WINNIPEG 鈥� Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, Winnipeg head coach Scott Arniel said Monday.
Arniel said the issue is not related to an incident in the first period of Winnipeg's 5-3 loss to visiting Buffalo on Sunday when the puck hit Vilardi's ear.
The 25-year-old has a career-high 27 goals and 61 points in 71 games with the Jets this season.
Vilardi said at the start of training camp his aim was to suit up for a full schedule after being limited to 47 contests in 2024-25.
"It's really disappointing," Arniel said. "He's just done such a fantastic job of his summer training to do some specific things so that he can hope to have an 82-game season. His training, his in-season training, looking after himself, doing all of the right things to get him here.
"It was a little bit of a freak situation."
Arniel said it's unclear if Vilardi will be ready to rejoin the Western Conference-leading Jets in time for the start of the playoffs next month.
Winnipeg is also without defenceman Neal Pionk due to a lower-body injury.
Arniel said the first crack at Vilardi's spot on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor 鈥� along with his power-play duties on the No. 1 unit 鈥� will go to Alex Iafallo.
"Al's been there before," said the coach. "We'll start that way and kind of move forward. We'll go game-to-game."
The Jets host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Tuesday in a showdown of teams with the NHL's best records.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2025.
The Canadian Press
