Chemistry experiment

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This article was published 04/02/2016 (3744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In its infancy, Mark Scheifele’s new line with the Winnipeg Jets deserves a longer look to see if the concept of smart skill plugs in well with speed on both sides.

Scheifele’s apprenticeship as a producer is clearly over but just two games beyond his injury-riddled post-Christmas phase, the 22-year-old is still adapting to the kind of ammunition Jets coach Paul Maurice has placed to his left (Nikolaj Ehlers) and his right (Blake Wheeler).

The role is critical if the team is eyeing some higher spot in the Central Division and the Western Conference and there’s more to see, Maurice said Thursday.

“He can shift his game a little bit so when he played with Ehlers and (Mathieu) Perreault, it was a little more of a playmaking game,” Maurice said. “When he plays with Wheeler and Nik Ehlers, there’s so much more speed on that line. Mark’s still recovering from his injury. He’s physically at 100 per cent but not back up to speed after the five-day break.

“So his speed element is usually more noticeable when he plays with faster players. The positive of that is that it makes him a really versatile centre.”

Until the game just prior to the all-star break, in which Ehlers connected for his first career hat trick, Scheifele had been limited to just three games after a Boxing Day practice accident and a lower-body bang-up Jan. 7 in Dallas.

As you’d expect, the Kitchener, Ont., native and the team’s first-round draft pick in historical 2011, has had the wheels turning in his head about how his new line is something different in terms of the dynamics.

“It obviously changes,” he said. “I’m still going to play the way I know how to play but you can approach it in a different sense. You have two fast guys, you don’t always have to throw it on their tape. Sometimes you can throw it into an open area and they’ll get it, or sometimes you can delay a little bit and you know they’re reading and coming up on the rush and you’ll be able to hit one of them late or when they’re coming through a seam.

“It’s all about reading the play. You’re trying to make some offence but with them, it’s a lot easier because you can just put it into those spaces for them.”

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If there’s one thing Scheifele has learned since his draft day, it’s that things must not be rushed.

His own contributions have been a modest two assists since the line was assembled.

“For the most part, obviously on every shift you want to score,” he said. “That’s the name of the game. But some shifts they don’t go for you and you have to play good D and get it out and change. The biggest thing right now is not to push anything, not to push the envelope and try to get that extra chance or try to jump on a puck that might not be there.

“Sometimes you just have to live for another day and wait for your next shift and then try to get something going. That’s the biggest thing I’m focusing on right now, that if you have a bad shift, not to get frustrated, just try to go out and do it on the next shift.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca