Three Winnipeg Jets are taking off to Buffalo.
Long-rumoured to be on the trading block, defenceman Logan Stanley was shuffled off to the Buffalo Sabres in an NHL trade deadline deal Thursday, along with defenceman Luke Schenn. Forward Tanner Pearson was traded to the Sabres in another deal Friday.
Stanley and Schenn were late scratches in Winnipeg’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday evening. They were dealt a couple hours after the game, a 4-1 victory for the Jets.
In return for Stanley and Schenn, the Jets received defenceman Jacob Bryson and forward Isak Rosén from Buffalo, a second-round pick in the 2027 NHL draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft. The Jets received a seventh-round pick in the 2026 draft for Pearson.
The Jets retain 50 per cent of Schenn’s contract as part of the trade.
Bryson, 28, played 35 games for the Sabres this season and had two goals and three assists, along with eight penalty minutes.
A fourth-round pick (99th overall) by the Sabres in the 2017 draft, he has appeared in 289 games for Buffalo and has six goals, 42 assists and 58 penalty minutes.
Rosén, 22, had three goals and four assists in 16 games for Buffalo this season, which has been split between the Sabres and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Rochester Americans.
He leads the Rochester team in goals (25) and also has 18 assists, to put him second overall in total points.
The Sabres’ first-round pick (14th overall) in the 2021 draft, Rosén has three goals and five assists in 31 games for the Sabres.
Stanley, 27, was Winnipeg’s first-round pick (18th overall) in the 2016 draft and is having his best year as a pro, setting new career highs for points (21), goals (9) and penalty minutes (99).
He has played 261 games for the Jets and has 57 points (14 goals, 43 assists) and 304 penalty minutes.
Schenn, 36, has one goal and six assists for Winnipeg this season. He has played 1,118 games with nine teams in his NHL career and posted 212 points (45 goals, 167 assists) and 884 penalty minutes.
A first-round pick (fifth overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2008 draft, Schenn won a pair of Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
He was traded to Winnipeg by the Pittsburgh Penguins in March 2025, who had acquired him two days earlier in another trade deal.
Pearson, 33, has seven goals and six assists over 52 games for Winnipeg this season. The Kitchener, Ont., native was a free agent when he signed a one-year contract with the Jets in July 2025.
He was a first-round pick (30th overall) by the Las Vegas Kings in the 2012 draft and won the Stanley Cup with the team in 2014.
He’s played 774 games with five teams in his NHL career and posted 325 points (157 goals, 168 assists) and 263 penalty minutes.
The NHL’s 2026 trade deadline was 2 p.m. CT Friday.
Still several points out of a playoff spot, creating the outside expectation that the organization will be sellers this time around, the room is trying to balance the human toll with the task at hand.
“Obviously this year we’re on the outside looking in. But I think the biggest thing is guys in this locker room want to support the guys where there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Jets captain Adam Lowry said before Thursday’s game.
The business side of hockey is glaring in the final hours of the trade deadline. Friendships built over years are suddenly put on hold, replaced by the harsh reality that several players may have worn a Jets jersey for the final time.
“From a personal side, it’s tough,” Lowry said. “You have guys uprooting their families. There’s a lot of things that go on behind the scenes. It’s not just the player getting traded, it’s the family.”
Winnipeg’s list of pending unrestricted free agents is crowded. It includes defenceman Colin Miller, alongside forwards Gustav Nyquist, Tanner Pearson, Cole Koepke and veteran Jonathan Toews, who controls his own destiny with a full no-move clause.
