Jets Sign Gabriel Vilardi To Six-Year Contract

The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Gabriel Vilardi to a six-year, $45MM contract extension. The deal was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It will carry an annual cap hit of $7.5MM. As Friedman points out, Vilardi will avoid salary arbitration with the Jets with this contract. He had filed for arbitration earlier in the summer, after entering restricted-free agency with a $3.6MM qualifying offer a the start of the off-season.

PuckPedia reports that the deal carries a $3.5MM salary and a $3.5MM signing bonus for next season with a straight $7.6MM salary in each of the remaining five years.  There is no trade protection in the contract.

Winnipeg will check a big box off of their summer list with this move. Vilardi was Winnipeg’s second-highest scoring free agent this year. The other, Nikolaj Ehlers, signed a six-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes on July 3rd. Winnipeg had more control over RFA Vilardi, who will commit to a long-term deal with the club after spending the last two seasons on a short-term, prove-it contract.

The Jets acquired Vilardi’s negotiating rights alongside Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a 2024 second-round pick in the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 2023. It put the Jets in the awkward position of rewarding Vilardi for scoring 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games of Los Angeles’ 2022-23 season, after scoring 37 points in 69 career games in the prior three seasons. Winnipeg landed on a two-year, $6.88MM bridge contract.

With a new deal in place, the Jets honed in on adjusting Vilardi to the top-six, winger role that he began to take on in his latter years with the Kings, after entering the NHL as a center. Vilardi took on the role well, and scored 22 goals and 36 points in his first 47 games with the Jets. Unfortunately, those performances were spread around numerous injuries that forced Vilardi out of much of October, November, and March during the 2023-24 season.

An injury-shortened season to kick off a bridge contract swelled the pressure around Vilardi’s 2024-25 season. He entered the year not only playing for a contract, but looking to vindicate multiple seasons of promising scoring cut short by injuries. Vilardi jumped at the opportunity right out of the gates, scoring eight points in 10 games of October and 14 points in 14 games of November. His scoring carried through the extent of the season, and he finished the year with career-highs across the board – including 27 goals and 61 points in 61 games. He added four more points in nine playoff games.

Vilardi will be rewarded for a hot year with a contract in line with many high-scoring wingers entering their prime. The Utah Mammoth recently signed 23-year-old winger JJ Peterka to a five-year, $38.5MM contract; and the Toronto Maple Leafs signed 22-year-old Matthew Knies to a six-year, $46.5MM deal. Vilardi is older than both Peterka and Knies, but earns a richer annual salary than an older peer like Brock Boeser, who just inked a seven-year, $50.75MM contract in Vancouver.

A new, long-term deal will commit Vilardi to a major role in Winnipeg. Ehlers leaves behind a hardy, second-line role and routine power-play presence. Some of those minutes will be eaten up by summer signing Gustav Nyquist, and potentially prospects like Brad Lambert, but Vilardi could still see a boost from the 18 minutes of ice time he averaged this season. He has totaled 138 points in 181 games over the last three seasons — an 82-game pace of 33 goals and 63 points. With that scoring pace, and good health, on his side; Vilardi could be set to start his new deal with another breakout this season.

Photo courtesy of Terrence Lee-Imagn Images.