St. PAUL – All the waiting is finally over for Winnipeg Jets (17-4-0) defenceman Ville Heinola.
The 23-year-old had all but made the Jets roster out of training camp last fall before breaking his ankle in the final preseason game. He was ready for game action in January of 2024 and went on to play 41 games for the Manitoba Moose, only to get back to training camp ahead of this season – optimistic as ever – and have his dreams taken away again by an infection in that same ankle.
He's worked his way back, playing in two games with the Moose over the past weekend, and tonight against the Minnesota Wild (13-3-4), Heinola will play his first National Hockey League game in 23 months.
“Every time you watch the team play you just want to get out there and it kills you inside when you can't play there,” said Heinola. “For me it doesn't matter who I play against. It's pretty much the same game every time. Obviously it's nice to play with these guys. They've been unreal the start of the year, and I'm just happy to jump on the train.”
Heinola will slot in on a pairing with Colin Miller tonight. The two of them skated together in one session at training camp, the only one Heinola participated in before his infection was confirmed, and will hope to develop some quick chemistry.
“We've been talking a lot. Obviously we haven't played together yet. But he's a great guy,” Heinola said. “He talks a lot, so it should make my job pretty easy to play with him. He's obviously a great player. So I think we're going to play pretty well together.”
Of course, Heinola’s insertion into the line-up comes after Dylan Samberg’s broke a bone in his foot in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Nashville Predators. Samberg blocked a one-timer from Steven Stamkos in the second period during a Nashville power play, then put himself in harm’s way roughly 10 seconds later to block another attempt.
“Not only that, but he skated off the ice on his own power. With a broken bone in his foot. That’s no joke,” said Pionk. “It says a lot about him. He’s willing to do the little things for the team. He always has. That’s one of his specialties, shot blocking, he’s a warrior.”
After a tough loss on the scoreboard and on the injury front, Pionk – Samberg’s defensive partner all season – says Heinola coming into the line-up could be looked at as a bit of a morale boost.
“The perseverance is incredible,” said Pionk. “You see what he went through last year, you feel awful for him. There’s not a whole lot you can do. This year, you get all excited for him and you kind of look at things through his eyes and then he gets the bad news again in training camp and you just feel for him. I’m excited for him.”
Connor Hellebuyck, who stopped 17 of 18 shots in Winnipeg’s 4-1 win over Pittsburgh to open the road trip, will get the start in goal against Minnesota.
The skaters in front of him are expected to look like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Namestnikov-Ehlers
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Kupari-Iafallo
Morrissey-DeMelo
Fleury-Pionk
Heinola-Miller
Jets head coach Scott Arniel says Heinola won’t immediately jump into Samberg’s penalty killing role – Samberg ranks second on the team in overall shorthanded ice time this season, often going out as the first defensive pair with Dylan DeMelo – and expects to spread those duties out.
“(Josh Morrissey) is going to get a bit more, (Miller) will jump in there as well. Haydn (Fleury) will jump out with that first group. It all depends where we are in the shifts,” said Arniel. “Haydn is going to see some bigger minutes and it’s a great opportunity for him.”
As for the Wild, they’re coming into tonight’s contest off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday. Still, Minnesota is second in the Central Division, four points behind Winnipeg, and look to possibly get back Kirill Kaprizov.
The Russian forward missed the game against the Flames with a lower-body injury, the result of a knee-on-knee collision during Minnesota’s win over Edmonton, but was a full participant in the line rushes on Monday.
Winnipeg won the first meeting of the season between the two – a 2-1 overtime victory back in October – but every game between these two clubs tends to write its own story.
“This Central Division doesn’t get any easier. Everyone is a tough out,” Arniel said. “These guys, obviously, have been having a great start just like us. They’ve found ways to win hockey games, they’re well structured, good goaltending, and good special teams.”
It was just a few days ago that Arniel considered himself one of Heinola’s biggest fans, and was excited to see him in game action.
Finally, the head coach gets his wish.
“It’s been a long ride for him,” said Arniel.
“He’s waited long enough. We wanted to get him a couple quick games with the Moose and now it’s a case of he’s here, go show us what you can do. He’s pretty excited. I know he’s been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
Puck drop is set for 7 pm CT.
