the Calgary Flames in Regina for a neutral site game.
Winnipeg’s game against Edmonton ended in a 3-0 shutout for the Oilers, where Mark Latest opened the scoring shorthanded, Darnell Nurse added insurance, and Zack Kassian scored the final goal to put down the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck made 29 saves in the loss. On the other end of the ice, Cam Talbot made 31 saves in his shutout.
The Jets’ neutral site game in Regina ended in overtime as Brian Little scored to make the Jets’ overall record 1-1 in the Heritage Classic.
The 2026 edition of the Heritage Classic will be the first since 2023 and eighth of its kind.
It is worth noting that after the post on the Jets’ website posting the information was taken down just hours after it went up. That site revealed Montreal as the host, the date, location, and even a link to a homepage in the events section of the NHL site.
The Athletic’s Chris Johnston and Murat Ates wrote that NHL league sources confirmed the details and it was accurate.
Montreal will suit up in their fifth outdoor game next October with this news coming to light.
It is expected an official announcement from the Jets or the NHL is to follow soon given this seems like an early release.
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Conrad Jack is a Manitoba based sportswriter covering the Winnipeg Jets (NHL) and the Manitoba Moose (AHL). He also covers the NHL Draft and World Junior Championship for ITR. He also writes the NHL News & Rumors blog at ITR.