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Home , Brody Sutter, Bryan Little, Darren Kramer, Gritty (mascot), Mark Scheifele, Matt Hendricks

Winnipeg Free Press https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/improved-special-teams-big-part-of- recent-success-461588263.html

Improved special teams big part of recent success

By: Jason Bell

The Jets’ most recent victory provided some special times for their special-teams units.

Winnipeg’s power play and kill jumped in the overall rankings after stellar performances in the club’s 7-4 victory over the Golden Knights.

After erasing five man-advantage situations for Vegas, Winnipeg’s penalty killers now have a 78.7 per cent efficiency rating, good enough for 19th in the NHL. But that’s four spots up from where they were Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the power play continues to produce at a torrid pace and moved up two spots to fourth-best in the league (25.6 per cent) and No. 2-ranked on home ice (32.6). Tyler Myers, Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine scored as the Jets finished 3-for-5 with the Golden Knights short- handed.

Talented and versatile centre said Saturday improved special-teams play has been a big factor in the team’s ascent in the standings.

"When you’re scoring on the PP and you’re stopping the other teams on the PK, you are going to be successful," Scheifele said. "In today’s game, there’s a lot of the game that’s going to be played either a man up or a man down, and when you’re successful in those areas, you’re going to get a leg up on the opponent."

He leads the Jets with 13 goals and 32 points, totals bolstered considerably by five tallies and 12 points with his club enjoying the man advantage.

Scheifele also played more than two minutes with Winnipeg down a man, blocking a during a critical kill in the final period with Vegas pressing.

"I haven’t killed a lot in this league and this year I’ve gotten that opportunity. It’s a huge honour to be out there to keep some pucks out when they’ve got a man up," he said. "Everyone has to block shots. There has to be sacrifice in this game. To be a successful team, you need everyone sacrificing, whether it’s taking a hit, making a hit, blocking a shot, whatever it is. That comes with the territory."

Hendricks making a difference The signing of veteran centre Matt Hendricks raised some eyebrows late in the summer.

He’d just turned 36, played only half the time in last season and looked to be on the tail end of a long pro career that began 13 year ago with the of the ECHL.

But the product of Blaine, Minn., has been a key ingredient to the Jets’ mix this season as the club sits perched atop the Western Conference standings.

He scored a huge against Vegas to even the game at 2-2 with under seven minutes left in the second period, but his importance to the team won’t be judged in numbers.

Hendricks took a skate blade to the side of his face earlier in the period and, fortunately, returned with a small gash that didn’t require stitches. His first shift back, he deflected away a couple of drives while killing a penalty, and a shift or two after that, he broke down the right side and fired a laser beam to the far top corner that beat goalie Maxime Lagace.

The 10-year NHL veteran, a gritty fourth-liner, now has three goals and three assists in 19 games.

Winnipeg head coach said Hendricks’ major contribution, on the ice and off, has surprised no one within the organization.

"It’s his reputation. He’s done this everywhere he’s been since his first time in the NHL, and we really felt that it could be a benefit for us," Maurice said.

"Our top six (forward group) was young, but our bottom six was as well. There’s a mentorship there. He’s had a big impact with that kind of style.

"There wouldn’t be a guy in that room that wouldn’t tell you how important Matt Hendricks’ role is and what he’s done for our team. Because of that, we’re hopeful that all the other players in that role see a value to what they do, above and beyond the stats, the goals and assists.

"You can’t compare apples to oranges, and a hockey team has to have both. You can’t win with only one style of player."

Home winning streak on the line The Jets had a relatively relaxing Saturday, with some off-ice meetings and media availability. But the club returns to the ice on Sunday when the visit. Game time is 6 p.m.

The Jets have won five straight games at Bell MTS Place and are unbeaten in regulation in their last nine games at home (8-0-1).

Connor Hellebuyck will get the start in goal, his fourth straight.

Hellebuyck’s individual statistics sparkle. He is 14-2-3 this season, with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.

Meanwhile, injured goalie Steve Mason, out with a concussion, took a light skate Saturday and will accompany the Jets on next week’s three-game road trip. Winnipeg battles the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday and then plays two in Florida — Thursday in Sunrise against the Panthers and Saturday in Tampa Bay against the Lightning.

The Senators (9-9-6) visit Bell MTS Place after pulling off a rare explosion of offence Friday night, posting a wild 6-5 triumph over the host .

Ryan Dzingel’s second goal of the game, a power-play tally early in the third period, snapped a 5-5 tie and the Senators ended an ugly seven-game losing streak. Ottawa rookie defenceman Thomas Chabot scored his first career NHL goal in the second period to even the score at 4-4.

During their 0-6-1 slide from Nov. 16-29, the Senators scored just nine goals.

Mark Stone, 25, a Winnipegger and former Brandon Wheat Kings forward, has only two goals in his last eight contests, but still leads Ottawa with 14 goals and 25 points. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/jets/connor-adjusting-quickly-to-life-in-the- nhl-461585823.html

Connor adjusting quickly to life in the NHL Rookie sniper has chemistry with Scheifele and Wheeler on club's top line

By: Jason Bell

No matter his surroundings, Kyle Connor figures out how to score goals.

When he was on the frozen rink his dad, Joe, built in the backyard of their home in Shelby Township, Mich., young Kyle whipped pucks into the net.

Playing bantam for Belle Tire in the Detroit area, he consistently lit the lamp in his early teens. In three years of junior hockey with the Youngstown Phantoms, he had a pair of 30-goal campaigns. In his only year of college, he fired 35 goals in 38 games with the University of Michigan.

Last winter, in his first pro season, he beat AHL goalies 25 times as a member of the and tallied the first two goals of his NHL career in limited duty for the .

He’s got it figured out this year, too, as a regular on the Jets’ top line with centre Mark Scheifele and right-winger . Heady company indeed for a guy who failed to even make the club out of training camp.

On Friday, his power-play marker just 33 seconds into the third period — a wicked shot past Vegas goalie Maxime Lagace — snapped a 2-2 tie and helped propel the Jets to a 7-4 win. The former first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2015 NHL draft added an empty-netter to seal the deal.

The two-goal output pushed the NHL rookie’s season total to nine in 21 games after he was recalled from the Moose on Oct. 16.

He’s also chipped in eight assists and has been a key member of the Jets’ top line, undeniably one of the NHL’s premier trios.

Connor says he’s just happy to be making a contribution.

"Those guys are awesome. They’re two unbelievable, world-class players and I’ve just tried to find the open areas and they’re going to get it to me," he said of Scheifele and Wheeler, both occupying spots in the top-10 in league scoring. "It’s been a lot of fun.

"I learn so much from those guys every day, how you have to play at this level. Whether we come back to the bench and it’s something one of them sees, we talk about it and bounce ideas off each other."

His quick shot was evident the moment he arrived at Jets camp in 2016 — it’s just a gift he’s always possessed.

"It’s always been part of how I played my whole life," he said. "It’s kind of continued and grown throughout my career. There’s no real adjustments to scoring goals. It’s better goalies and better defence, obviously, but my approach is always the same.

"You find that quiet area on the ice and the players in this league will always find you. You look for the holes in the coverage, in the (defensive) zone, get there and make a play."

Connor, a week shy of his 21st birthday, began the season with three goals in his first four games with the Moose. When he was promoted to the big club, he started on a line with and Patrik Laine, but that combination didn’t even last two periods against the .

Head coach Paul Maurice switched out in favour of Connor on the left wing, and the No. 1 unit has clicked ever since.

"He gets better and better every game," Scheifele said. "Me and Wheels love playing with him. He’s got a knack to find the net, he knows the areas to find those scoring opportunities. He makes good passes, he plays a simple game, and we like that about him."

Maurice said beyond the obvious point production, Connor — currently eighth in NHL rookie scoring — is demonstrating he can do the gritty work necessary to chase opponents down, win battles and retrieve pucks.

"Young guys with that high-end skill normally come in with a bit of a perimeter game, they can back people off with their speed and they don’t have to play a hard-gap game, and they can let other people do most of the heavy lifting and the dirty work, he said. "Where he’s made his biggest improvement is the grind part of the game, getting into the forecheck with his speed, containing pucks and moving away from guys.

"The goal he scored (against Vegas), getting it off his stick across his body, he’s got that skill. He could skate well enough to play in the NHL last year and he could shoot it well enough, but his improvement is he put some time in this summer, got a little thicker, a little stronger, a little heavier, and now he has a better understanding, the mentality, of being on the puck." https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/hockey/manitoba-moose/manitoba-moose-slay- cleveland-monsters-in-4-0-victory-461585183.html

Monsters no match for mighty Moose Manitoba makes it nine straight wins

By: Mike McIntyre

It turns out eight wasn’t enough.

The Manitoba Moose continue to trample the competition, slaying the to the tune of 4-0 Saturday night for their ninth straight victory.

Manitoba improves to 17-5-2 — 13-1-0 over their past 14 — which gives them 36 points. That’s tied with the Toronto Marlies for most in the . They’ve outscored opponents 25-3 during their past five victories.

"This is unbelievable," said rookie defenceman Sami Niku, who set up a pair of goals in the win.

Defenceman Julian Melchiori opened the scoring just under seven minutes into the game. Mike Sgarbossa won the draw and got the puck back to Melchiori, who ripped a shot that went off the crossbar, hit Cleveland goalie Matiss Kivlenieks in the back and trickled over the goal line.

It was the fourth goal of the season — and second in as many games — for Melchiori, whose previous career high in goals over six pro seasons was three.

"I don’t know if I’m doing anything too differently. I’ve been around for a bit now, kinda figured out when to shoot the puck and when not to," Melchiori said. He called the team’s start to this season "amazing," especially since they were far out of the playoff picture in the two years since returning to Winnipeg.

"I think the mood every day coming to the rink is just enjoyable. I’m really excited for what’s going to happen to this team. I think we’ve taken some big strides early on," Melchiori said.

"You look at our lineup, it’s a deep team, it’s a young team, but we have players right from our first to our fourth line, and to our third pair, that can play every night and contribute.

"It’s really exciting. It’s just good to be here, honestly."

Jack Roslovic made it 2-0 just over a minute after Melchiori’s tally, tipping home a shot from Niku with the Moose on the power play. It’s the team-leading 13th of the season for Roslovic, the reigning AHL player of the week who has already matched his rookie goal scoring total in just 24 games. He had 13 in 65 games last year.

Roslovic nearly had another later in the period when he hit the post. Patrice Cormier and Cameron Schilling also rang iron in the opening 20 minutes, dominated by the Moose.

Manitoba struck again on the power play in the middle frame, as Nic Petan won a puck battle and fed Michael Spacek, who stepped into a booming slapper that beat Kivlenieks.

It’s the third goal of the year for the rookie.

Cleveland, throttled 7-1 on Thursday night by the Moose, showed some frustration late in the second as Jordan Maletta dropped the gloves with Manitoba’s J.C. Lipon.

But it wasn’t the spark they were looking for.

Petan made it 4-0 midway through the third, deflecting a Niku shot on the power play in a carbon copy of Roslovic’s goal. Petan now has six points in his past two games, with a goal and five helpers.

"He showed up, when he got sent down by the Jets, with the right attitude," Moose coach Pascal Vincent said. "He’s being rewarded by doing the little things right."

Manitoba continued to shine on special teams. Not only did it score three times on the power play, but it killed off six penalties on the night, which gives it 29 consecutive kills over the past six games. The Moose have the No. 2 power play and the No. 3 penalty kill in the AHL.

"The kill is good. We don’t like to talk about it too much. We just like to keep going. Every night it’s just a huge staple in our game," Melchiori said.

Michael Hutchinson, named the AHL goalie of the month in November, won his seventh straight start.

He stopped all 27 shots he faced to record his first shutout of the year and improve to 9-1-1. Hutchinson sports a 1.73 goals-against average and .951 save percentage.

Tough guy Darren Kramer, playing for just the third time all season, drew into the lineup and skated on the fourth line. Rookie forward Jansen Harkins also dressed after being a healthy scratch last game.

Francis Beauvillier and Brody Sutter were relegated to the press box.

"Our offence is coming from all five players on the ice. We’re moving the puck quick, we’re supporting the puck and we communicate well on the ice," Vincent said.

Manitoba is 7-1-2 on home ice this season. Combined with the 9-2-1 record of the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place, the city’s two pro hockey teams are 16-3-3 in front of their crowds so far this year.

The Moose don’t play again until next Saturday, when they welcome the to town for a pair of weekend matinees.

"We really don’t evaluate our team on the final score. We look at the process. There’s a lot of details in our game we can improve. So we’re going to be working on different themes during the week," Vincent said.

"It’s going to be a good week of keeping our pace, keeping the confidence, but working on skills, our routes and making sure we’re sharp when we play our next game."

Winnipeg Sun http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/character-over-corsi

Character over Corsi

By Paul Friesen

“Corsi doesn't tell you everything,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice. "Or anything, possibly.”

Saturday was a rough day for the advanced stats advocates, or the “analytic nerds,” as coach Todd McLellan called them.

McLellan used that term in his defence of Oilers defenceman Kris Russell, who scored into his own goal to cost his team a win, Thursday.

Like Russell, the Jets’ Matt Hendricks is a target of those who point to his shortcomings when it comes to advanced stats.

“You just can’t compare apples and oranges,” Jets coach Paul Maurice began, when asked what his fourth-line centre brings to the table that statistics don’t show. “And a hockey team has to have both. You can’t win with only one style of player.

“Corsi doesn’t tell you everything. Or anything, possibly.”

Hendricks scored his third goal of the season in Winnipeg’s 7-4 win over Las Vegas, Friday, after getting cut on his face by a skate blade.

“He’s done that everywhere he’s been since his first time in the NHL,” Maurice said. “There wouldn’t be a guy in that room who wouldn’t be able to tell you how important Matt’s role is and what he’s done for our team.

“Because of that… we’re hopeful that all the other players in that role see a value to what they do, above and beyond the stats, the goals and assists.” http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/jets-making-waves

Jets making waves

By Paul Friesen

Dropped into my favourite food store, Saturday, and one of the first things I heard was, “Are they for real?”

The staff member whom I’ve known for more than 20 years — I’ll call him John — was referring to the Winnipeg Jets, of course.

John’s a fan, but not the type that blindly cheers for the home side while glossing over all its blunders.

Like me, he’s skeptical. If he sees something too good to be true, he’ll say it.

