Winnipeg Jets first round pick suffers scary infection: may miss significant time

In recent weeks, we've learned of some major health scares, particularly involving the Vancouver Canucks, but now, the latest news out of Winnipeg is just as scary. According to Jets Head Coach Scott Arniel, former first-round pick Ville Heinola is dealing with an infection in his ankle, saying "this isn't good" and calling it far more serious than day-to-day.

What's worse is that in a follow up question, he revealed that he doesn't even know what the next steps are in the process to treating the infection and ultimately the recovery for Heinola, with all expectations being that he will miss significant time.

The former first-round pick has played in just 35 NHL games dating back to his debut in 2019/20, tallying 1 goal and 11 points over that time, and this latest update certainly isn't going to help his stock within the organization. That's not quite important at this point however, as all Jets fans are pulling for him to get healthy and to potentially get back on the ice at some point this season, because this scare is much more than hockey.

At 23-years of age, Heinola has dealt with way too many injury issues already, so the hope is that this infection can be controlled soon and taken care of via surgery, so this is a story to certainly keep an eye on moving forward.