Ville Heinola knows what he has to do to maintain his spot on the Jets roster…
-KEN WIEBE
VILLE Heinola realizes his stat line is rather inconspicuous. Although the sample size is relatively small with only 12 games played this season, Heinola knows the heat is on for him to do more as the jockeying for position on the Winnipeg Jets defensive depth chart continues.
"I don't have any points or anything, so now I feel like I have to start doing something (offensively) if I want to play and want to stay in the lineup," said Heinola. "But the first thing for me is taking care of the D-zone."
Heinola has been taking care of that part of the equation, as he's been on the ice for six goals for and just one against during five-on-five since he returned from an ankle issue that emerged on the first day of training camp in September.
After missing nearly half of last season, being sidelined right out of the gate wasn't exactly a recipe for success for someone trying to establish himself as an NHL regular. Heinola worked hard during rehab and is finally starting to feel like himself again.
"The body feels better every day. It finally feels like I'm finally getting the game shape back and the legs underneath me," said Heinola. "I didn't even play since last May, so it takes a little time to get used to all of the things and the biggest thing for me is that when I do stuff on the ice, I don't have to think about it. It comes naturally and the last couple of games it's been better. But I feel like inside of me there's a lot more that I can give. I just have to find ways to produce more. You have to be patient with it."
After the Jets held an optional workout Friday, assistant coach Dean Chynoweth was asked about patience and how much of it is required when it comes to expectations for a prospect such as Heinola, who was chosen 20th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft.
"Wow, that's a good question," said Chynoweth, who runs the defence. "I would say that every team goes through injuries like this, so depending on the depth of your minor league team ... We're in a situation where we have veteran NHL players that are the depth guys, so that made that transition probably easier, to bring those guys in and out that have NHL experience, than bringing up a young guy from the Moose that hasn't played yet or is just starting out with it. But patience, that's your call. I've got lots of patience."
The same hasn't been said for the fan base when it comes to Heinola's development.
Because he made the Jets unexpectedly out of training camp in the fall of 2019 as an 18 year old and suited up for eight NHL games before he was sent to the Manitoba Moose and eventually returned to play the rest of the season in Finland, Heinola's timeline got skewed.
Then the combination of the pandemic and the original ankle injury he suffered in the final pre-season game in 2023 set things back further.
Although he's still only 23 years old, it feels like Heinola should have established himself as an NHL regular by now.
That's not really relevant to how this chapter of the story will unfold.
Even with Dylan Samberg (broken foot) and Haydn Fleury (lower body) sidelined with injuries, Heinola is trying to show he deserves more ice time and to be in the lineup regularly.
"I know my role on the third pairing. We don't want to get scored on," said Heinola, who has 47 games of NHL experience on his resume. "We'll try to help as much as we can on the offensive side of things. You just have to make the right reads, as to when to play offence and when to maybe not jump or take the extra risk. You just have to know when is the right time to do that."
This isn't an easy balance to strike for any defenceman, especially an offensive one who has thrived on the power play at previous levels, but isn't seeing any special-teams duty now.
"It's hard. If you do too much, it's probably going to cost you," said Heinola. "When you know you can do it, it's a green light to do it. It's just finding the right time to do it and that's probably the learning experience for me."
No doubt that learning will continue, though Heinola knows there's a level of urgency attached to his situation when you consider Samberg is inching closer to returning to the lineup. Once that happens, there's one fewer spot in the regular rotation available to him.
"When you're injured as a young guy, you lose that development time, and you've got to find a way to get it back," said Chynoweth. "We have to do a good job in trying to prepare him and get him ready for those situations. So he's been in and out at different times. There's been stretches that have been good, and other stretches where I'm sure he'd like to be better. But that's part of the learning process, especially when you miss that amount of time."
When it comes to trying to make up for lost time, Dylan Coghlan did a great job of jumping back into the Jets' lineup earlier this week when he suited up in consecutive NHL games for the first time this season.
"I honestly felt like my game was right where it needed to be and I'm trying to show (coach Arniel) that I can do it every night," said Coghlan. "I just trust myself and trust the people around me. That's huge too, to be able to trust your teammates and having them know that I'm going to make that play and me knowing that they're going to be in the right area for me to be able to make the play."