That’s basically what this space has been for: poking and prodding at things – records, teams, people — to see if they’re real.

But for the first time, John and I couldn’t really find a soft spot to poke.

Sure, the Jets remain a little inconsistent. But what they do consistently is win, and that’s all that really matters.

First in the Western Conference and second, overall, only to Tampa Bay in the East, this team (16-6-4) doesn’t seem to have a significant weakness.

It leads the West in scoring.

It has two players, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler, in the league’s top-10.

It has the NHL’s No. 4 power play.

And it’s ranked seventh in goals against, it’s Achilles heel in years past.

That’s a dangerous stew for any opponent.

The Jets have not only surprised the rest of the league, they might be surprising themselves.

“Maybe a little,” Bryan Little said, Saturday. “I don’t know if any of us would have thought we’d be in this position right now. I thought we were capable of being a good hockey team. I don’t know if I would have predicted we would have been where we are right now at this point of the season.

“But we’ll take it.”

For vets like Little, it’s a welcome change.

Going into every game knowing you can win is a whole new feeling.

“Confidence is a dangerous thing,” he said. “And we have lots of it.”

That’s led to a dramatic change in how the Jets react to a bad game. It used to snowball into three or four.

In the current climate, that snowball doesn’t stand a chance.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen us play as well after we lose a game,” Little said. “Before… it was kind of the end of the world and we’d lose a few in a row. Right now we lose a game and it’s over. We refocus and we’re ready to play the next one.”

This was going to be the year the Jets made some playoff noise, they all told us, from the GM down to the .

“We wanted to make waves this year,” Mark Scheifele said.

Waves? They’re rocking boats from the Pacific (back-to-back wins in L.A. and Anaheim) to the Midwest (7-2 over ) and most points in between.

But they swear they’re not about to start basking in the breeze.

“It’s obviously going to put a smile on your face,” Scheifele said. “It’s that much more motivation to keep our team at the top. When you’re at the top, every team wants to come for you. Every team that’s going to come into this building is going to want to beat you.

“We have to be ready for that.”

The rest of the league has started to notice, but you get the feeling many aren’t convinced the Jets have staying power.

“Maybe people still aren’t talking that much about us,” Little said. “But I don’t think we mind that, flying under the radar. If we can surprise a few people, that’s alright with us.”

Let’s face it, as long as the Leafs are in the thick of things, the Jets will remain Canada’s “other” feel-good story.

“We don’t care if we get accolades,” Scheifele said. “They can take all the media attention and we’ll continue to work on our game and try to be the best team we can be.”

As for the critics, well, it doesn’t leave much.

This is new territory for all of us. There’s no tension. No angst.

I’m not sure what to write about, or what to even ask.

Hey, maybe they’re peaking too early.

Little laughed at that one, a question he’s never been asked in his 10-year career.

“Like a lot of guys said, we’re not patting ourselves on the back, yet,” he said. “We know a lot of things can happen. And we’re going to be ready for it if it does.”

It seems they are. http://winnipegsun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/winnipeg-jets/five-keys-to-jets-vs-senators

Five keys to Jets vs Senators

By Paul Friesen

Winnipeg Jets vs Ottawa Senators

6 p.m., Bell-MTS Place; TV: ; Radio: TSN 1290

THE BIG MATCHUP

Scheifele line vs Mark Stone Stone has been a bright light all season, even as the Sens lost five of their last six games. The Winnipeg-born winger has a point in five straight games. Keeping him off the scoresheet would go a long way, as he’s Ottawa’s runaway leader with 14 goals.

KEYS TO THE GAME

Another run from Laine The last time Patrik Laine had a crisis of confidence and broke a slump, he went on a tear. His three points in the third period against Vegas bodes well for more.

Out of the gate Both teams feed off scoring first: Winnipeg is 12-1-3 when they do, Ottawa 7-3-3 when they do. Conversely, the Sens have won just twice in 11 games when they give up the first one.

Don’t take ’em lightly The Jets have done a good job of getting up for struggling teams, and they can’t stare too long at Ottawa’s recent five-game skid. The Sens did get goals from six different players in ending their streak against New Jersey, Friday.

More power Teams have to try to slow the Jets down, and that often means taking some penalties. If Winnipeg’s red-hot power play (5-for-10 in its last two games at home) clicks once or twice, the Sens will pay the price.

Ignore the clippings The Jets are facing daily questions these days about being one of the top teams in the NHL. Eventually, you might start to believe you are, and that can be the worst thing that happens to a team.

Canadian Press http://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/hockey-sports-pmn/winnipeg-jets-like-flying-under-the- radar-as-best-nhl-team-in-canada

Winnipeg Jets like flying under the radar as best NHL team in Canada

By Judy Owen The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG — Mark Scheifele doesn’t care if the Winnipeg Jets aren’t big news in Canadian hockey circles.

