Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness provided some updates on Jets forward Gabe Vilardi this morning. Bowness indicated that Vilardi is dealing with an enlarged spleen and is getting treatment, he won’t travel with the team for the five-game trip and there is no timeline for a return.
Vilardi has tallied 16 goals and 14 assists for 30 points in 38 games this season with the Jets, he last played on Feb. 29 during the Jets’ 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars. Vilardi has had a rough 2023-24 campaign, in just the third game of the season, the 24-year-old was injured after an awkward collision with Los Angeles Kings forward Blake Lizotte. Vilardi later deemed it to be “a stupid play.” He ended up missing the next 18 games with a sprained MCL. Vilardi returned to the lineup in late November, but missed two more games with a lower-body injury in January.
The Kingston, Ontario product was acquired in a package deal along with Rasmus Kupari and Alex Iaffalo in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois earlier in the summer. The Jets resigned Vilardi to a two-year contract with a $3.4375 million cap hit. Vilardi is coming off a career year with the Kings in 2022-23, where he had 23 goals, 18 assists, and 41 points in 63 regular season games, with his goal total alone tying his previous career-high in points.
Vilardi was initially selected in the first round, No. 11 overall, by the Kings in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. The Kingston, Ontario, product spent three years in the Ontario Hockey League with the Windsor Spitfires and Kingston Frontenacs, where he tallied 68 goals and 89 assists for 157 points in 143 games. During the 2016-17 OHL season, Vilardi helped the Spitfires capture the Memorial Cup; he was named to the CHL Memorial Cup First All-Star Team.
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