Defenceman Ville Heinola will miss eight to 12 weeks with a broken bone in his ankle.
Defenceman Ville Heinola will miss eight to 12 weeks with a broken bone in his ankle.
On Friday, Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness confirmed what was speculated on Thursday evening: Ville Heinola has a broken ankle.
Bowness announced the fracture following the Jets' Friday afternoon practice at hockey for all centre just west of town.
At the moment, the 22-year-old has not undergone surgery and is actually en route back to Finland, where the team will allow him to begin his recovery.
“There's no sense of him sitting around here for that long of time," Bowness said. "So, that first couple of weeks is better being surrounded by his family and when we need him to come back when it’s close to start working out then we’ll bring him back. For now, go be with your family.”
Heinola, who put together by far his best training camp as a member of the Jets, will now have to tough it out for two-to-three months while his bone heals back up. That will then lead to a training assignment with the Manitoba Moose, and the possibility of earning a call-up to the big league.
“He knows we’re all here for him, he knows we’re rooting for him," veteran defenceman Brenden Dillon said. "For him, he’s just gotta get healthy first and foremost, and however long that takes, just try to get back to the level he can get to.”
Nate Schmidt, a fellow blueliner, put it well, calling it a "sh*t burger".
“This game is funny sometimes,” Schmidt reflected. “Whenever you think something could be happening, sometimes you get a sh*t burger, for the lack of a better term. It’s tough to see a guy that was working hard and had a chance and was playing well to have that happen to him."
His coach saw the progress made from last season as well, making the injury that much more of a difficult pill to swallow.
“He worked hard all summer,” his head coach said. “Mentally and physically you get ready for training camp and he’s going to have to do it again.”
Winnipeg concluded its preseason on Thursday with a 3-0 loss to Ottawa and will open the 2023-24 season on Wednesday in Calgary. That game can be viewed live on Sportsnet at 9:00 PM central time.