While a lot headlines this season have focused on the success of and the or the plight of Connor McDavid and the lowly Edmonton Oilers, the Jets have quietly climbed up the NHL standings.

Winnipeg (16-6-4) moved into first place in the Western Conference with Friday’s 7-4 thumping of the and stayed there — tied with St. Louis — when the Blues lost 2-1 in overtime to Minnesota on Saturday night.

“If we’re getting points in games or we’re winning games that’s all that matters to us,” Scheifele said. “We don’t care if we get attention, we don’t care if we get accolades because of it. They can take all the media attention and we’ll continue to work on our game and try to be the best team we can be.”

The Kitchener, Ont., native had a goal and two assists in the victory over Vegas, giving him the team lead in goals with 13 and 32 points.

The Jets host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night and will try to extend their five-game win streak at Bell MTS Place, where they’ve gone 9-2-1.

Winnipeg, which has only made the playoffs once in six seasons since relocating from Atlanta in 2011, didn’t open this campaign on a high note.

It lost its first two games against Toronto and , but hasn’t been defeated twice in a row in regulation since then. There was a pair of overtime losses in late October.

“Not a lot of people were talking about us before the season started,” said veteran centre Bryan Little, who hails from Edmonton.

“Maybe people still aren’t talking that much about us, but I don’t think we mind that kind of flying under the radar. If we can surprise a few people, that’s all right with us.”

Veteran forward said it comes with the territory that teams such as the Leafs get more headlines because they’re in bigger markets, but he thinks the Jets are beginning to turn some heads.

“I was watching TV (Friday night) and they were talking about the fact that we’re first in the conference now,” the native of Drummondville, Que., said. “They’re talking about us being one of the best teams in the league so I think we’re starting to catch people’s attention a lot more.”

Consistent, strong play from goalie (14-2-3) has helped push the Jets up the standings, but so has a more balanced attack.

Perreault has been a catalyst for a fourth line that’s producing. After missing 12 games with an injury, he returned to the lineup Nov. 16 and was put alongside veteran newcomer Matt Hendricks and hard-working Finnish winger Joel Armia.

The trio has scored goals — five for Perreault — and their teammates and head coach Paul Maurice have praised their energy and ability to create offence.

“Goaltending has been a big part of it,” Perreault said of the team’s success. “There’s been some big saves at key moments in important games and we have the depth.

“Right now I’m playing on the fourth line and we’ve been able to score every other night, if not every night, so that takes a lot of pressure off of your top players.

“And they’ve producing like crazy, too. When you get four lines that score every other night, most times you’re going to win games.”

Yet the players know anything can happen so they’ll enjoy their high ranking for now and try to build on it.

“It’s kind of new territory for a lot of us, but it’s not like we’re patting ourselves on the back in there,” Little said.

“We’re confident and we’re having fun, but we know there’s a lot of hockey left.”

Sportsnet.ca http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/jets-star-mark-scheifele-nhls-biggest-hockey-fan/

EAT. SLEEP. HOCKEY. 'Student of the Game' doesn’t cut it. Mark Scheifele is pro hockey’s biggest hockey fan.

BY RYAN DIXON IN WINNIPEG

Mark Scheifele has a message for the Flyers staff members working out in the Winnipeg Jets’ weight room: “Hey, this is our gym,” he says in a wink-wink way that probably makes the visitors feel more, not less, welcome.

It’s a league-mandated off-day for the Jets in advance of a mid-November tilt with Philly and Scheifele has just landed at Bell MTS Place from the Fairmont Winnipeg, where he attended a gala lunch in honour of his former coach and newly minted member of the Jets Hall of Fame, . After reciting some lines for a promotion taped in the press centre, Scheifele headed off to the players’ lounge and the shortest route there led him past the sweaty Flyers coaches. He looks sharp enough for a game day, wearing a crisp suit and sporting a haircut — buzzed on the side, long on top — his roommate Andrew Copp will later suggest is a little trendier than the 24-year-old usually opts for. Upon reaching his destination, Scheifele drapes his blue jacket over a bluer couch and sinks in for a conversation about, among other things, the ever-growing legend of his lust for hockey.

The chances are pretty good that, when his duties are fulfilled, Scheifele will retire to his Osborne Village condo and eventually watch an assortment of NHL action with Copp. Even if the equipment stays in the bag, there really is no such thing as a day without the game for the stud centre.

That was certainly the case in major junior, where Scheifele played for the Hawerchuk-coached . Leaning forward with one hand in the other and his elbows resting on his thighs, Scheifele fondly recalls billeting with the Fraser family on Ladywood Way. The residence featured a backyard rink with chillers under the ice and a resurfacing machine that’s immortalized by the background on Scheifele’s profile. As far as living arrangements go, it was like an aspiring comedian crashing on the set of Seinfeld.

