Defencemen Heinola, Samberg to Moose

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This article was published 12/02/2021 (1668 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Winnipeg Jets have reassigned young defencemen Ville Heinola and Dylan Samberg to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

Heinola, 19, and Samberg, 22, were on the Jets’ taxi squad when they were reassigned. Heinola saw action in one NHL game this year, recording 14:22 of ice time in a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators back on Jan. 21. Samberg has not played an NHL game since being signed by the Jets in April following a standout collegiate career at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Both players are expected to be given major roles with the Moose, with the AHL’s All-Canadian Division set to begin their truncated season on Monday.

“These guys are both coming out of amateur hockey and that’s the next phase. Bigger men going to the net, faster reads, having to make the decision to jump into plays. Both of them have an offensive piece to their game, so the confidence to show that to get involved in the play,” Maurice said.

“In a normal NHL season, these guys would be down there and running big minutes. I liked both of their camps a lot. I hadn’t really seen Dylan Samberg, other than a development camp look and it’s not the same thing. I liked the way he handled his camp. Ville looks stronger and faster and that’s what you’re hoping for with him. Good puck-mover, we liked his game (against Ottawa). Both of those guys have got to get into big minutes and they’ve got a heavy schedule with the Moose, which is really, really good for them. So, we’re excited about where they’re at and think that now, in some ways, this crazy situation we’re in will be good because they’ll really get pushed into a lot of games and that will be taxing for them.”

DUBOIS LEAVES PRACTICE: Jets recently acquired centreman Pierre-Luc Dubois left Friday’s practice with some discomfort, leaving his availability up in the air for Saturday’s game versus the Senators.

Maurice was optimistic in his report after the workout, saying that he expected him in the lineup.

“He left the rink fine last night. Something kind of tightened up on him and we couldn’t get it to loosen up today, so we just got him off the ice. We’ll get him checked out,” Maurice said. “I’m going to list him as probable, because that’s how he came to the rink this morning, and we expect him to be player.”

ON THE MEND: Nate Thompson finally made an appearance after missing the last nine games with a lower-body injury. The veteran centreman was donning a yellow jersey, which means he isn’t ready to be subjected to physical contact.

It was last week that Maurice was suggesting Jansen Harkins (lower-body) might be ready to return ahead of Thompson, but that no longer seems to be the case. Harkins, who has missed the last three games, has been skating with the taxi squad.

“They’re still day-to-day,” Maurice said. “But before they’re getting back in they’ve got to get into full practice and get some conditioning back in on them, because they haven’t been able to do a whole heck of a lot.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton