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Ville Heinola

#34 · Defence · Vegas Golden Knights

Born Mar 2, 2001 in Honkajoki, FIN (age 25) · 6'0", 186 lb · Shoots left · Drafted 20th overall in 2019 by WPG (round 1)

Compare with a similar player

The defencemen closest to him in points in 2019-20. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Sami Niku WPG · 5 P in 17 GP Stephen Johns DAL · 5 P in 17 GP Niklas Hjalmarsson ARI · 5 P in 27 GP Jarred Tinordi NSH · 5 P in 28 GP Libor Hajek NYR · 5 P in 28 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.

0123452019-20: 5 points519-202020-21: 0 points020-212021-22: 5 points521-222022-23: 1 points122-232024-25: 1 points124-252025-26: 0 points025-26

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2019-20 WPG 8 1 4 5 3 4 10 3 0.63 $925K
2020-21 WPG 5 0 0 0 -2 2 9 2 0.00 $894K
2021-22 WPG 12 0 5 5 -2 10 25 9 0.42 $863K
2022-23 WPG 10 0 1 1 -5 2 5 7 0.10 $863K
2024-25 WPG 18 0 1 1 6 4 12 8 0.06 $800K
2025-26 WPG 5 0 0 0 0 4 7 6 0.00 $800K
6 seasons Career 58 1 11 12 0 26 68 35 0.21

2019-20 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
8 1 4 5 3 4 10 3 0.63 10.0 18:04

Contract

$925KCap hitends in 2024, then RFA
$185KCap dollars per point5 points in 8 games

His cap hit for the whole season, set against what he did in the regular season. Lower is better value. In a season still being played the cost per point starts high and falls as the games add up. He rated at or below a spare-part player, so there is no cost per goal to show.

The contract

Signed by the Winnipeg Jets on Jul 15, 2019, as an entry-level contract: 3 years and $3.413M, beginning in 2021-22. This season is not one of its years: an entry-level contract slides back a year when a player signed at 18 or 19 plays fewer than 10 NHL games. It runs through 2023-24, with 4 seasons left after this one, and he is then a restricted free agent.

Season Cap hit Base salary Signing bonus Performance bonuses Paid in all Clause
2021-22 $863K $833K $93K $925K
2022-23 $863K $833K $0 $213K $833K
2023-24 $863K $833K $0 $425K $833K

Each season of the contract, with this one marked. The cap hit is the same every year; what he is paid is not. The pay is as written when the contract was recorded in October 2024, so a later change, such as the rise in the lowest salary for 2026-27, is not shown.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
Jul 1, 2026 Vegas Golden Knights New contract 2026-27 to 2026-27 1 $850K $850K
Jul 15, 2024 Winnipeg Jets New contract 2024-25 to 2025-26 2 $1.6M $800K
Jul 15, 2019 Winnipeg Jets Entry-level 2021-22 to 2023-24 signed for 2019-20, slid 3 $3.413M $863K

Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2019-20 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.

2019-20 analytics

Rating

-0.4Goals above replacementsix goals are worth about one win
-0.1Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-0.9Goals above averagethe five parts below added up
Even-strength offence0.0Even-strength defence-0.6Power play-0.1Penalty kill+0.0Penalties-0.2

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance. He has played fewer than 20 games, too few to be ranked. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

-1-0.500.512019-202020-212021-222022-232024-252025-26Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

47.8Corsi for %121 attempts for, 132 against
-2.1CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
41.8Expected goals for %4.5 expected for, 6.3 against
-4.8xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
45.5Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
61.5Goals for %8 for, 5 against
106.1PDO12.1% shooting + 94.0% saves
16Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

These are left plain: he has not been on the ice enough to be ranked. That takes at least 200 shot attempts with him out there, about six or seven games, and a quarter of what the busiest skater has. Over a game or two these numbers are mostly chance.

Who he played with

Defence pairGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Neal Pionk · Ville Heinola8103:0148.541.35-4
Tucker Poolman · Ville Heinola323:3637.834.13-1
Dmitry Kulikov · Ville Heinola21:5850.090.70-0
Josh Morrissey · Ville Heinola41:5433.322.10-0

The pairs he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's pairs that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Chances and finishing

Expected goals adds up how likely each of his shots was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. All situations, leaving out shots at an empty net. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

1Goalsnot counting empty-netters
0.3Expected goalsfrom 12 unblocked attempts
+0.7Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.11 expected goals per 60 minutes10th
Shot quality 2.3% chance per attempt12th
Finishing +0.7 goals above expected68thOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of defencemen he is ahead of, among the 229 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.20.40.60.81Goals 1Expected 0.3

His goals and his expected goals as the season went on. When the goals line pulls away above, he is scoring more than his chances were worth; below, less.

Where he shot from

Every attempt he took this season, in all situations, attacking the net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
Oct 22, 2019 vs LAK L 2-3 0 1 1 2 2 0 0 13:03
Oct 20, 2019 vs EDM W 1-0 (SO) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14:35
Oct 17, 2019 vs NYI L 1-3 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 20:28
Oct 10, 2019 vs MIN W 5-2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 16:35
Oct 8, 2019 @ PIT W 4-1 1 0 1 3 2 1 0 17:23
Oct 6, 2019 @ NYI L 1-4 0 0 0 -1 0 5 2 23:01
Oct 4, 2019 @ NJD W 5-4 (SO) 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 21:01
Oct 3, 2019 @ NYR L 4-6 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 18:24