The Winnipeg Jets' alumni roster is beginning to look a lot more like the teams fans remember.

After announcing an initial group of seven marquee names in January, the Jets have expanded their roster with 15 additional former players and the club's first head coach in franchise history. Thus bringing even more familiar faces to October's Heritage Classic alumni game against the Montreal Canadiens. More additions are expected before the puck drops.

The original group announced earlier this year featured Dustin Byfuglien, Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little, Mathieu Perreault, Paul Stastny and Chris Thorburn. Since then, however, Thorburn has been removed from the roster following his promotion to director of player development with the St. Louis Blues, a move announced this past week. A Jets public relations representative said Thorburn was "no longer a 100 percent commit" to participating.

The latest wave of additions includes Nik Antropov, Cody Eakin, Eric Fehr, Sam Gagner, Tanner Glass, Anthony Peluso, Jim Slater, Drew Stafford, Tim Stapleton, Grant Clitsome, Tobias Enstrom, Ron Hainsey, Derek Meech, Mark Stuart and Michael Hutchinson. Joining them behind the bench will be Claude Noel, who coached the Jets through the franchise's return to Winnipeg and guided the club to its first Stanley Cup Playoff appearance in 2015.

The expanded roster now represents nearly every era of Jets 2.0 hockey.

Fans will see members of the inaugural 2011-12 squad, longtime cornerstones like Enstrom and Stuart, fan favourites including Slater, Glass and Peluso, and players from the club's first playoff teams. Manitoba products Fehr, Eakin and Meech also add a hometown flavour to the event.

Noel's inclusion may be one of the more fitting additions.

As the first head coach in Jets 2.0 history, he helped guide the organization through its transition from Atlanta to Winnipeg, coached many of the players now returning for the alumni game and led the club to its first postseason appearance after relocation. His presence adds another layer of nostalgia to a weekend already designed to celebrate one of the most significant chapters in modern Winnipeg hockey history.

With more than 20 former Jets now confirmed, the alumni game is evolving into much more than a showcase of a few franchise icons. Instead, it's becoming a reunion spanning the first decade of Jets 2.0, bringing together players from different eras who helped shape hockey's return to Winnipeg.

For fans who packed Canada Life Centre throughout those years, October's Heritage Classic weekend promises to be as much about reliving memories as it is creating new ones.