Barrie teams stocked with future NHLers like and often held makeshift morning skates on game days at the Fraser rink. When there was no contest on the schedule, as many as 12 Colts would melt their evenings and a significant portion of their nights away on that ice — some of them skating to the Frasers’ neighbourhood atop a frozen Lake Simcoe. “We were literally playing hockey from after dinner to 11, 12 o’clock at night,” says Scheifele. “[They were] some of the best nights of my life.”

A mural-worthy setting like that could spur hyperbole in anybody, but the enthusiasm is authentic and endearing coming from Scheifele. If there’s something everyone agrees on when it comes to one of hockey’s more recently anointed mega-stars, it’s that the young man just can’t get enough of the game — even compared to other obsessive types. In that sense, Scheifele is perfectly placed, manning the top line for a team that’s gone from perpetual pretender to Western Conference contender in a city where hockey bites deeper than the cold. While his work ethic is unique, it’s not the only thing that sets Scheifele apart. You’ll never hear him curse, thanks to the values instilled by a family he’s very close to. That said, Scheifele needles, jaws and jokes with the best of them. He was always a quality teammate, but precisely the hockey player he would become wasn’t blatantly obvious at earlier stages of his development. If you were in the business of betting on people in general, however, the lanky kid with unwavering drive would have always been a top prospect.

Nothing illustrates how formidable a player’s talent is quite like those situations where everyone, even the people eating popcorn, know what’s coming, but the world-class athletes on the ice are still powerless to stop it. A day after Scheifele kidded the Flyers coaches, he was legitimately trying to ruin their night by bringing his team even late in a tight contest.

With Philadelphia up 2-1, roughly a minute to play in the third period and the Jets’ net empty, Scheifele and his running mate, Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler, went to work. Holding the puck about a dozen feet above the goal line along the right-wing wall, Wheeler looked to make a short pass to Scheifele at the faceoff circle, but thought better of it when Flyer Wayne Simmonds emerged on the scene. After a Patrik Laine point shot caromed to the right side 10 seconds later, Scheifele pounced on the puck and quickly backhanded it to Wheeler along the half-wall. As the latter scooted beneath the goal line, Scheifele pivoted back to the dot and cocked his stick. To create a little more room, No. 55 drifted toward the net Wheeler was about to slip behind. Just prior to being boxed out by the cage, Wheeler slid a feed to Scheifele, who whipped it past goalie Brian Elliott.

“He takes every aspect that might make him a good hockey player and dives headfirst into all of it. There isn’t a thing he doesn’t look at.”

On the elevator down to the bowels of the rink following a 3-2 shootout win for Winnipeg, Jets assistant coach Todd Woodcroft — who watches from high above in the press box — stressed how often Scheifele works on the play that knotted the contest: “Every. Single. Day.” In the room, Wheeler talked about the division of labour with his middle man. “My job isn’t as hard as his,” he said. “I’ve just got to put it on his tape and he picks those corners.”

The effort that goes into refining that skill — to say nothing of the finer details Scheifele focuses on with skills coach Adam Oates — is something Jets bench boss Paul Maurice has marveled at for some time now. “He’s an unusual cat,” says Maurice. “He was a pro when he rolled into town. What Mark’s been able to do is take every aspect that might make him a good hockey player and dive headfirst into all of it. There isn’t a thing he doesn’t look at.

“The best part is he enjoys it. It doesn’t seem like it’s a job.”

Growing up the youngest of three siblings in Kitchener, Ont., Scheifele found extreme pleasure in sports. Hockey may be a singular focus now, but football was really the only thing he stayed away from as a youth. His dad, Brad, was a gridiron warrior in high school and Brad’s brother, Greg, played four years at the University of Guelph and may have taken a crack at the CFL had it been a more financially rewarding career in the early 1970s. Knowing the wear and tear the sport exacts, Brad steered Mark toward other activities and the youngster — often with brother Kyle, two years his senior — happily latched on. And anything Mark saw on TV — be it basketball, volleyball, lacrosse — he was emulating in the street or yard a short time later.

Often, he didn’t even need a ball to get him going. “In the summertime, he would live in his rollerblades,” says Mark’s mom, Mary Lou. “Him and his brother, they’d go out and play, he’d come in, but he’d leave his rollerblades on and put a piece of cardboard under the table to eat dinner, so he could go back out.”

Sometimes Kyle talked Mark into playing video games for an indoor change of pace. That usually lasted about 20 minutes before Scheifele’s all-consuming desire to get moving kicked in. His outlets even included less mainstream sports like badminton, as he and his high school doubles partner at Grand River Collegiate Institute formed a mean duo. “Whatever it was, he was intense,” says Mary Lou.

While Mark plainly had the skills to match his determination, nobody was dreaming of the high life in the Scheifele household. First of all, they were too busy just trying to get all three children — Janelle, who’s six years older than Mark, was also immersed in sports — to their various commitments. Then there was the fact Mark, though tall as a young teen, was no broader than a broom handle. Mary Lou recalls a pool party for a lacrosse team where, upon seeing Mark without a jersey and shoulder pads, a few parents realized for the first time the feistiest kid on the roster was also perhaps the slightest. “Kyle had shoulders, whereas Mark never did,” says Brad.

