It has been a long road back to the Winnipeg Jets but it is finally time for Ville Heinola to begin that journey which now begins with today’s recall of him from his conditioning assignment with the Moose of the AHL. He was sent down to Manitoba last Monday with the understanding from Jets head coach Scott Arniel that he would be down for two games and then recalled to join the team in Minneapolis before their game against the Wild tomorrow.
Heinola would get in three days of practice with the Moose as well as playing in two games including the always exciting Thursday morning school day game and then an afternoon contest on Saturday. As one might expect after a player hasn’t played a pro game in seven months his first game was a bit rusty as he worked to get back into the flow of playing against opponents who are not your teammates.
Photo Credit: Jonathan Kozub/Manitoba Moose
He looked better on Saturday afternoon which was confirmed after the game by D coach Eric Dubois who shared these thoughts on Heinola following the 4-2 win over the Wolves.
“….I told him last year I didn’t want to see him anymore but I guess he came back for a couple more games.”
Moose coach Eric Dubois ends his answer on Ville Heinola with a chuckle.
Lots of good insight into conditioning stint for the Jets D man.
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— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) November 24, 2024
We had debated on Saturday’s Illegal Curve Hockey Show when it might be best to get him into the lineup. Would it be Monday against the Wild or perhaps they got him a few days with the team before getting him into a game on Wednesday in Los Angeles against the Kings.
It would seem that the decision was made for them with the news that Dylan Samberg had broken his foot in the 4-1 loss to the Predators on Saturday night. With Logan Stanley already on IR this is a runway that Heinola can try to run with.
