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One man’s misfortune in professional sports is almost always another man’s opportunity.
It’s no different for Winnipeg Jets’ defenseman Ville Heinola, who suddenly has a huge chance to prove himself in the NHL just after getting off the injured reserve.
Samberg’s Injury Leaves Big Hole on Jets’ Defence Core
It was always the plan for Heinola — who had to have surgery in preseason to correct an infected screw in his previously-surgically-repaired ankle — to rejoin the Jets on Monday (Nov. 25) in Minnesota on the third-game of a season-long six-game road trip. It wasn’t necessarily the plan for there to be a spot in the lineup for him right away.
But a Steven Stamkos shot broke Dylan Samberg’s foot on Saturday night in the second period of the Jets’ 4-1 loss to the Nashville Predators. There’s no timeline for Samberg’s return, but it’s an injury that could — and likely will — keep him out for months.
Samberg was excelling in his increased role this season, playing solid defence on the second pairing’s left side with Neal Pionk and recording three goals, three assists, and a plus-12 rating in 20:17 of average ice time.
“He’s a warrior. That’s a big hole for us,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said postgame (From ‘Jets knocked off by Preds, lose Samberg to broken foot,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Nov. 23, 2024.)
It’s a big hole indeed for the Jets — still leading the NHL with a 17-4-0 record — to fill. Heinola, also a left-shot defenseman, seems like the leading candidate to fill it.
Heinola Getting Back up to Speed
Last week, the Jets lent Heinola to the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Manitoba Moose for conditioning purposes. He played in both of the Moose’s past two games against the Chicago Wolves on Thursday and Saturday, picking up one assist and posting a plus-one rating. The AHL does not publish ice time statistics, but he played on the second pairing in both contests and on the top power-play unit.
Heinola, now 23, suffered a fractured ankle in the Jets’ final 2023 preseason game and never got back in the lineup after recovering. Now-retired head coach Rick Bowness said back then that Heinola had played well enough to crack the opening-night lineup, but once he was ready to go in January, there was simply no room for him on a blue line that was thriving and giving up a historically-low number of goals. He spent the rest of the season with the Moose, recording 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 41 games.
While a top-four NHL assignment after only playing two games since last April may be trial by fire for the 2019 first rounder, Samberg’s injury presents perhaps his best chance yet to prove capable of shouldering the full-time NHL role that’s eluded him in the five years since being drafted. He has played in 35-career NHL games, but none since 2022-23.
He certainly has a supporter in Arniel, Bowness’ successor who spent the past two seasons as associate coach. “I’m probably his biggest fan here,” Arniel said Wednesday, before joking he told Moose head coach Mark Morrison to give Heinola 30-plus minutes per night in the AHL. (From ‘Heinola solid in season debut for Moose,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Nov. 21, 2024.)
Jets’ Tough Road Trip Continues
Whether Heinola slides right into Samberg’s spot — or Arniel instead elects to bump Haydn Fleury up to play with Pionk and deploys Heinola on the third pairing with Colin Miller — he figures to be in the lineup Monday against the Wild and for the foreseeable future.
After playing the Wild in what will be their third game in four nights, the Jets will head to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Dallas to wrap the road trip. Those games will be tough tests for not only Heinola, but the entire team as they look to compete with other contenders sans Samberg.
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