Latest on Winnipeg Jets defenceman Ville Heinola from assistant coach Brad Lauer

There was some buzz when folks saw defenceman Ville Heinola on the Jets road trip back on November 4th. Previously he had been back in Finland following surgery to repair his fractured ankle suffered on the 5th of October in the final pre-season game against the Senators.

We saw him today walking around hockey for all centre which naturally garnered a question to assistant coach Brad Lauer who spoke following practice. Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press inquired as to how close Heinola is to skating, either on his own or with the team.

“I think just seeing him around is great. I’m not sure the timeline with his injury, where he’s at right now. I know he’s made some good progress. But like I say it’s great to see him walking around without the crutches, without the chair and all that. So I’m hoping he’s getting close.”

As indicated above he sustained the ankle injury back on October 5th and on October 9th head coach Rick Bowness advised that the surgery went well and that “It’s going to be a minimum of eight weeks and then we’ll start addressing it again then.”

From then until now, puts it between five and six weeks since that assessment so there is still likely to be some time before he is ready to go. Even when he gets back on the ice and up to speed you have to think he’ll be with the Moose for a stretch as they get his game conditioning up.