Scheifele was a seventh-round pick of the in the 2009 OHL draft, but was cut by the club after training camp. He played Jr. B that 2009–10 season for his hometown Kitchener Dutchmen and pretty soon the NCAA schools were calling about the youngster who registered 55 points in 51 games as a 16-year-old after tearing up the midget AAA ranks the season prior. Mary Lou remembers being with Kyle at a basketball game when Mark showed up glowing after being approached by a Division III college. Brad, who for 30 years co-owned a travel business that operated motor coach tours around North America, recalls stopping for lunch on a trip in Erie, Penn., and asking somebody who worked at the restaurant if they knew anything about nearby Mercyhurst University, one of the programs interested in his son. It was around that time Todd Hoffman, Mark’s Jr. B coach and the father of Ottawa Senators winger Mike Hoffman, suggested it was time the Scheifele family get some representation. “We were seeing area codes come up on our [call display] we never even knew existed,” says Brad.

For a while, Scheifele seemed destined to play NCAA hockey, leaving him more time to focus on bulking up. Ultimately, though, he opted for the OHL after his rights were traded to the rebuilding Colts. As a rookie, Scheifele put up 22 goals and 75 points in 66 outings to rocket up the NHL Draft rankings. Less than a month after the announcement that NHL hockey was returning to Winnipeg, the Jets 2.0 selected Scheifele seventh overall with their first pick of the 2011 draft.

Initially, it looked like Scheifele might be one-and-done in the OHL. He played seven games with Winnipeg in the fall of 2011 on the heels of a scorching pre-season performance — four goals and eight points in five contests — but was returned to Barrie. He spent the next two years powering a high-end Colts club and starring for Canada at the 2012 and ’13 World Junior Championships. He also started watching more NHL hockey at the prompting of his coach. “‘There’s free education on TV,’” Scheifele remembers Hawerchuk telling him, noting there were all kinds of things to be gleaned from watching the likes of and Jonathan Toews. “‘See what they do in the neutral zone; see what they do on the power play; see what they do on faceoffs.’ That’s when I really started to fall in love with the game because there was something new to learn every day.”

Whatever Scheifele was picking up, it was bad news for the opposition. “He was outrageously good,” says Ekblad, now a defenceman, of his old teammate. “He was scoring on demand.”

If it’s unrealistic to expect goals to order at the NHL level, somebody forgot to tell Scheifele. The six-foot-three pivot now hangs an imposing 207 pounds on that frame and monitors his nutrition and sleep with a devotion to detail that would make a surgeon smile. His off-season regimen is built around workouts with Gary Roberts and a crew that includes, among others, Steven Stamkos and Scheifele’s good buddy Connor McDavid. In his first four full NHL years, Scheifele’s best faceoff winning percentage was 44.2; he’s pushed that to nearly 50 per cent this season. He knows which way an opposing third-pair defenceman shoots and what that blueliner’s tendencies are when pressured thanks to the clips he’s fed by Jets video coach Matt Prefontaine. He also fiddles to perfect the curve on his blade, often after consulting with Oates. In a field where “student of the game” gets tossed around like a tape ball in the dressing room, Scheifele is worthy of a less watered-down label. “I know everybody works hard, but he seems to constantly evolve his game and change his game to get better as trends happen,” says Woodcroft.

All that preparation started to pay off in the back half of the 2015–16 campaign, when Scheifele really hit his stride in his third full NHL season, finishing with 38 points in his final 34 appearances. Between that breakout and the time he first cracked the Jets roster four years prior, Scheifele endured some ups and downs that seem natural for a young player in hindsight, but weren’t always easy for a high draft pick to reconcile. “I definitely relied on my family a lot,” Scheifle says of coping with some of those early scoring struggles.

“He’s got aspirations to be McDavid- and Crosby-level, and I think he’s already there.”

That’s all water under the Osborne Street Bridge now. Since the start of last season, only four players — McDavid, Crosby, Patrick Kane and Nikita Kucherov — have more points than the 110 Scheifele has put up. If NHLers were representing Canada at the Olympics in February, his seat would be reserved. “He’s got aspirations to be McDavid- and Crosby-level, and I think he’s already there,” says Ekblad.

While Scheifele in no way hides his desire to be in the tastiest part of the upper crust, he’s not about to make any grand declarations about his place in the game. He says it’s all about guys pushing each other and wanting to respond when one of them creeps ahead by a nose. Besides, when he turns on the TV or flips open his iPad on the road to watch other teams, he’s as much a fan as a rival. “It’s not like I have notes,” he says.

Copp’s viewing and eating habits are very similar to his landlord’s. If they weren’t, the arrangement likely would have failed by now. “Every night we have multiple games going,” says Copp. “It’s kind of under his control. He gives me freedom when there’s football on. We kind of compromise that way. We’ll be sitting on the couch and he’ll go over to the computer and start watching film. He’s as big of a nerd as they say, for sure.”

