When the Winnipeg Jets traded Jacob Trouba to the New York Rangers in exchange for Neal Pionk and a first-round draft pick for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, I was sceptical. Pionk was a relatively unknown defender and the first-round draft pick was going to be a late round pick. With that pick, the Jets chose defender Ville Heinola twentieth overall—and both him and Pionk have played surprisingly well.
Heinola came to Winnipeg at the start of camp and earned a spot on the opening roster, but playing in the NHL is like a marriage between the team and the player. The player must be right for the team and the team must be right for the player.
The fact that an 18-year-old defender can come to training camp and earn a roster spot says a lot about the player and the team.
Heinola played eight games for the Jets during which he scored one goal and tallied four assists. In these games, Heinola was arguably the third-best defender on the ice while averaging 18 minutes and four seconds of ice time per game.
Heinola’s strong play left many Jets fans scratching their heads. What had happened when the team announced that they had reassigned Heinola to the Finnish league’s Lukko Rauma?
Here are three reasons why I believe it was the right move to send Heinola back to Finland.
1. Avoiding Bad Habits
After replacing Byfuglien, Trouba, Myers, and Chariot with younger and inexperienced defenders, I couldn’t help but think of the phrase “the blind leading the blind.” With Heinola averaging about 18 eighteen minutes of play per game, a lot of his learning was done from the bench, watching other players.
In other words, he was a young and inexperienced defender being mentored by other young and inexperienced defenders. This is how bad habits are formed, and it can cause teams to derail the development of their high-end draft picks.
2. Skill Development
The Jets have a clear plan for Heinola and want him to be a specific type of player. They believe he can be a smart, puck-moving defender who is a power play specialist.
The team has outlined specific areas in which Heinola should improve, and now he can go to Finland to work on his craft in their premier hockey league. He will face teams there that are playing with a more structured and defined system than he would face in the American Hockey League with the Manitoba Moose.
3. Increasing Confidence
Coach Paul Maurice explained it best when he was asked about Heinola returning to Finland.
“I’ve seen 18-year-old defensemen come in and they’ve scored goals and looked good,” Maurice said. “And then by the middle of December, they’re getting pounded one-on-one, they lose their confidence, they don’t touch the puck anymore. Coaches are getting paid to win hockey games, so their minutes are getting cut back and all you’ve done is taken a young kid who’s had a great training camp and turned it into a complete failure by the team.”
Ville Heinola will be a good defender for the Winnipeg Jets one day, but his development is more important than any individual season. Reassigning him to Finland was the right move for the young defender and for the Jets as a whole.