Vilardi Injury Update, Illness Strikes Jets Defenseman Schmidt

The Winnipeg Jets have been without forward Gabriel Vilardi for two games now and are set to miss a third game without their first-line right winger. He was previously sent back to Winnipeg for evaluation, it was revealed on Tuesday morning (March 5) that he’s dealing with a minor injury that has flared up over a couple of days. Head coach Rick Bowness confirmed that Gabriel Vilardi will not play tonight versus the Seattle Kraken, but did mention that he will travel with the team in their upcoming road trip. Bowness would not expand past the fact that Vilardi is traveling and around the team again and would not specify anything past an upper-body injury.

Coming off of a three-game road trip, the Winnipeg Jets have rallied behind each other and pushed through the adversity they’ve faced lately. They lost 4-1 in a rather poor showing to Dallas, and what seemed to carry through to their game at Carolina, Winnipeg erased a three-goal deficit to steal the game. The same thing happened in Buffalo, Winnipeg didn’t want to go away quietly and managed to score multiple goals to erase the deficit they faced and push the game in their favor.

Bowness was quick to mention that the team has been dealing with illness and it has struck the majority of the players. He followed up his comments by mentioning that a few players are playing through illness and they’re taking this setback one day at a time.

As the media availability progressed, Rick Bowness confirmed that Nate Schmidt will come out of the lineup for Logan Stanley as the veteran defenseman is out with illness. Per Bowness, Schmidt has been the hardest hit throughout the team/league. Multiple other players still battling illness but playing through it.