Winnipeg Jets Gabriel Vilardi said he was “pretty close to being gone for rest of the season”

When Jets winger Gabriel Vilardi went down in the 1st period of the third game of the season against his former Kings team it didn’t look good.

While he was able to skate off on his own we would learn shortly thereafter that he would be out with a sprained MCL that was estimated would take about 4-6 weeks for his recovery.

We’ve seen him join his teammates on the ice and shed the non-contact unform. There was some talk that he might return for the game at the end of the road trip against Nashville but he obviously didn’t return for that one or the game on Tuesday in Winnipeg against Dallas.

The six weeks mark was yesterday and for the first time since before he was injured the forward spoke following practice and he didn’t hold back in the discussion.

It began with a question about the injury occurring as a “freak accident” and something that happens in a contact sport?

“I think you can say that but at the same time no I don’t. Personally I think it was kinda a play that doesn’t need to happen but what am I supposed to do now.”.

Asked if he was disappointed the guy who injured him was former teammate Blake Lizotte. He had this to say:

“I’ve played with him a lot. He’s done a lot of little things like that, stuff that you guys say is an awkward fall. It’s not an awkward fall. It’s someone pushing your feet out from the back, my knee gets caught under me and then he tackles me. It’s that simple. I was pretty close to being gone for the rest of the season so it’s frustrating to look at stuff like that and think about it. Obviously I don’t think his intent is to hurt me but when you make plays like that it’s a stupid play and it’s frustrating to think that guy sits in the box for two minutes and then I have to deal with what I have dealt with for the past month and a half but that’s life. Now I’m here and looking forward to playing again, just having fun again. It’s tough when you’re by yourself and recovering.”

He was asked about his timeline for recovery which as indicated above was projected as 4-6 weeks. The interesting comment from him was that he’s still dealing with stuff despite being close to returning:

“….I’m still dealing with some stuff that I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of the year and that’s part of playing hockey. Everyone deals with those types of things….”

Certainly sets up an interesting re-match with the Kings in LA. in two weeks.

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