Golden Knights Take a $850K Flyer on a Former First-Rounder Who Never Quite Made It in Winnipeg

Vegas is betting on a reclamation project with some serious draft pedigree. The Golden Knights signed defenseman Ville Heinola to a one-year, one-way contract worth $850,000 on Wednesday, according to the team. He was picked 20th overall by Winnipeg in 2019 and looked like a steal early on. Then things got weird.

Heinola was 18 when he cracked the Jets’ opening night roster and immediately looked like he belonged. He scored a goal and four assists in his first eight games, played nearly 20 minutes a night, and became the first player born after 2000 to register an NHL goal. It felt like the start of something. Instead, it was basically the high point of his time in Winnipeg.

Over six seasons with the Jets, Heinola played just 58 regular-season games. The skill was always visible — he moved the puck well, saw the ice at a high level and produced consistently in the AHL, where he averaged close to a point every two games from the blue line. But the Jets never gave him a real runway. Every time he got close, something got in the way.

Part of it was competition. Winnipeg kept rolling out bigger defensemen like Logan Stanley, Colin Miller and Haydn Fleury, plus assorted veteran options, while Heinola bounced between the press box and Manitoba. He never fully forced his way into the lineup, and the organization appeared to lose patience with his development timeline.

The real gut punch came before the 2023-24 season. Heinola fractured his ankle during training camp and needed surgery. Recovery got complicated. His best chance to lock down a full-time NHL role essentially evaporated before it started.

Because he didn’t reach the required number of NHL games, Heinola qualified as a Group 6 unrestricted free agent this summer. That’s how he slipped out of Winnipeg for nothing. There was some buzz linking him to the New York Rangers before Vegas jumped in.

Now he’s 24, coming off a solid showing for Finland at the IIHF World Championship, and looking at a genuinely fresh start. The Golden Knights have a track record of getting something out of players who needed a change of scenery. Heinola still has the tools that made him a first-round pick five years ago. He just needs to stay healthy and get a real chance.

Vegas is only on the hook for $850,000. That’s basically a lottery ticket with a known brand name on it.