- Vegas signs Ville Heinola to a one-year, one-way deal worth $850,000
- The former 20th overall pick spent last season in the AHL and won World Championship gold with Finland
- Read below for why the one-way structure matters for his shot at NHL minutes
Ville Heinola is getting a fresh start in the desert.
The Golden Knights signed the 25-year-old defenseman to a one-year, one-way contract worth $850,000, Chris Johnston reported early Wednesday.
Vegas made it official as part of a group announcement, folding Heinola in alongside ten other free agents on the opening day of the market.
The one-way structure is the part worth watching. It means Heinola gets paid the same whether he is in Vegas or the minors, and teams do not hand those out to players they plan to stash. The Golden Knights are giving him a real look at NHL ice time.
Heinola went 20th overall to Winnipeg back in 2019, and the talent was never the question. The opportunity was. He kept getting buried behind a deep Jets blue line and spent most of last season with AHL Manitoba, where he put up 21 points in 44 games.
Then came May. Heinola helped Finland win gold at the World Championship and chipped in six points across 10 games, a reminder of the puck-moving ability that made him a first-rounder in the first place.
Now he joins a team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in June before losing to Carolina. The blue line already landed a huge commitment on Day 1, when the Golden Knights locked up Rasmus Andersson on a seven-year deal. Heinola is the low-risk swing at the other end of that spectrum.
If he sticks, Vegas found depth for almost nothing. If he does not, the Golden Knights walk away after one season.
