Jet Nation

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The first generation of Jets fans had to build a culture from scratch: filling a new arena, learning the rituals, turning a handful of regulars into a wall of noise. That founding stubbornness — the refusal of a small city to be overlooked — became the emotional bedrock of Jet Nation. The franchise hosted one All-Star Game while it was in Atlanta: the 56th took place at Philips Arena. Since the franchise entered the league as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, the NHL has held 19 All-Star Games (through 2024). The Thrashers had no All-Star representative in 2000, 2001, and 2004, but did have players selected in 2002 and 2003 (Dany Heatley).

In Their Own Story

The arena lights are still warming up. A woman in a faded jersey — the fabric soft and thin from years of washing — presses her palm flat against the cold glass of the lower bowl. Her daughter, six years old, bounces on her toes in a too-big replica sweater. Somewhere above, the PA crackles with the pre-game anthem and the sound is muffled, underwater, until the crowd swells and the muffled becomes a roar. The woman closes her eyes. She does not remember the exact score of a game, but she remembers the silence before the horn, the way her father's hand found hers in the dark, and the way the whole building seemed to lift off its concrete feet. She opens her eyes. Her daughter is already screaming. The puck drops. Jet Nation is awake.

Reader's Guide

Walking into a Jets home game is less like entering a stadium and more like stepping into a living room the size of a city. The lower bowl, closest to the ice, is where the oldest families sit — the same rows, the same seats, sometimes the same scarves passed from parent to child. The noise is not uniform; it builds in waves, a low hum that spikes into a wall of sound on a good save or a hard forecheck. The culture is unpretentious. There is no dress code, no expectation of sophistication. A man in a flannel shirt and a woman in a puffy parka sit side by side, both wearing the same colours, both losing their voices by the second period. The prairie accent is thick, the banter is sharp, and the loyalty is absolute — you can be down three goals in the third and the section will still be singing. What makes Jet Nation distinct is its smallness. Winnipeg is not Toronto, not Montreal. The arena fills because the city is small enough that everyone is a neighbour. The rivalry with Minnesota, the Central Division grind, the long bus rides to away games where strangers become friends over a shared cold beer — all of it reinforces the idea that this is not a product you consume. It is a place you belong to. And in a city where the wind can strip the colour from your face in January, belonging to something that roars back is not just fun. It is survival.

Did You Know?

• The franchise entered the league as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999 and moved to Winnipeg in 2011.
• The Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame was created on July 15, 2016, and its inaugural inductees were the "HOT Line" of Anders Hedberg, Bobby Hull and Ulf Nilsson, inducted on October 19, 2016.
• Number 37 was not issued by the franchise between 2003 and 2016 following the death of player Dan Snyder in 2003; goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has worn the number since 2016 with the blessing of the Snyder family.
• The franchise hosted the 56th NHL All-Star Game at Philips Arena while it was in Atlanta.
• The franchise had no All-Star representative in 2000, 2001, and 2004, but did have players selected in 2002 and 2003 (Dany Heatley).

Franchise Continuity and the Atlanta-to-Winnipeg Transition

The Winnipeg Jets' award history is shaped by a unique dual identity. The franchise first entered the NHL in 1999 under the Atlanta Thrashers banner, and its honors list encompasses both the Thrashers era and the post-2011 Winnipeg period. This continuity means that individual and team trophies, All-Star selections, and career achievements are tracked across both incarnations. However, the 2011 relocation also marked the end of certain internal recognitions. Two annual awards—the Players' Player Award and the Team MVP—were discontinued when the team moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg, reflecting a break in the franchise's internal culture. Meanwhile, the broader award structure, including the Community Service Award, the Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy, and the Three Stars of the Game Award, carried forward into the Winnipeg era, preserving a thread of tradition even as the team's geographic and cultural identity shifted.

All-Star Game Legacy

Since the franchise entered the NHL as the Atlanta Thrashers in 1999, fifteen All-Star Games have been held, with at least one Jets or Thrashers player selected to represent the franchise in every year except 2002. The All-Star Game itself is a mid-season exhibition featuring top players from across the league, and selections are sometimes made by fan vote, with the game's Most Valuable Player also recognized. The franchise's All-Star history includes a notable hosting moment: the 56th edition of the game took place at Philips Arena while the team was still based in Atlanta. The All-Star Game has been absent in various years for a range of reasons—labor stoppages in 1995, 2005, and 2013; the Winter Olympic Games in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2026; the 1979 Challenge Cup and Rendez-vous '87 series against the Soviet national team; the 2021 cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the 2025 replacement by the 4 Nations Face-Off.

The Winnipeg Jets Hall of Fame and the HOT Line

On July 15, 2016, the Winnipeg Jets announced the creation of their own Hall of Fame, designed to honor the impact and accomplishments of the team's hockey legends and to celebrate the rich history of professional hockey in the city. A distinctive feature of this hall is that it extends beyond the current franchise's roster to include former players from the original Winnipeg Jets, making it a broader tribute to the city's hockey heritage. The inaugural class, inducted on October 19, 2016, was the legendary HOT Line trio: Anders Hedberg, Bobby Hull, and Ulf Nilsson. This selection immediately connected the modern franchise to the storied past of the original Jets, whose players and data are otherwise excluded from the current franchise's award records. The Hall of Fame thus serves as a bridge between two eras of Winnipeg hockey, acknowledging that the city's identity in the sport stretches well beyond the 1999 Atlanta entry into the NHL.

Retired Numbers and the Dan Snyder Story

The Winnipeg Jets have not officially retired any jersey numbers, a fact that speaks to the franchise's relatively young history. However, the story behind number 37 is one of the most poignant in the team's lore. Following the death of player Dan Snyder in 2003, the franchise chose not to issue that number for thirteen years, from 2003 to 2016. In 2016, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck began wearing number 37, doing so with the explicit blessing of the Snyder family. This gesture transformed a tribute into a living part of the team's present. The Dan Snyder Memorial Trophy, an annual award given to the player who embodies perseverance, dedication, and hard work without reward or recognition so that his team and teammates might succeed, further cements Snyder's legacy within the franchise's culture. Separately, number 99 remains out of circulation league-wide, retired in honor of Wayne Gretzky on February 6, 2000.

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