Jets’ Gabe Vilardi out week-to-week with upper-body injury

Winnipeg Jets center Gabe Vilardi will be sidelined on a week-to-week basis after suffering an upper-body injury, Jets head coach Scott Arniel confirmed Monday per team broadcaster Mitchell Clinton.

Through 71 appearances with the Jets this season, Vilardi has already reached career highs in all major offensive categories counting 27 goals, 34 assists, and 61 points. Skating in his second season with the Jets, Vilardi wrapped up the 2023-24 campaign with 36 points counting 22 goals and 14 assists coming in 47 games.

Vilardi was originally acquired by the Jets in the 2023 offseason as part of the deal that sent fellow forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings. Per PuckPedia, Vilardi is in second year of a two-year contract that carries a $3,437,500 cap hit and can become a restricted free agent this coming offseason.

Originally chosen 11th overall by Los Angeles in the 2017 NHL Draft, Vilardi has totaled 270 career contests between the Kings and Jets in which he has collected 90 goals and 85 assists for 175 points. The 25-year-old native of Kingston, Ont., has also added two goals and six assists for eight points in 12 appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

An offensive force in the junior ranks, Vilardi amassed 68 goals and 89 assists for 157 points over 143 appearances split between the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires and Kingston Frontenacs from 2015-18. In 2017, Vilardi was named to the Memorial Cup All-Star Team after putting up seven points in four games at the year-end tournament en route to CHL supremacy.

For the Jets, on the season the club sits atop the Western Conference with a 48-19-4 record and 100 points. Following a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, the Jets will look to return to their winning ways when the club retakes the ice Tuesday against the NHL-leading Washington Capitals.