The Winnipeg Jets have reached a pre-arbitration agreement on a contract extension with recently acquired forward Gabriel Vilardi. Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the team has signed Vilardi to a two-year, $3.44M AAV contract.
This agreement leaves the Jets with two more restricted free agents left to sign: a pair of former top prospects in 2016 first-rounder Logan Stanley and 2018 first-rounder Rasmus Kupari. Winnipeg acquired both Kupari and Vilardi from the Los Angeles Kings in the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, and have now locked in Vilardi to a bridge contract.
While some Jets fans anxious about players all-too-often looking to leave Winnipeg rather than commit there long-term might worry about Vilardi inching two years closer to unrestricted free agency, a long-term deal would likely have been very difficult to reach an agreement on.
Not only has Vilardi not yet played a game for the Jets, his NHL resume is likely a little too thin to merit a major long-term commitment.
Vilardi is a former top prospect who had some significant injury issues in his days in the OHL but has taken some serious steps in recent years.
The soon-to-be 24-year-old didn’t make a consistent impact in his first go-around as a full-time NHLer, flashing some talent but totaling just 23 points in 54 games in 2020-21.
Vilardi played more in the AHL than NHL the following season but produced regularly in the American League, scoring 38 points in 39 games.
That AHL form carried into this past NHL season, and this most recent attempt to break into the world’s top league seems to have worked. Vilardi scored 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games, a 30-goal, 53-point 82-game pace.
Playing on Los Angeles’ first power-play unit, there is hope that Vilardi can become a difference-making offensive producer for the Jets, and their investment of nearly $3.5M per season over the next two years reflects the Jets’ belief that Vilardi has put his inconsistent earlier NHL days behind him.
Should Vilardi manage to continue his development and put together some more productive, healthy campaigns, he’ll have placed himself in a strong position for his next contract.
For the Jets, they’ll receive Vilardi’s services at a potential discount rate should Vilardi match his 2022-23 output, let alone exceed it. That comes at the cost of getting Vilardi locked into a long-term agreement, though they’ll still have the opportunity to sign Vilardi to a long-term extension before this deal expires.
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