Winnipeg Jets are a professional hockey team that plays in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team competes in the Central Division of the Western Conference. The Jets play at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The Jets entered the NHL as an expansion team called the Atlanta Thrashers for the 1999-2000 season. The team’s first star was Dany Heatley, a winger, who won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year for 2001-2002. Another Atlanta star of the early 2000’s was the high-scoring left winger Ilya Kovalchuk. The Thrashers won their first division championship in 2006-2007 but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
In 2011, the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and changed their name to that of an earlier Winnipeg NHL team, the Winnipeg Jets. The original Winnipeg Jets had moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1996 and had become the Phoenix Coyotes (now the Utah Hockey Club).
The Jets made it to the Western Conference Final in 2018. They were defeated by the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. Jets stars have included center Mark Scheifele, right winger Blake Wheeler, defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, and goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
