Winnipeg Jets Gabriel Vilardi shed non-contact uniform

It’s been a long road back for Jets winger Gabriel Vilardi who has been out of the Jets lineup since the October 17th game against his former Kings club when he left in the 1st period with what would turn out to be a sprained MCL. Head coach Rick Bowness at the time said recovery would be between 4-6 weeks.

Before the team took off on their three-game road trip on Monday we heard from associate coach Scott Arniel who indicated there was a “good chance” that Vilardi “might” play in a game this week.

Of course the winger was still wearing a yellow, non-contact jersey.

That changed today with the Jets on the ice in Sunrise, Florida where they are scheduled to take on the Panthers this evening. The team posted a video of Vilardi in a regular white jersey worn by healthy players as he shed the non-contact one for the first time.

From Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press there was this update:

“Gabriel Vilardi has shed his non-contact jersey but he’s working as a D-man, so he’s a step closer to returning but it won’t be tonight.”

The team will get one familiar face back tonight as head coach Rick Bowness has returned to the team following his leave of absence and will be behind the bench as the Jets take on the Panthers.

When asked if Vilardi was an option for Sunday’s game despite the fact the team wouldn’t practice on Saturday, head coach Rick Bowness wasn’t prepared to rule him out.

“I would not rule that out. We’ll see how he does today. I know they’ve been working very hard and he’s responded well. So we got him out of the injured jersey and now he’s in contact. It’s unfortunate we don’t practice tomorrow because of the late arrival in Nashville tonight but we’ll see how he is on Sunday.”

As indicated the Jets are off tomorrow so we will have to wait and see if Vilardi is ready to return on Sunday when they conclude the road trip in Nashville or if the team wants to wait until the game in Winnipeg against the Stars on Tuesday to give him a few more days.