Time for Jets to wave white flag on Ville Heinola

WINNIPEG — For a split second back in November, it felt like Ville Heinola might actually get some leash. 

The 23-year-old had recovered from a training camp ankle injury — his second in as many years — and Scott Arniel made it seem like Heinola was very much part of the team’s plans. 

“It’s been a tough two years for him. I’m probably his biggest fan here. I wanna see him,” Arniel said after the Winnipeg Jets’ Nov. 19 morning skate.

Ironically, Arniel’s endorsement came four days before Dylan Samberg broke his foot. 

Naturally, when a coach praises a player like that, you’d think he’d get a Grade-A opportunity to prove his worth. But of course, as it’s been the case throughout the 2019 first-round pick’s time in Winnipeg, he received sub-optimal deployment throughout his audition. 

Initially, Heinola was paired with Colin Miller on the third pair. Despite showing signs of rust, Heinola fared relatively well in his first two games of the season — against two heavy opponents in Minnesota and Los Angeles — and it wasn’t just his puck skills that shined, with the young Finn making several key defensive stops. 

“There were a lot of things I liked,” Arniel told reporters after Heinola’s season debut against the Wild. “He has patience and poise, we know that, especially on the breakouts.”

After those two games, though, the left-shot blue-liner spent seven of the remaining 12 games of Samberg’s absence playing on the right side alongside Logan Stanley. That pairing jived as poorly as you’d expect, as they struggled to clear pucks out of the zone, were continuously hemmed in for prolonged periods and displayed zero chemistry. 

Was that all solely Stanley’s fault? Of course not. But you can’t discount the argument that Heinola wasn’t put in a position to succeed.

That said, right or wrong, the whole “give Ville an opportunity” narrative could be a thing of the past soon. 

Since Samberg returned on Jan. 10, Heinola, who has recorded just one point in 16 games this year, has been a healthy scratch in all but two of the team’s last 13 games. Winnipeg’s coaching staff has not-so-subtly appointed Stanley as their fifth defenceman and given that this team could very well add another blue liner before the deadline — there’s really no path for Heinola to play meaningful games this year. Even if there’s an injury. Or two. 

And really, it’s not practical to keep him around. 

As uncomfortable as it may be, it’s time for Winnipeg to wave the white flag on this once-prized prospect.

Heinola’s development strikes a chord with a lot of fans. 

To be clear, the pro-Heinola folk don’t bang the drum for the player he is now, but rather, for the player he can be. Or what he could have been if things were handled differently. And it’s easy to understand the frustration. We’re talking about a player who cracked the Jets’ opening night roster as an 18-year-old — registering one goal and five points in eight games — and became an elite AHL talent. All along, the Jets preached patience with Heinola. Which is why his lack of opportunity at the NHL level has left a sour taste in many people’s mouths.

But let’s remember where this team is at. The Jets are in win-now mode. At this stage, potential has to be thrown out the door. It’s all about the present.

Now, that may seem hypocritical. You could argue Stanley has received the opportunity he has because of what the Jets hope he can do, rather than what he actually does. Love it or hate it, we all know why Stanley is a lineup regular — he adds size to one of the NHL’s smallest blue lines.

Even the most loyal Heinola truthers couldn’t argue that the player he is today would add value to a playoff lineup.

Haydn Fleury is almost certainly ahead of him in the pecking order if there’s an injury and if Winnipeg adds a body (or several) ahead of the deadline, they’re going to have to subtract someone from their roster anyway. Heinola is no longer waiver-exempt and while moving him would, in theory, impact the team’s depth — Dylan Coghlan and Isaak Phillips, who are down with the Moose, are more than serviceable as eighth or ninth (or 10th) defencemen options.

One could argue that he’s still on the young-ish side and with a year remaining on his $850,000 deal, perhaps he could provide surplus value next year. But who are we kidding? What’s going to change from this year to next year, in terms of the archetype Winnipeg wants on their bottom pair? 

Nothing. 

There’s certainly a sunk-cost fallacy element here, too. Trading Heinola now, when his value is at an all-time low, is a hard pill to swallow for an organization that prides itself on drafting and developing its talent.

And considering Scott Perunovich — who has played double the amount of NHL career games as Heinola (52) and has been an NHL regular over the last two years — just went for a conditional fifth-round pick, it’s hard to foresee the Jets netting better draft capital than that. 

But in a year where the Jets are expected to wheel and deal by offloading lots of future picks, recouping any bit of draft capital is a positive. 

After all, it may not be long before Heinola has zero trade value altogether. 

More from Sportsnet

Jets having fun soaring to new heights on special teams

Why the Jets need to go all-in, and what that could look like