Ville Heinola injury exposes Jets' lack of defensive depth

Man, Ville Heinola just can’t catch a break. 

Last year was supposed to be his year. 

After three years of being slow-cooked in the AHL — where he evolved as one of the league’s best defencemen — he was a virtual lock to make the Winnipeg Jets’ 2023-24 opening night roster following a strong pre-season showing. But that long-overdue opportunity would disintegrate after he broke his ankle in Winnipeg’s final pre-season game, shelving him for three months and killing his chances of securing a full-time gig. 

Then, two days into this year's training camp, Jets coach Scott Arniel announced that Heinola had an infection on the same ankle he broke last year. There’s no telling how long he’ll be out. 

And now, the elephant in Winnipeg’s dressing room comes to the forefront — their defence corps. While Heinola wasn't a lock to be a saving grace for the team’s top-four, his potential emergence provided a glimmer of hope for a Jets team that had lost Brenden Dillon this summer. Even with Dillon the Jets’ lack of depth on the blue line was the crux of their first-round implosion against a star-studded Colorado Avalanche team last spring.

Last year, the Jets prided themselves on being a stingy 5-on-5 defensive team throughout a 110-point campaign where they finished tied for first in goals against per game (2.41) and their goaltending tandem of Connor Hellebuyck and Laurent Brossoit won the William M. Jennings Trophy. But under the hood, the team’s defensive play tailed off in the second half of the regular season and spiralled in the post-season, where they surrendered 5.60 goals per game. 

That series laid bare what many had bit their tongue on throughout the Jets’ strong regular season — Winnipeg needed another top-four defenceman to be a legitimate playoff threat.

An uneventful free agency forced the Jets to look internally, with Heinola being a prime candidate to earn some of the extra minutes that were up for grab. Now, they’ll have to look elsewhere.

Replacing Dillon With Dylan

Naturally, Dylan Samberg is the number one candidate to grab hold of Brenden Dillon’s old role, as he did in Games 4 and Game 5 against Colorado, when Dillon got hurt.

Samberg, 25, is coming off an encouraging sophomore year where he recorded 18 points and posted solid underlying numbers in a third-pairing role. The 6-foot-4 stay-at-home defenceman doesn't jump out to the naked eye, but he’s got high-end defensive awareness and a knack for killing plays. And he’s got plenty of believers within both the Jets’ boardroom and dressing room.

“He does a really good job of closing off space and he’s good with his stick,” Jets defencemen Dylan DeMelo told Sportsnet.ca on Saturday morning. “With the physical tools he has, I don’t see why he can’t be like a Jaccob Slavin or a Gustav Forsling. I think he can be that type of big, rangy guy that moves well and can defend. The next level for him would be to [produce] more offence. But to me, he’s got all the makings to be a quality top-four D-man.”

While Samberg isn’t a gifted offensive talent, his poise with the puck came a long way last year and he can make a good first pass to facilitate a zone exit. You shouldn’t expect Samberg to replace Dillon’s eight goals last year — he’s scored just three goals in 156 career NHL games — but that won’t matter if he can shoulder heavy 5-on-5 usage and continue to be an asset on the penalty kill. 

The Chibby Show

Nikita Chibrikov could very well become a fan favourite one day. 

Chibrikov, 21, was one of the few bright spots during the Jets’ first pre-season game against the Minnesota Wild, which they lost 5-2. The five-foot-nine Russian winger generated four shots — a few of which were scoring chances — was unrelenting in board battles, and never shied away from delivering a hit. 

“He’s a competitive guy. He doesn’t care how big the opposition is. He has a little bite to his game, which I like,” Arniel said after Saturday’s game. “But you can tell he has a lot of confidence.”

Chibrikov is coming off his first pro season in North America, where he recorded 17 goals and 47 points with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and scored his first career NHL goal during an end-of-year one-game audition. On top of his motor, the 2021 second-round pick has a cannon of a shot and he’s got the tools to be a valuable secondary scorer at the NHL level. But even if he has a lights-out camp, will the Jets give him a serious look to crack the roster this year? 

The Jets have been reluctant to separate their third-line trio of Nino Niederreiter, Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton, but one ought to wonder if Chibrikov will get some reps alongside Lowry during exhibition play. While it's hard to envision the Jets demoting Niederreiter to the fourth line, Chibrikov’s snarl would be a perfect complement to Lowry and Appleton — who are exceptional at shutting down opponents’ top lines and sustaining offensive zone pressure — and he’s capable of producing a high volume of shots, like Niederreiter. 

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