Gabriel Vilardi to Play on Saturday

Fully Recovered, vilardi is set to return for winnipeg's stretch run

The Winnipeg Jets will have another weapon back in their arsenal for Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada tilt vs. the Ottawa Senators.

On Friday afternoon, Gabriel Vilardi skated on the team's top line and power play unit, as he put the finishing touches on his recovery from an enlarged spleen.

"Yeah, it was very weird, very weird first week when you’re figuring out what was going on," Vilardi said following Friday's skate. "A lot of different symptoms and not a lot of answers. Spent a lot of time in MRI machines CT scans that type of stuff. So yeah, it was weird, but figured it out eventually and now we're here.

"This was a little different," he added. "Wasn't able to do much, in the gym as well. It was a good two, two-and-a-half weeks doing not much as opposed to my knee injury, I could do upper-body stuff, kind of stay in shape. This one was different. But this past week, I've been fortunate enough to feel good. My spleen is back down to normal size and I was able to push myself. Hopefully, I can get up to speed as quickly as I can. There's no game simulation here. I can practice for a week and it's not going to simulate a game. I just gotta get in there, especially this time of year, everything is happening so fast out there, you gotta grind for every goal."

As for the cause of his injury, Vilardi really did not find any closure.

"We did blood work, didn't have mono. It was just enlarged. It was weird."

Having sat out since February 29, Vilardi is champing at the bit to get back on the ice in a game scenario and help his struggling team put the puck in the net.

"I mean, obviously, your first thought is always you want to be on the ice with a team and battling and that sucks to see the team you know, struggling and losing and you want to be out there and helping and be a part of that battle," he said. "So obviously, there's that aspect of it, in terms of the power play. I mean, we had a lot of good looks. Just watching the last few games, obviously we're not scoring but excited to get back out there and like I said, just be a part of that grind and feeling like I'm part of the team, just being by myself, just kind of hanging out. It's not really the best feeling, so excited for that again."