The evolution of Mark Scheifele: Jets centre reflects on 500-game milestone

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This article was published 01/02/2020 (2045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mark Scheifele pictures himself horizontal, buried beneath a mountain of an NHL player, the night the NHL officially returned to Winnipeg.

That was eight years, three months and, as of today, 24 days ago.

On Friday night, the dare-we-say veteran forward reached a milestone, suiting up for the 500th game of his NHL career.

The 26-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., was the first-ever draft choice of the Jets 2.0, chosen seventh overall in 2011. He cracked the opening-night roster and made his debut Oct. 9, 2011, against the Montreal Canadiens, marking the league’s official return to the Manitoba capital.

What does he recall most vividly about Game 1 for both he and the organization, a night when the Jets fell 5-1 to the Habs?

“I remember (6-7, 245-pound defenceman) Hal Gill sitting on me, here against Montreal,” Scheifele said recently. “It’s crazy how time flies. Hopefully, there’s 500 more.”

It was far from the only time that gangly kid found himself flat on the ice in those early days as a Jets forward, tumbling at times like he was constructed out of cardboard. At 6-3 but barely 180 pounds, he was unprepared for full-time duty in the fall of 2011. Or 2012.

And even though he continued to tear up the Ontario Hockey League as a key piece with the Barrie Colts, some maintained Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and his scouting staff misfired with that prized 2011 first-round selection.

Remember, they chose him over players such as centre Sean Couturier, defenceman Dougie Hamilton, and winger Sven Baertschi, all ranked ahead of him on Central Scouting’s final ranking list.

Now, as Scheifele sits 13th in NHL scoring nearly two-thirds of the way through his seventh full campaign, it’s difficult to argue the organization got it right. And it’s been apparent for several seasons.

Since his NHL debut — just one of 11 games he’d play with Jets in two seasons following the draft — Scheifele had scored 174 goals and assisted on 251 others, prior to Winnipeg’s battle with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. He also has 16 goals in 27 playoff games.

He’s one of the league’s premier centres and has been selected to participate in the all-star weekend the last two seasons.

Scheifele was asked to assess the evolution of his game since he gained a regular spot in 2013-14.

“It’s not just one thing, it’s been everything. I try to focus on my entire game, not just one thing. Whether it’s practice or whatever it is, try to improve every day on every aspect of my game and just want to continue to grow and continue to find new things about myself,” he said. “It’s a pretty fun journey when you get to do this for your job, so I’m definitely very thankful and very lucky.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice offered another reason Scheifele’s steep trajectory, beyond the player’s undeniable skill and ambition.

“We talk about him a lot, his desire to improve his game. The biggest change, year over year, is actually physical strength. He’s going tell you he’s learning where to put himself on the ice, how to position, how to take pucks, and he works on all that. But you’ve seen it this year, from the hash marks down in the offensive zone, there’s big men leaning on him and boy is he getting good at controlling that puck,” said Maurice.

“He’s in the 95th percentile in the NHL for puck-on-stick control in the offensive zone, He has it on his stick and he’s able to control the puck. He’s just physically stronger. He looks, this year, different than any other year on physical strength alone.” 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell