Winnipeg Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi will be out of the lineup indefinitely.
The Winnipeg Jets have been dealt another blow.
This time, by way of an enlarged spleen - Gabe Vilardi's enlarged spleen, that is.
On Friday, Jets head coach Rick Bowness announced that the team's first-year forward has recently been diagnosed with an enlarged spleen.
This was discovered as a result of ongoing diagnosis with his current upper-body injury. It is separate from the undisclosed injury that has kept him out of the lineup all of March.
“He’s a great kid, and he’s overcome a few injuries in his early career,” Bowness said. “So you hope when this is behind him he gets a chance to get healthy and play consistently. We certainly miss him. He was a big part of the trade last year. And we saw the importance of him on our power play and on our top line when he was given a few games to get his game going. So yeah, you feel for him.”
Last suiting up on February 29, Vilardi missed most of the second half of Winnipeg's game against Dallas and since that point, Bowness has been rather hush-hush on his injury status.
From day-to-day, Vilardi has since shifted to week-to-week, and is now expected to be out indefinitely.
“At this point there’s no timetable,” Bowness said. “They’re treating it as best they can.”
Again, the enlarged spleen is not the injury he suffered on February 29, but was discovered during his recovery process.
So far, of Winnipeg's 65 games this season, Vilardi has skated in 38. He missed time in chunks so far this year, and has been out of the lineup 27 times.
The 24-year-old has 16 goals and 30 points in his 38 contests this season.
The Jets face the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at Canada Life Centre, before heading out on a five-game road trip through the Eastern Conference.