Sharpshooting Jets centre Scheifele off to sizzling start

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This article was published 16/10/2015 (3812 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Just two years ago, the fretting had already begun about why Mark Scheifele wasn’t scoring.

Fast forward to the Winnipeg Jets’ opening four-game road trip and now the question is about why he is scoring — in particular, three goals in the first four games.

Some answers are obvious. He’s stronger, in no small part from his training with former NHLer Gary Roberts. He’s quicker. And as head coach Paul Maurice told Free Press colleague Ed Tait earlier in the week, there’s less “shark” to his game.

The reference was to coasting and circling during long shifts, a trademark of so many talented young players in and just out of junior.

“Just all parts of his game have gotten faster,” Maurice said then.

As it was two years ago, the 22-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., got the ‘why” question again Thursday, on the eve of tonight’s home opener against the Calgary Flames.

“Because of my linemates,” Scheifele said of scoring and a great start. “It’s just going to the right spots. It’s trying to play D, trying to play a full, two-way game.

“And that’s the biggest thing, not worrying about scoring or getting points but when the opportunity comes, finding those areas and knowing we have some pretty special guys on this team, that if I get into those spots, they’re going to find me.”

The spots are one thing. The delivery is quite another and Scheifele’s release has clearly quickened.

“He’s scoring because he’s got a great shot and he’s got the poise and he goes to the net,” said Scheifele’s linemate, left-winger Mathieu Perreault. “I think his quick release is definitely helping him. He can get it off really quick. It’s underrated. People don’t realize it but I think we will.

“You’ve seen his goals so far, all off unreal releases.”

Scheifele said his release has been a priority of off-season work.

“Obviously I’ve worked on a lot of things over the summer,” he said. “I’m a guy that loves to work on my game and try to find new ways to create offence and get my shot off quicker.

“I worked a lot on that during the summer and hopefully I’ll keep working on it during the season.”

Scheifele has been flanked with two offensive players to start the season, Perreault and rookie Nikolaj Ehlers.

The Scheifele-Perreault combination was one that showed promise last season when Maurice went to it.

Perreault said it starts with Scheifele being a right-handed centre, so both players are on their forehand when giving or receiving most forward-moving passes, and continues because they are similar players — good passers and shooters.

And there is also a growing trust factor, never mind that Scheifele is still a young NHL player.

“He’s just that good, to me,” Perreault, 27, said of his centre. “He’s been in the league for three years now. He’s got the experience. He makes the plays, so for me it’s an easy process.”

Scheifele also said some of his processes are not complete, but ongoing. He said he’s still absorbing plenty from the team’s leaders, naming captain Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler, about “staying calm” within the game.

As that’s happening, the maturation of Scheifele also includes his own transformation in some of those leadership areas.

He said Thursday he finds himself empathizing with and trying to help this year’s wave of rookies, Ehlers, Nic Petan and Andrew Copp.

“There are a lot of similarities,” Scheifele said, recalling his own plight not that long ago. “It’s tough coming in as a young guy, trying to make an impression and trying to play your way and mixing it in with the way the team plays.

“That’s a tough thing. There are a lot of emotions. You’ve got buddies talking to you about the play you made the night before.

“With these guys, they’re pretty mature guys. They understand it. They’re pretty special to work with. I try to help as much as I can because I’ve been through it. It’s a little easier to connect with them than an older guy, I feel, but they’re awesome. They’re such great listeners. All they want to do is learn, get better.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca