Ville Heinola set to make Jets season debut Wednesday in Vancouver

The Winnipeg Jets are dealing with a good chunk of injuries right now, including a few on the blue line.

Winnipeg has recalled three defencemen from the Manitoba Moose over the past week as the team returned to practice: Elias Salomonsson, Ville Heinola and, most recently, Kale Clague.

The 21-year-old Salomonsson already had 13 games of NHL experience prior to this recall. He’ll unsurprisingly slot back in alongside Dylan Samberg with Neal Pionk out week-to-week due to a new injury.

Another major loss on the blue line is Josh Morrissey. Morrissey suffered an upper-body injury at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Canada’s opening game and played just one period in the tournament. It was later confirmed he will not join the Jets on their upcoming three-game road trip and will be further evaluated by doctors once he returns to Winnipeg.

Winnipeg had three options for the left side of the third pairing, Heinola, Fleury and Clague, but Heinola will get the opportunity Wednesday in Vancouver, where he’ll skate alongside Luke Schenn.

#NHLJets line rushes at morning skate in Vancouver:

Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Perfetti-Lowry-Iafallo
Nyquist-Toews-Namestnikov
Koepke-Barron-Pearson
Duehr

Stanley-DeMelo
Samberg-Salomonsson
Heinola-Schenn
Fleury-Clague
Miller (non-contact)

Comrie
DiVincentiis

Heinola, 24, has three goals and 18 assists for 21 points in 44 games with Manitoba this season. He also brings 53 games of NHL experience, recording one goal and 11 assists for 12 points.

The 5-foot-11 Finnish defenceman was selected 20th overall in the first round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by Winnipeg.

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