The significance is not lost on Gabriel Vilardi, even if he wasn’t ready to fully lean into it.
The Winnipeg Jets forward was standing in front of reporters on Thursday morning following the morning skate and was faced with a question about what it meant to appear in Game 72 for the first time in his NHL career.
“I know when I first came into it was more of a thing back then, but, I mean, I think I’ve proven now for the most part, that I’ve been healthy for the majority of my seasons,” said Vilardi. “That’s cool. It’s a new career high. But there’s a lot more to be playing for right now than individual stuff.”
ETHAN CAIRNS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
Winnipeg Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi (right) is having a banner year with the club. Going into Thursday night’s action against the Colorado Avalanche — his career-high 72nd game in a single regular season — the forward had already tied last season’s career-high goal record (27) and sat two points back of tying his career-high 61 points record.
That Vilardi was more interested in discussing other matters is no surprise.
Having to miss games due to injury is no fun for anyone, especially when it derailed several of Vilardi’s highly-productive seasons, both during his time with the Jets and the Los Angeles Kings.
When you’ve spent as much time having to rehab injuries, having to relive those challenges wouldn’t be something anyone would be looking forward to.
Upon his arrival in the blockbuster deal for Pierre-Luc Dubois, Vilardi spoke about the importance of being available for the bulk of the games on the schedule.
After being limited to 47 games in his first season with the Jets due to knee and spleen injuries, Vilardi appeared in the first 71 games last season before suffering an upper-body injury against the Buffalo Sabres that knocked him out of the final 11 outings and the first four in the first-round series with the St. Louis Blues.
Make no mistake, this isn’t just about showing up for work and clocking in to watch the games played pile up, Vilardi is having an outstanding season on a number of fronts.
He went into Thursday’s action tied for his career high in goals (27) and two points shy of the 61 he had last season (which was also a career-best).
Vilardi has spent a good chunk of the season on the Jets’ top line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, but he’s recently done some solid work alongside captain Adam Lowry and Cole Perfetti.
That trio has provided some of the secondary scoring this season — an area that has plagued the Jets throughout the first 60-plus games or so.
“We’ve had a lot of good looks,” said Vilardi, who was originally chosen 11th overall by the Kings in the 2017 draft. “We’re not, necessarily scoring as much as we’d like.”
That’s vintage Vilardi — always hungry for more.
It’s one of the reasons Jets head coach Scott Arniel discussed moving Vilardi off the top line in an effort to provide a bit more balance in the lineup.
Sure, there are still times when the Jets are looking for offence when Vilardi might get bumped back up the depth chart — his ability to drive his own line has been an important development.
“He doesn’t change if he’s playing with (Scheifele) and KC or if he gets out with (Perfetti) and (Lowry),” said Arniel. “He knows where he has to get to. He plays that lower half of the ice in the offensive zone. Puck possession. He buys time for Fetts or Low to get open or get to the slot or find an open area and that’s what he does well.
“As much as we talk about the power play and his goal scoring ability, he’s a really good passer and he does make great plays. And you just see the confidence in him now. He knows what’s on the line for us as a group and as a team. We need more than one line scoring. We talked about it with him moving to that line and he was the first to say, ‘I’ve got no issues playing with those two guys.’ He’s a guy that we needed to step up for this last stretch run and he’s done a good job of that.”
That slick passing ability was on display in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights when he found Perfetti for a backdoor tap-in on a two-on-one rush.
Vilardi shrugged his shoulders when asked about the pass in question, which got plenty of play on highlight reels.
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Winnipeg Jets Game Days
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.
“Yeah, just reading off the D and what he’s doing,” said Vilardi, who is averaging just under 19 minutes of ice time per game. “I saw he was sliding, so once he initiated that, I knew I could sauce it in time to get it up and down for (Perfetti) there.”
Vilardi was more interested in talking about the Jets play without the puck for the majority of time coming out of the Olympic break.
“It’s been much better,” said Vilardi, who suited up in his 342nd career NHL game on Thursday night. “I mean, other than maybe the game against Anaheim here, that was kind of a sloppy game in Boston. But even in that game against Boston, they had a few weird goals. I think we’ve been fairly on with our structure and playing more in five-man units, at least for me.
“I don’t know what you guys see, but I think from what I’ve seen, it looks a little bit better.”
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Ken Wiebe is a sports reporter for the Free Press, with an emphasis on the Winnipeg Jets. He has covered hockey and provided analysis in this market since 2000 for the Winnipeg Sun, The Athletic, Sportsnet.ca and TSN. Ken was a summer intern at the Free Press in 1999 and returned to the Free Press in a full-time capacity in September of 2023. Read more about Ken.
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