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50 free Winnipeg Jets trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Winnipeg has had two Jets: the WHA-born original that signed Bobby Hull for a million dollars, won three Avco Cups and left for Phoenix in 1996, and the Atlanta Thrashers, bought by True North in 2011 and renamed within a month of a 17-minute season-ticket sellout. This Jets trivia quiz covers both: Ben Hatskin, the Hot Line, the 1978 win over the Soviets, the brutal 1979 expansion draft, Dale Hawerchuk, Teemu Selanne's 76-goal rookie year, the Spirit of Manitoba, the birth of the Whiteout, and Norm Maciver's last goal. It then follows the new Jets: the Coyotes bid that fell ten minutes short, the 'Drive to 13,000', BTO at the home opener, the RCAF roundel, Mick E. Moose, Patrik Laine, the 2018 run to the conference finals, Connor Hellebuyck's Vezinas and the 2025 Presidents' Trophy. Easy questions sit alongside hard ones for fans who remember Winnipeg Arena. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedic and reference sources before publishing, and each question carries a citation. For more, try our NHL trivia and hockey trivia pages.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Jets franchise that moved to Winnipeg in 2011 was founded in 1997 under what name?
Atlanta Thrashers
True North bought and moved the club in 2011, the first NHL relocation since the Whalers became the Hurricanes.
Q 02Which league granted Winnipeg a founding franchise in December 1971?
World Hockey Association
The Jets joined the NHL in the 1979 merger with Quebec, Edmonton and Hartford.
Q 03Original Jets owner Ben Hatskin made his fortune in what business?
Cardboard shipping containers
He borrowed the Jets name from his own WCHL junior club.
Q 04Which NHL star jumped to the Jets in June 1972 with a record $1 million signing bonus?
Bobby Hull
The rest of the WHA helped finance the deal, which gave the league instant credibility.
Q 05Which two Swedes joined the Golden Jet on the WHA's famous 'Hot Line'?
Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson
The Jets were the first North American club to seriously mine Europe for talent.
Q 06How many Avco Cups did the original Jets win?
Three
1976, 1978 and 1979, the last against Gretzky's Oilers in the WHA's final season.
Q 07Whom did the Jets beat 5-3 in a celebrated January 1978 exhibition?
The Soviet Union national team
It came in the middle of their run of three titles in four years.
Q 08Which promising defenceman did the Jets protect in the 1979 expansion draft, only for asthma to end his career?
Scott Campbell
Winnipeg's frigid weather made it worse; the club had to expose three of its top six scorers.
Q 09Whom did the Jets draft first overall in 1981?
Dale Hawerchuk
Dave Babych had gone second overall a year earlier.
Q 10Which team eliminated the Jets in all six of their playoff meetings between 1983 and 1990?
Edmonton Oilers
Winnipeg won just four games across those series; Edmonton won the Cup five of those years.
Q 11Which fan tradition was born in 1987 as an answer to Calgary's 'C of Red'?
The Winnipeg Whiteout
Fans wore white and the Jets beat the Flames in six.
Q 12How many goals did rookie Teemu Selanne score for the Jets in 1992-93, still an NHL rookie record?
76
His 132 points that season is also a rookie record.
Q 13Which local consortium tried and failed to raise enough money to keep the Jets in 1995-96?
Spirit of Manitoba
It bought one more season but was far too undercapitalised.
Where did buyers Gluckstern and Burke originally plan to move the Jets before Phoenix?
Q 21How long did it take the general public to sell out Jets season tickets on June 4, 2011?
17 minutes
The waiting list then closed after 8,000 people signed up in two hours.
Q 22What was the target of True North's season-ticket drive to prove the team's viability?
13,000
Moose season-ticket holders got first priority.
Q 23Which name was rejected in deference to Atlanta's NFL team?
Falcons
'Whiteout' was also considered; the Thrashers name stayed with the Atlanta owners.
Q 24Where was the 'Winnipeg Jets' name finally revealed in June 2011?
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
They could not agree a lease at the Target Center, so Jerry Colangelo landed them for Arizona.
Q 15Who scored the last goal in original Jets history, on April 28, 1996?
Norm Maciver
It came in a 4-1 home playoff loss to Detroit.
Q 16From which state did the IHL club that became the Manitoba Moose relocate in 1996?
Minnesota
True North later moved the Moose to St. John's to make room for the returning NHL.
Q 17Which 1995 first-round pick was the last original Jet still active in the NHL when he retired in 2017?
Shane Doan
He spent his whole career with the Jets/Coyotes franchise.
Q 18Which two numbers did the original Jets retire?
9 and 25
Bobby Hull and Thomas Steen; the Coyotes added Hawerchuk's 10 in 2006.
Q 19How close did True North come to buying the Coyotes in 2009-10 before the NHL shelved the bid?
Ten minutes
The league had even drawn up a schedule with Winnipeg in Phoenix's place.
Q 20Which True North chairman's low-key approach won praise from Gary Bettman?
Mark Chipman
It contrasted with Jim Balsillie's aggressive attempts to move the Coyotes to Hamilton.
At the NHL entry draft in Saint Paul
Mark Chipman invited GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to 'make our first pick, on behalf of the Winnipeg Jets'.
Q 25Which Winnipeg band performed at the 2011 home opener, singing 'we just got back the Jets'?
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Nik Antropov scored the first goal in a 5-1 loss to Montreal.
Q 26Who scored the first goal for the relocated Jets, in October 2011?
Nik Antropov
Andrew Ladd was the first captain of the new franchise.
Q 27Which Manitoba Moose coach became the new Jets' first head coach?
Claude Noel
Paul Maurice replaced him in January 2014.
Q 28Which team swept the Jets in 2015 in Winnipeg's first NHL playoff series since 1996?
Anaheim Ducks
Fans revived the Whiteout for the occasion.
Q 29Whom did the Jets select second overall in 2016 after winning the lottery with the sixth-worst record?
Patrik Laine
Blake Wheeler was named captain that summer after Andrew Ladd's trade to Chicago.
Q 30Whom did the Jets beat in April 2018 for the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise's first series win?
Minnesota Wild
It was the city's first series victory in 31 years.