NHL notebook: Jets’ Vilardi signs 6-year contract worth $7.5M AAV, avoids arbitration

Welcome to another edition of NHL Notebook, where we review current events across the league! It was a relatively quiet lead-in to the weekend, but the transactions keep rolling in, as the Winnipeg Jets secured a major component of their future Friday.

Jets’ Vilardi signs 6-year contract worth $7.5M AAV, avoids arbitration

Winnipeg Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi will be a central pillar of the organization for the foreseeable future. Vilardi signed a six-year contract worth $7.5 million annually, avoiding arbitration. PuckPedia reported that Vilardi’s first year of the deal will be structured as $3.5 million in salary, with a $3.5 million signing bonus, while the rest of the year will see him receive a $7.6 million salary.

The #GoJetsGo signed 25 y/o RFA F Gabriel Vilardi to a 6 Year $7.5M Cap Hit contract

Yr 1: $3.5M Salary, $3.5M Signing Bonus
Yr 2 – 6: $7.6M Salary

Deal covers 4 UFA years and does not include any trade protection

Rep’d by Andy Scott @OctagonHockey https://t.co/WvoZMiypqC

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 18, 2025

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The 25-year-old is coming off the most productive season of his career where he recorded 27 goals and 61 points in 71 games last season, before adding a goal and four points in nine playoff contests. Winnipeg controlled 51.7 percent of the expected goals when Vilardi was on the ice at 5-on-5, while sporting a plus-17 goal differential last season, via Natural Stat Trick.

Vilardi now projects to be the Jets’ first-line right wing through his age-31 season, as he’s rounding into his prime. With the salary cap slated to rise over the next three seasons, this is a deal that will certainly age well for the Jets, at least through the first four seasons barring injury. Vilardi has been a prolific scorer at every level of his career dating back to major junior, and he’s now responsible for commanding top-line production through the duration of the deal.

Winnipeg acquired Vilardi, along with Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari and a 2024 2nd-round pick from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois in June 2023. It’s a move that’s worked out handsomely for the Jets, and Dubois’ tenure with the Kings was short-lived, as he was traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Darcy Kuemper in June 2024.