Gabriel Vilardi took an important step in his injury recovery on Tuesday.
Winnipeg Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi took part in the team's morning skate on Tuesday.
Not only did he take a few line rushes and participate in team drills, he actually did so in a full-contact sweater, indicating his recovery from an undisclosed upper-body injury and an enlarged spleen.
Post-skate, head coach Rick Bowness - who also returned to the team following a medical procedure on Tuesday - made it clear that Vilardi would return to the fold when able.
“We haven’t seen him for a while,” Bowness said. “He didn’t come on the road trip with us. But I was out there early with him and he’s skating around and he looks good."
"Now we need to take him every day and get our coaches pushing him and find out where he is, conditioning-wise, and playing through any discomfort. We won’t know those things until we get him on the ice, like today, and push him and keep pushing him and see where he is."
Neither Bowness nor Vilardi are in any rush to get back into the lineup and risk future injury or re-aggravate anything due to a lack of lung/leg health following his most recent stretch away from the team.
“We have to push him to see how much discomfort there’s going to be when we really push him,” Bowness said. “It’s one thing to work him out on your own and everything else, but when you get one of our coaches pushing him we know how far we can push him. We’ve got to find out.”
The 24-year-old has been out of the lineup with an upper-body injury since February 29.
It was later announced that he had also been dealing with an enlarged spleen, with no determined timeline.
In 38 games this season, Vilardi has 16 goals and 30 points.
The 2017 11th overall pick has 57 goals and 108 points in 190 regular season games for the Los Angeles Kings and Jets.