Winnipeg Jets’ Rick Bowness back, Gabriel Vilardi nearing return

The Winnipeg Jets have their head coach back for the start of a pretty crucial five-game homestand.

Rick Bowness rejoined the team on Tuesday after undergoing what the team called a minor medical procedure last week.

Bowness missed their past four games, with associate coach Scott Arniel running the bench in his absence. Bowness said on Tuesday he’s doing much better.

“We had to deal with a couple of things,” Bowness said. “Just the body reminding me I’m 69 and not 39.”

The Jets had a 1-3 record while Bowness was gone.

There was another sight for sore eyes during Tuesday morning’s game-day skate. Forward Gabriel Vilardi skated with the rest of his teammates in a regular jersey for the first time since being diagnosed with an enlarged spleen nearly two weeks ago. That’s no longer an issue, but after missing their past 13 games over the last month while also dealing with an upper-body injury, it’s going to take him a bit to get back up to speed.

“We haven’t seen him for a while,” Bowness said. “He didn’t come on the road trip with us. But I was out there early with him and he’s skating around and he looks good. Now we need to take him every day and get our coaches pushing him and find out where he is, conditioning-wise, and playing through any discomfort. We won’t know those things until we get him on the ice, like today, and push him and keep pushing him and see where he is.

“He’ll skate with us every day.”

The Jets host the Edmonton Oilers later on Tuesday.

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