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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.
More must-reads:
- Martin Necas' big extension with Avalanche another blow to 2026 NHL free agency
- Three NHL coaches in danger of a midseason firing
- The 'NFL passer rating leaders' quiz
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Martin Necas' big extension with Avalanche another blow to 2026 NHL free agency
NHL fans should start preparing themselves for a very slow, boring summer of player movement during the 2026 offseason. Mostly because there are not going to be any significant free agents of relevance remaining to be signed. Another potential free agent was removed from the list on Thursday when the Colorado Avalanche re-signed forward Martin Necas to an eight-year contract extension. The team did not announce the financial terms of the deal, but it is reportedly worth a total of $92 million, with a salary-cap number of $11.5 million per season. It is an expensive extension, but Necas has been a great fit in Colorado since arriving in last year's Mikko Rantanen trade. The bigger story from a leaguewide perspective, however, is just how thin it leaves this year's potential crop of free agents. Every major potential NHL free agent has already re-signed It was only a few weeks ago that the 2026 free-agent class was loaded with potential stars. Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild), Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets) and Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights) were all entering the final year of their contracts, and in the cases of McDavid and Kaprizov negotiations were going slow. But one-by-one, each player started to sign new deals with their current team. Necas is the latest. With those five players all signed, the best current potential free agents include New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin, Buffalo Sabres forward Alex Tuch, Utah Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz and Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. It is not an overly impressive list of players. Panarin is still a big name, but he is going to be 35 years old when next season begins. He has also showed signs of slowing down. Tuch and Schmaltz are good players, but they are not stars and seem more likely to be the type of free agents who sign contracts that do not age well. Bobrovsky is a future Hall of Fame goalie, but like Panarin, he is closer to the end of his career than his prime. All of that is going to lead to a pretty slow and boring offseason of player movement when it comes to unrestricted free agency. That is one of the trade-offs that has come with the rapidly increasing salary cap. Teams always do everything they can to keep their best players. Now they all have the salary-cap space to easily keep them.
Raiders’ Mark Davis Sends Message Every Fan Needed to Hear
The Las Vegas Raiders have the best defensive player in the National Football League, in Maxx Crosby. Crosby has been a force to deal with over the last few years. He has been all over the quarterbacks he has faced during that time. He loves to play the game and do it for the Silver and Black. That has been his team since day one, and the team that believed in him, when no one else gave him his opportunity. Crosby is the face of the Raiders franchise, and he wants to win as badly as anyone for this organization. He is having another good season in 2025 and is looking to get better and create more chaos in the backfield for the offense. He is one of a kind, and the Raiders need to do a better job of putting a good team around him to capitalize on what type of player Crosby is. Raiders Owner Mark Davis on Maxx Crosby "Asked about interest in Crosby and the team's decision not to trade him, Raiders owner Mark Davis told NFL.com he doesn't understand why people keep asking," said NFL Insider Ian Rapoport. "I don't know how many times I've got to say it," Davis said this past week following the Fall League Meeting in New York. "It's really hard to keep getting asked the same question every month or week or whatever when the answer's going to stay the same. I don't know why anybody would think I'd change my mind or the organization would." This past offseason, the Raiders signed Crosby to a three-year, $106.5 million extension through the 2029 campaign. Davis knows it's natural for teams to take a look around the league and covet what isn't theirs. However, he said "everything about Maxx is awesome" and he doesn't see him leaving. "Everybody wants to have your great players," Davis said. "It starts there, it doesn't start with us." Crosby has also made it very clear that he wants to stay with the Silver and Black and win in Las Vegas. But it is a question that is always asked because of the bad product the Raiders are putting on the field. The Raiders will get to soon if they made the right adjustments during their bye week, in Week 9 agiant the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Blue Jays' Trey Yesavage is already making the rest of MLB look foolish for passing on him
The Toronto Blue Jays and their fans witnessed something special on Wednesday night. It doesn’t get much better than a convincing 6-1 Game 5 win to take a 3-2 lead over the superteam Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Heading back home with the chance to win a championship at the Rogers Centre was what truly mattered for the Blue Jays; however, the way it all played out in such a pivotal game at Dodger Stadium will go down in history. Starting pitcher Trey Yesavage was untouchable, throwing seven dominant innings where he allowed just one run on three hits while striking out 12. Those 12 punchouts set the rookie record for the most ever in a World Series game. Seven of them came against the heart of the order in Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. His one-of-a-kind splitter had them fooled from start to finish. Yesavage’s ridiculous rise from starting the year in Class-A Dunedin to carving up the best lineups in baseball in the postseason is unheard of. It makes you wonder how he fell all the way to the Blue Jays at pick No. 20 in the 2024 MLB Draft to begin with. Trey Yesavage has 18 teams regretting their decision While it’s still extremely early to be looking back on his draft class, what Yesavage has done these last few months can’t be replicated. A 22-year-old jumping onto a moving train with just three career MLB starts under his belt goes on to start five playoff games, posting a 3-1 record with a 3.46 ERA and a whopping 39 strikeouts. Those are the kinds of numbers you expect to see from Tarik Skubal or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, not a rookie with almost no big league experience. Nineteen different organizations let Yesavage slide down the draft board last July. At this point, the Athletics are the only ones who should feel alright about their decision, given that first baseman Nick Kurtz already looks like one of the best hitters in baseball. The 18 others look silly. While some of these prospects will certainly turn out to be good players, it’s safe to say that none of them will make this type of impact on the world’s biggest stage. If the Blue Jays can pull this off and win their third World Series title in franchise history, Yesavage will never have to buy another meal in Toronto again. Quite frankly, he’s been so good that he may not have to even if they don’t find a way to finish the job. No matter how this all ends, Yesavage has not only turned himself into a Toronto sports legend, but a Canadian sports legend. The city and country can't wait to see what else he has in store because if this postseason was any indication, then they are in for many more historic performances in the years to come.
Victor Wembanyama leads Spurs to best start in franchise history
Victor Wembanyama has already led the San Antonio Spurs to a level the franchise never even reached during its championship past. The Spurs have five NBA titles, but they've never experienced such a hot start before. With their 107-101 win over the Miami Heat on Thursday night, the Spurs are 5-0, marking the very first time this franchise has opened a season 5-0. It didn't happen when David Robinson was leading the Spurs through the 1990s. It didn't even happen when Tim Duncan was guiding San Antonio to a dynastic-type run through the early-to-mid-2000s. No team coached by the legendary Gregg Popovich was able to pull it off. Only the Thunder have a better record But the 2025-26 Spurs have done it, joining the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who picked up win No. 6 on the same night, as the only undefeated teams to have at least five wins. Ever since the Spurs tipped off the season by blowing out the in-state rival Dallas Mavericks, they have earned wins against New Orleans Pelicans, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors and the Heat. Victor Wembanyama is building a case as the game's most dominant Wembanyama has been the driving force of the Spurs' early-season success. Now in his third season, the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama has recorded a double-double in every single game so far. He scored 27 points while bringing down 18 rebounds and adding six assists in Wednesday's win. But to truly show his dominance, Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, entered the night averaging 31 points and 13.8 boards per game. Victor Wembanyama isn't doing it alone But just like Robinson and Duncan didn't do it alone, Wembanyama has a core around him that may allow the Spurs to embark on another reign of terror. Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper are also off to great starts to the year. Castle is San Antonio's second leading scorer, averaging 18.3 points and 6.0 assists per game. Vassell is averaging 16.8, while Harper made some recent history of his own. All in all, Wembanyama and the Spurs are showing no signs of slowing down and look like a legitimate Western Conference contender.
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