GAMEDAY: Jets at Oilers

The Jets open their preseason with a Saturday night matchup against the Edmonton Oilers.

With this being the first of four preseason tilts and veterans only being able to play in two, it will be a very young group of Jets playing in Edmonton.

Thomas Milic will get the call in goal tonight against an Oilers team that will have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the lineup.

Milic says he’s looking forward to the chance to go up against two of the best players in the world.

“All I can say to that is, bring it on,” smiled Milic.

“When I was called up last season, one game I went in there and those guys were right there. I think I got a little taste of that. It’s not something that intimidates me, but it definitely raises that level of, hey, this is the real deal.”

Milic has faced the dynamic duo once before. Back in December, he replaced Eric Comrie in the second period after the Oilers jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the opening 20 minutes.

The 23-year-old also made his NHL debut against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.

“Yeah, I don’t think I would ever want to change anything about how my career has gone so far. Having a challenge like that as a first start was great. I don’t think I’d want to ease into something like that,” said Milic.

“Like, why not? You’re in the NHL, you want to play against the best in the league, and they obviously had a great team last season and went all the way. Any challenge like that I look forward to, and I take pride in trying to come out on the right side of it.”

Arniel was asked about how important this start is for Milic, and later in the preseason for Dom DiVincentiis, with an opening available for the backup role behind Stuart Skinner with Connor Hellebuyck away.

"Obviously there's two games in there for the young guys to take advantage of. Just like the defence, the forwards: show us what you have," said Arniel.

"We don't know where we're going to be in a week or 10 days from now. But there's a chance. There's an opportunity. Both those guys played well last year."

Another Jets hopeful who will be carrying a heavy load tonight is first-round pick Brayden Yager.

The Saskatchewan product recognized that jobs were available heading into training camp and has really taken off after a strong performance at the 2026 Prospect Challenge in Gatineau last weekend.

“I feel good. Yeah, I mean, had a really good summer and yeah, prepared as best I could, and now it’s time to just kind of go and execute and play free, and not worry about making mistakes and stuff like that,” said Yager.

“Just go and have fun and do what I can do. And yeah, like I said, I feel ready.”

Scott Arniel and the coaching staff have Yager skating with veterans Al Iafallo and Nino Niederreiter through the first two days of camp.

There is a different feeling around camp this fall because of the opportunities sitting in front of the younger players.

“It’s nice to be able to play with some vets, and you can learn from them. But at the end of the day, can’t really control who I’m playing with or what the lines are and what they mean,” said Yager.

“Kind of, I can’t really read too much into it. I can just kind of focus on myself and go play as hard as I can.”

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.