WWYDY(TE): What To Do About Ville Heinola

When he was drafted this past June, not many Jets fans had heard or really knew of @Ville Heinola and those who had were kind of indifferent to the pick of the Finnish defenseman. Good pick to be certain, but a little bit undersized and would still be a year or maybe even two away from the big leagues and that was fine by everyone really. The Winnipeg Jets were facing a bit of a cap crunch with their defensemen this summer, but there still didn’t seem to be a need to rush Ville in at all.

But then Ville had a pretty good rookie camp right after the draft and turned some heads.

And then during the rookie showcase he was by far the best player the Jets had.

Then he had an outstanding regular training camp, played in most of the Jets preseason games and the rave reviews continued to pile up.

Ville would likely be in this spot if the Jets defense was better and not in the current state it’s in, but with early injuries to @Nathan Beaulieu and @Josh Morrissey as well as @Dustin Byfuglien’s absence, Heinola has benefited from holes in the lineup and it’s the state of the Jets defense that further complicates the question the Jets are now rapidly approaching…

What do the Jets do with Ville Heinola?

Most Jets likely know the situation by now. He’s played eight games. Once he plays in his 10th game, his NHL Entry Level Contract kicks in and he’ll become a restricted free agent after the 2022-23 season. It’s also worth keeping in mind that if he collects 40 games as a member of the Jets roster – regardless if he is on the ice or a scratch or on IR, he will have his first year done towards unrestricted free agency which means he could be a UFA as early as age 25.

Unless the Jets are absolutely 100 percent confident that he’s going to be ok playing a full NHL season and will be that much of a difference to the team, it would be a bit short-sighted by the club to burn a year on that contract. The Jets as it stands in the here and now don’t look anything close to an actual Cup contender and even though Heinola has been good, his play isn’t going to be the difference between the Jets making the 2020 NHL playoffs and missing it altogether.

If not else, the Jets can keep him in the AHL, play him top minutes with the Manitoba Moose and not have to worry about a year of his contract being used up. Ville can get used to the North American rinks and style of play all while the team keeps a close eye on his development.

That is the main argument against him being kept in the NHL.

The main argument for keeping him in the NHL is pretty much that he’s already maybe the Jets third or maybe even second best defenseman 11 games into the season. He’s earned a point in three of his last five games played and he’s third in rookie scoring for defensemen. He excels at moving the puck, sees the ice well and at times has shown poise on the ice under high pressure situations that would make veteran NHL defensemen crumble.

Yes, he could develop ok in the AHL, but if you want him to develop into an NHL caliber defenseman, what better way to do it than have him up against NHL offenses, right? Sure he’ll make mistakes, but as we said it’s not like the Jets are contending for anything this season and if you’re going to pay a defenseman to make mistakes, why not let it be a younger defenseman?

Be that team Winnipeg. We’ll support you.