Vilardi bitter about ex-teammate’s injury-causing ‘stupid play’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/11/2023 (658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Time clearly hasn’t healed all wounds when it comes to Gabe Vilardi.

Sure, the Winnipeg Jets forward has recovered from a knee injury suffered Oct. 17 and it’s likely he’ll be in the lineup Thursday night when the Edmonton Oilers come to town. But the way he got hurt — on a questionable hit from his former Los Angeles Kings teammate, Blake Lizotte — has left a painful, lasting mark.

“It’s a stupid play,” Vilardi, 24, speaking with media for the first time since he went down, said after Wednesday’s practice. “And it’s frustrating to think that guy sits in the (penalty) box for two minutes and then I have to deal with what I’ve dealt with for the past month and a half.”

Vilardi and Lizotte spent four years together in southern California prior to Vilardi’s trade to Winnipeg last summer.

“I’ve played with him a lot. He’s done a lot of little things like that,” said Vilardi. “It’s stuff that you guys say it was 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 think it’s a play that doesn’t need to happen. But what am I supposed to do now?”

Lizotte was assessed a minor for tripping, while Vilardi initially feared a tear to his MCL rather than the resulting sprain.

“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,” he said.

“Obviously, I don’t think his intent was to hurt me, but you make plays like that. But that’s life, now I’m here. I’m looking forward to playing again and just having fun. It’s tough when you’re by yourself.”

Vilardi was asked if Lizotte reached out to him following the incident.

“That’s between me and him. I’m not going to get into that,” he said.

In case you were wondering, the Jets face the Kings again on Dec. 13 in Los Angeles. That could be spicy.

Vilardi was the prized return for Pierre-Luc Dubois, with Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari also part of the hefty package to the Jets (along with a 2024 second-round draft pick). He missed much of training camp with a flu bug that worked its way through the dressing room, but began the regular season on a top line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor.

“It’s good to see the team winning, but at the same time, being the guy who is on the outside looking in … these guys are 20 games in and I really haven’t done much, yet.”–Gabe Vilardi

The 11th-overall pick from the 2017 NHL Draft had one assist in his first two games before disaster struck as he faced his former squad for the first time. “It’s just bad timing,” said Vilardi.

“It’s good to see the team winning, but at the same time, being the guy who is on the outside looking in, almost? Obviously, everyone does their best to make you feel like you’re part of the team. And you do feel like you’re part of the team, but the new guy, it would have been nice to come in and get familiar and play and get comfortable, as opposed to not playing hockey. These guys are 20 games in and I really haven’t done much, yet.”

Vilardi said the mental side of being out of action has also been challenging, especially for a guy who was just getting to know his new hockey home and teammates.

“There’s a lot of physical things but it’s easy to go in the gym and just put your head down and grind. I think a lot of guys will do that. It’s tougher mentally to be at home when the team’s on the road and you’re like, ‘What am I going to do here for the next five days?’” said Vilardi.

Assuming there’s no last-minute issues, Vilardi will likely be eased back in against the Oilers, as he skated on the fourth line Wednesday with David Gustafsson and Morgan Barron.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby would come out of the lineup.

“I’m just happy to be playing, It doesn’t really matter, I just want to play,” Vilardi said. “I haven’t played and these guys are 20 games in. It’s not like I have high expectations on myself. I can’t have the expectations for me to come in (Thursday) and dominate or anything. I’m just going to try my best.”

Vilardi is now sporting a knee brace and expects he’ll have to wear it for the foreseeable future.

Despite two consecutive regulation losses, the Jets are at 12-7-2 through 21 games and in the thick of the race for top spot in the Central Division.

“We’re deep. We’re resilient,” said Vilardi.

“I think it can be any line that can spark the team on any given night. One night it’s the third line, one night it’s the first line that’s really getting the guys going. But we’re a deep team and that’s good. That’s what you need to make playoff runs and be a good team throughout the season because guys go down.”

Jets head coach Rick Bowness, while tempering expectations, said it’s a relief to have the young power forward on the cusp of a return.

“We’re going to have to be a little patient with him, he’s missed a lot of time,” he said Wednesday.

“The game has ramped up a lot from when he was playing in early October, the speed of the game, everyone is at the top of their game now. So we’re going to have to be patient with him and work him in slowly. If he plays then we’ll start him on the fourth line, get him on the power play and see how he’s doing. Now I say that but if we see he’s fitting right in, he’s picking up right where he left off then we’ll move up his minutes.”

Vilardi will likely slot right back in on the top power play unit, which has struggled mightily including going 0-for-4 in Tuesday’s 2-0 loss to the Dallas Stars to kick off a four-game homestand. That included two lengthy 5-on-3 advantages.

“He gives you a totally different look when he’s on the ice. He’s a big man around the net that’s hard to move out of there,” said Bowness.

“You can say, ‘Go to the net, go to the net,’ but you’ve got to be big and strong and physical and have that desire to stay there — and he has all that. Plus, he has great hands, he hangs onto the puck, he doesn’t throw it blind. He does a lot of good things down around the net when there’s no play. He uses the half-wall guys really well and he has good timing — when to step in front of the goalie, when to step off to the side as a passing option. So, he brings a lot to the power play.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg