Hermantown to Winnipeg: Pionk, Samberg anchor Jets’ blueline — and cash in on NHL dreams

By HOWIE HANSON
Editor & Publisher

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — In a league brimming with international stars, it’s almost whimsical that two kids from Hermantown, Minnesota — population barely 10,000 — could anchor the same defensive core on a National Hockey League team. Yet here stand Neal Pionk and Dylan Samberg, neighbors turned teammates turned indispensable pillars for the Winnipeg Jets.

It’s a pairing that would sound improbable if it weren’t unfolding right before us. Hermantown is best known in hockey circles for churning out Minnesota state tournament contenders with astonishing regularity, a testament to backyard rinks and a community that’s borderline obsessed with the sport. Still, producing not just one but two defensemen who’ve become bona fide top-four NHL regulars on the same roster defies the odds by any measure.

A tale of two contracts — and growing career fortunes

For Winnipeg, the investment in these two Hermantown products is no small matter. Pionk, now 29, signed a four-year, $23.5 million deal in 2021 that carried him through the end of last season, before negotiating a fresh six-year, $42 million extension this past spring. That long-term commitment locks in an average annual value (AAV) of $7 million through 2031, ensuring the Jets hold his prime years at a predictable cost. Over the course of his NHL career — which began with the New York Rangers in 2017 — Pionk has now earned more than $40 million in total salary, with roughly another $42 million guaranteed in his new pact.

Samberg, meanwhile, is about to see his financial life transform. The 26-year-old wrapped up a two-year bridge contract worth $2.8 million total, which paid him an AAV of just $1.4 million. Given his breakout season that featured heavy top-four usage, team-leading plus-34 rating and steady shutdown work, he’s projected to ink a lucrative four-year deal this summer that could approach $18 million overall — slotting him around $4.5 million annually. Over a career that’s so far earned him roughly $3 million, Samberg stands on the cusp of a massive leap in lifetime earnings, potentially pushing past the $20 million mark by the time he’s 30.

Finding home away from home

Both have embraced Winnipeg in a way that feels unusually warm in today’s NHL. American players sometimes cast wary eyes north of the border — smaller markets, harsh winters, intense scrutiny. Yet here are Pionk and Samberg, openly extolling the virtues of living a few hours north of home. In straight-line distance, Winnipeg sits roughly 300 miles from Hermantown — an easy half-day drive that keeps family ties intact. For Minnesota natives accustomed to icy winds whipping off Lake Superior, Winnipeg’s blustery cold is hardly foreign. It’s almost a hockey second home.

It’s helped, too, that both players have wives who’ve settled comfortably into Manitoba life. The local communities have a reputation for rallying around their sports heroes in authentic, unpretentious ways, which resonates with families who grew up amid small-town Minnesota values. You’ll often hear Pionk talk about his summers back on Island Lake, not far from Hermantown, and how that keeps everything balanced. Samberg likewise retreats home in the offseason, but both speak with equal ease about how Winnipeg has become a genuine home base.

On-ice chemistry born long before the NHL

That sense of contentment off the ice spills naturally onto it. Their chemistry seems almost prewritten — childhood friends who skated countless hours on the same rinks, now reading each other’s instincts under the bright lights of NHL arenas. Pionk, ever the fluid puck mover with a knack for jump-starting offense, has tempered his gambling tendencies thanks in part to Samberg’s long reach and quietly suffocating defensive game. When Pionk wheels the puck up ice, he does so knowing Samberg is rarely caught on the wrong side of a play.

More than a feel-good local story

So what does it all mean for Winnipeg? In an NHL landscape where reliable top-four defensemen are gold, the Jets have found a way to forge a pairing that’s both strategic and deeply familiar. They’ve secured years of prime-aged stability — Pionk through 2031 and Samberg likely well into his own peak once his expected new deal is finalized. It’s a blueprint most franchises dream of: lock down young, ascending defensemen with complementary skill sets, minimize roster holes, and let them grow together.

Meanwhile back in Hermantown, the locals will keep watching closely. After all, how often does a town whose entire population could fill only half of Canada Life Centre’s seats get to lay claim to two men patrolling the same NHL blue line? It’s the kind of story that stretches from neighborhood outdoor rinks all the way to prime-time broadcasts across North America.

For Pionk and Samberg, it’s just the next chapter of a shared hockey journey that started long before Winnipeg ever came calling — and if their trajectory holds, it’s one that promises plenty more memorable nights, both for their adopted city and the hometown that raised them.