Mark Scheifele figures it just wasn’t his week.
Flash back to Jan. 9 when teammate Josh Morrissey’s slap shot was deflected right into the side of his head, forcing his exit from a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Fortunately, serious injury was avoided and he was back in the lineup two nights later as his Winnipeg Jets hosted the Chicago Blackhawks. However, a seemingly routine backcheck early in the second period triggered a lower-body injury that would once again knock him out of the contest.
This time, his hiatus would last six games and nearly four weeks, with the player break and All-Star break mixed in.
“All good now,” was Scheifele’s self-diagnoses after Sunday’s practice at the Hockey For All Centre. “The break came at a good time, it was nice to get some rest and be ready to rock come Tuesday.”
Scheifele leads the Jets in scoring with 41 points (14 goals, 27 assists) in 41 games, and his absence was certainly felt as the club went 2-3-1 without him, scoring just nine goals total. He’s expected to be activated off injured reserve and centering the top line with Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi as the Jets visit the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.
He’s hoping an extended stretch of good fortune is now in his future.
“It just popped out of the blue,” Scheifele said of his injury, which was believed to be a groin pull but never confirmed by the club.
“One of those weird things, whether it was the ice or something like that. You just want to make sure it’s 100% before coming back and not aggravate anything.”
With Vilardi and Connor both missing extended stints this season due to their own knee injuries, Scheifele has only skated with those two for a handful of games this year.
“I think that’s certainly been tough. We always feel like we’re getting close, we’re so excited how our lineup looks. You lose one of those, especially those key guys, I mean, we all saw how important (Scheifele) is to our team,” said captain Adam Lowry, who moved away from his usual shutdown line with Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter to fill in for Scheifele.
“I think, knock on wood, going into these next few games where we can really see what our team looks like with everyone healthy, everyone coming back into the lineup, the depth we have across four lines and just the way we can come at teams. Every line is stylistically a little different but we’re all pushing in the same direction, being really tight defensively, I think that’s kind of been the backbone of our team and that’s going to need to continue.”
Winnipeg’s 30-12-5 record is built largely on rock-solid defensive work and goaltending, but a little more scoring wouldn’t hurt. Scheifele believes it’s only a matter of time now that key players are back, along with the addition of centre Sean Monahan via trade last week.
“I’m excited to be back with my guys and ready to get rolling again,” he said.
The Jets are currently at the 23-man roster maximum and will have to demote a player in order to make room for Scheifele to be activated off the injured reserve list. It’s notable that Winnipeg three extra healthy forwards on Sunday were Rasmus Kupari, Dominic Toninato and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. All three would require waivers to be sent to the Manitoba Moose.
“We’ve got a couple of more days. We’ll sort that. We’ll do what’s best for the team,” said Bowness.
Then there’s the curious case of David Gustafsson, who also on IR with an upper-body injury suffered back on Dec. 27. He’s been skating in a full contact jersey for a couple weeks now, but the Jets seem to be in no rush to activate him since another roster spot would have to be cleared.
“He’s still on IR,” was all Bowness would say Sunday.
The only player missing from practice was goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who got an extra day off the ice after participating in Saturday’s All-Star game in Toronto. Bowness and Connor were also there representing the Jets.
“It was a great couple of days for me because I brought all the kids in and the family together for the whole time. We really enjoyed that,” said Bowness.
“But really, coaches go there, we’re not involved with the draft, nor should we be. We’re not involved in the skills, nor should we be. We just say, ‘You three, just go and chance for those three,’ and stay out of their way. It’s all about the players, as it should be. We’re just there, it recognizes the work the organization has done. It was fun. But it’s time to move on and get ready for the next part of the season.”
The Jets will skate again on Monday morning before flying to Pittsburgh.
BEST-ON-BEST GETS RAVE REVIEWS: The NHL announced last week that players will be heading back to the Olympics in 2026 (Italy) for the first time since 2014. Plus, a new tournament involving Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden will be held next year instead of the All-Star festivities.
“You know, anytime anyone gets a chance to represent their country in a tournament like that, it’s a huge honour,” said Scheifele, who will certainly be on the Team Canada radar for both events.
“Obviously it’s still a long ways out but very exciting news for the players in the league. I’m sure everyone’s looking forward to getting McDavid and Crosby on the same team. I think it’s a great idea. It’s great to get best-on-best. We’ve all missed that.”
Lowry, who serves as Winnipeg’s rep for the NHLPA, said this issue has been an important one for players.
“As a fan I love watching it. I think it’s great, it grows the game, it offers something that kind of the NHL can’t offer where you have the best players from each nation on the same team,” he said.
Lowry, who has dual Canadian and American citizenship, joked that he’d be willing to play for whatever country wanted him. However, he donned the Maple Leaf for the 2022 World Championships, an experience he chalks up as one of the best in his career.
“I think that’s what makes international hockey so intriguing; a whole country gets behind one team,” said Lowry. “To have the four nations, to have the four team tournament in a short amount of time, it’s kind of a great springboard into what will be an awesome Olympics.”
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Mike McIntyre
Sports reporter
Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when that dream fizzled, he put all his brawn into becoming a professional writer.
