‘Hope and pray that he’s healthy’: Vilardi out with enlarged spleen

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This article was published 15/03/2024 (574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gabe Vilardi can’t seem to catch a break. And one has to feel for the Winnipeg Jets forward who is now sidelined with an enlarged spleen.

“It obviously sucks. All you do is hope and pray that he’s healthy,” teammate Mark Scheifele said Friday.

Vilardi, 24, missed an eighth consecutive game as the Jets hosted the Anaheim Ducks, and the 28th (out of 66) of the 2023-24 NHL season after suffering two previous injuries. There’s no timetable for a return and he won’t join the Jets on a five-game road trip that begins Sunday in Columbus.

“They’re treating it as best they can. He’s in good hands here,” said coach Rick Bowness.

The diagnosis came as doctors were trying to get to the bottom of another (undisclosed) medical issue which surfaced on Feb. 29 as the Jets were playing a game in Dallas. Vilardi took regular shifts for the first two periods, then sat on the bench for the third. He hasn’t played — or even skated — since.

“He’s a great kid, and he’s overcome a few injuries in his early career. So, you hope when this is behind him he gets a chance to get healthy and play consistently,” Bowness said, of the key return in last summer’s Pierre-Luc Dubois trade.

Vilardi has 16 goals and 14 assists for 30 points in the 38 games he’s played this year. Whether he can return before the regular season ends in just under five weeks from now remains to be seen.

“We certainly miss him,” said Bowness. “He was a big part of the trade last year. And we saw the importance of him on our power play and on our top line when he was able to be given a few games to get his game going. So, yeah, you feel for him.”

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The move heard around the NHL this week certainly caught the attention of Ryan O’Reilly and his Nashville Predators teammates.

Count the veteran centre among those surprised when Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury hustled to the bench and was pulled for an extra attacker in overtime against Nashville last Sunday at Xcel Energy Center.

“It was a heck of a play by them,” O’Reilly told the Free Press earlier this week. “I’ve seen it in the last game of the year when (a team) needs two points (to qualify for the playoffs). It worked out for them.”

Now, had the Predators scored into the empty net to secure the extra point and cost the Wild the original bonus point, we might be having a different conversation. That’s not the case and the praise for Wild head coach John Hynes is warranted.

But what will it mean moving forward? Will it become a more regular occurrence or be more of a one-off?

“Obviously, it was a gutsy call and it worked out,” said Predators head coach Andrew Brunette. “I thought it was interesting and I’m guessing it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. Is it something that’s going to catch on? We’re all in the copycat business.”

Hynes isn’t sure that his bold move is going to become a frequent one.

“It’s not something that you do all the time,” he told reporters in Minnesota. “But I think in our position, we want to be aggressive, we want to get two points. We believe in our group and want to continue to fight to play meaningful games down the stretch and let the chips fall where they may. So I think in the situation we’re in, one point, no point, it’s not going to do us any good. We’ve got to get two points.”

One thing that wasn’t readily apparent to those who weren’t watching the game or involved in it was that there weren’t many opportunities for the Wild to pull the goalie before Matt Boldy scored the eventual game-winner.

“We were prepared. We saw Flower kind of leaking out (of his net) a few times. We just ended up having the puck for most of the overtime,” said Brunette. “So, it was hard to tell if they were really going to do it. They made a great play.”

As for the Predators, they showed why they’re the hottest team in hockey in the 4-2 win over the Jets and it was fitting that Brunette was wearing a Relentless hat during his morning skate availability with reporters.

That’s exactly the style the Predators are playing, displaying incredible effort all over the ice, whether that’s defending or hustling on the backcheck or working hard to create offensive opportunities.

And while his numbers aren’t eye-popping, it looks like goalie Juuse Saros is locked in and providing the type of goaltending folks have come to expect from him over the years.

“He’s incredible. Just an absolute workhorse,” said O’Reilly. “He’s so quick. When he goes side to side with lateral passes, the only time guys are beating him is when they fan on the shot or they don’t get it clean. He’s just dialled in. It’s so impressive to watch.”

The Predators also seemed to get a shot in the arm by the additions that general manager Barry Trotz made prior to the deadline — forwards Jason Zucker and Anthony Beauvillier — and not shipping out pending unrestricted free agents such as defenceman Alexandre Carrier.

“For our group, especially the veteran guys, they deserved it,” said Brunette. “They really believe in this group and to add, gave them a little boost of morality. Selling would have been a tough sled here for the last 20 games. They’re excited about what we have, with how we’re playing and kudos to them for getting us back in this race.”

Brunette made a bold move last month, cancelling a scheduled trip to Vegas where the team had planned to see U2 at The Sphere on what was supposed to be an off day.

Instead of a player revolt, the Predators have responded by playing their best hockey of the season.

“It was really tough. It’s not something you want to do,” said Brunette. “I love having fun but hockey has to come first. It was a bizarre week, with how it went down and it could have (gone) two ways.They could have quit and not do what they want to do or dig in and get us back in the playoff race and they decided as a group to dig in and play our best hockey. All the credit goes to them.”

A quick chat with O’Reilly showed exactly why the leadership ensured there would be no letdown or throwing in the towel.

“It was disappointing. It was something we wanted to do together. It was going to be a cool experience, but if you’re not playing the way you want to, you’re not going to get rewarded for something that’s not going well,”he said.

After all of the chatter about how important it is for teams in the Central Division to finish in top spot to avoid a first-round matchup with either the Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche, the Predators are letting it be known that they won’t exactly be an easy out come playoffs either.

Meanwhile, the Wild continued their week of inspired play with a 2-0 victory over the Ducks that allowed them to pull within four points of the Vegas Golden Knights for the second wild card in the Western Conference.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg