Beta Technologies takes electric planes to new territories

Sun sets on Hellebuyck era

Now that the Connor Hellebuyck era of the Jets has finally concluded, what impact will the departure have on the netminder’s legacy?

Well, it’s a complex answer and one that could change with the benefit of time and a side order of sober second thought.

Given how raw things are right now and how things quickly went sideways — with the franchise goalie essentially forcing his way out of town with his trade request back in April — many members of the Winnipeg Jets fan base quickly found themselves at the “good riddance” stage of the grieving process.

This wasn’t how this story was supposed to end and there’s no doubt some feelings have been hurt along the way.

New Jet looking forward to ‘special’ debut

Dawson Mercer is doing his best to get acclimated as quickly as possible.

After spending his first five NHL seasons and change with the New Jersey Devils, Mercer was informed on Friday morning that he was on his way to the Winnipeg Jets as part of a blockbuster deal for goalie Connor Hellebuyck.

That led to a mad scramble, as Mercer loaded up a suitcase with his belongings, jumped on a private jet with goalie Nico Daws and landed in the Manitoba capital on Friday night.

“Pretty busy and hectic. Pretty much, I was at the rink in Jersey, and then got the news,” said Mercer, who was the 18th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. “Then, you go home, pack everything up, get on the jet, and then come here and come into a big game here at this classic. It’s pretty special, though. I’d rather do it this way than any other.”

Province orders ban on private teacher-student messaging

Manitoba teachers are no longer allowed to text or use social media to contact a student – regardless of whether they coach a school sports team or supervise other activities outside typical instruction times.

Opening of Portage and Main shows even seemingly insurmountable impasses can be overcome

There are places in a city that become more than places. Portage and Main is one of them. For generations of Winnipeggers, the intersection has represented downtown, traffic, development and civic identity. Its reopening to pedestrians in 2025, after 46 years of closure, was about more than crossing a street. It was a reminder that decisions made by one generation can shape the choices available to another — and that even seemingly permanent decisions can be reconsidered.

I have spent much of my professional life thinking about Winnipeg as a planner, working in public, private and non-profit settings. My PhD research gave me an opportunity to examine Portage and Main differently: not simply as a debate about cars and pedestrians, but as a window into how power operates in a city. I reviewed 569 archival documents spanning the 1960s to the present, interviewed 48 planners with experience in Winnipeg, and mapped the relationships between planners, politicians, developers, engineers, residents, businesses and advocacy groups.

What emerged was a story about how planning decisions become embedded in a city’s institutions, agreements, infrastructure, professional practices and political expectations — shaping not only what gets built, but who gets to influence what gets built.

The closure of Portage and Main in 1979 did not remain a decision confined to a particular political moment. Over time, it was reinforced by development agreements, physical infrastructure, property relationships, traffic-engineering practices, administrative routines, and public narratives about mobility and downtown revitalization. The people who made many of those original decisions eventually left office. The arrangements they created remained. Later planners inherited them.

Connor Hellebuyck breaks silence after trade from Jets

It took until the very end of his introductory news conference Saturday — right around the 15-minute mark — before Connor Hellebuyck was finally asked the question that hockey fans back in Winnipeg were likely waiting for.

“Is there anything you’d like to say to Jets fans?” a reporter who covers Hellebuyck’s new team, the New Jersey Devils, put to him during the session held inside the Prudential Center in Newark.

A short pause followed.

“I mean, there’s a lot. There’s a lot that I need to say,” Hellebuyck began, no doubt raising plenty of eyebrows around here and the hockey world in general.