Scheifele says Copp is the only guy on the Jets he could actually live with, but Scheifele’s affable personality — some would even affectionately tag him “goofy” — means he’s at the centre of a lot of socializing. It’s a bit of a family trait. When Brad and Mary Lou visit, mother and son are often left tapping their watches after games while Brad makes the rounds, having a series of conversations with people like he’s back on one of those tour busses meandering down the highway. After Copp went from frequent visitor to official resident at Scheifele’s place, he got a big hug from Brad. When Mark invited his brother and sister to the World Championship in France last spring, it wasn’t long before other players’ families and friends wanted to join Kyle and Janelle on trips to the Louvre and other Paris sights. The three siblings are very tight and Scheifele has the gift of being equally comfortable in both large and small settings. “He has that ability to have connections with every guy on the team,” says Woodcroft. “He’ll have a private joke with [defenceman] and he’ll have a private joke with Patrik Laine.”

One of the Jets’ ongoing gags is to try and make Scheifele cave on his commitment not to swear. A lot of bets with one side dictating the stakes get proposed. Scheifele, however, didn’t come this far with a clean mouth only to explode his reputation with an F-bomb. “It’s just the way I was brought up,” he says. “I grew up in a good Christian family, so there’s definitely some words that are in the no-no category. I’m still staying strong.”

Mary Lou confirms they tried to set a tasteful standard at home, though she’s well aware of the kinds of things that get said on schoolyards, to say nothing of backyard rinks stocked with rowdy teenagers and practices run by hot-tempered NHL coaches. Her son’s ability to stay true to himself through it all is not lost on her.

“I might say I’m most proud of that,” she says.

No small comment, given the options.

NBC Sports http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/12/02/winnipeg-jets-have-finally-arrived/

Winnipeg Jets have finally arrived

By Adam Gretz

After relocating from Atlanta prior to the 2011-12 season the Winnipeg Jets’ existence has been the definition of mediocrity.

It’s also been painfully dull.

A snail’s pace rebuild (if you want to even call it that) with almost zero trades of consequence and no free agent signings of significance has meant that the results on the ice have been a continuation of the mediocre results they produced during their time in Atlanta. There are still Not quite good enough to be a playoff team. Not quite bad enough to be an embarrassment or land a top draft pick to net a franchise player (though, that changed when their number came up in the draft lottery to get Patrik Laine … but more on that in a bit).

They have just sort of … existed. This is an organization that is still, 18 seasons into its existence, searching for its first ever postseason win. Not postseason series win. Postseason win. Period.

Since moving to Winnipeg it has been a bizarre team to watch from the outside, especially in recent seasons.

There has been a lot of individual talent on the team. When you look at the roster on paper and see what some of the players have produced, especially in recent seasons, it’s baffling to see how little team success that has all translated to. They should have been better.

So far this season, the results are starting to show up.

After their 7-4 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night the Jets enter Saturday with the best record in the Western Conference and are off to one of the best starts in franchise history.

They are looking like they might be for real and that their time as a legit contender may have finally arrived.

How did it finally happen?

Let’s start with the big one: They are finally getting decent goaltending.

One of the biggest factors in the Jets’ mediocrity over the past eight years has been a constant void in net. They committed to Ondrej Pavelec for too long, never really tried to find a better solution, and were consistently sunk by sub-par goaltending on a nightly basis.

They signed Steve Mason this summer, but the job has been taken over to this point by Connor Hellebuyck with a .923 save percentage entering play on Saturday.

Just to give you an idea as to how much of an issue goaltending has been, and how much of a difference it is making this season, consider where the Jets have ranked in team save percentage since the start of the 2011-12 season.

2011-12: 25th

2012-13: 21st

2013-14: 24th

2014-15: 12th (only playoff year)

2015-16: 27th

2016-17: 28th

When you get goaltending like that you’re not even giving yourself a chance to compete.

The thing about this Jets roster is that with the way it is currently constructed and the talent that it has up front they don’t need elite goaltending to have a chance. Even if Hellebuyck sees a slight regression in his performance as long as he is able to avoid being one of the bottom-10 goalies in the league they should still have a chance.

Which brings us to the other big factor in the Jets’ improvement: They are finally being rewarded for their patience.

Since being named general manager of the team Kevin Cheveldayoff has taken a “build from within” approach. Wanting to build through the draft isn’t exactly a unique thing. Every team wants to do that. But the Jets have taken it to the extreme, so much so that in the seven years he has been in charge of the team he has only made two trades that involved NHL players going in each direction.

Combined with a lack of significant free agent moves and it has been an astonishing level of inactivity for an NHL team.

But the drafts are finally starting to pay off and the Jets actually have a core of young, talented players that can be organizational building blocks for a long, long time.

Four of the team’s top-five scorers right this season are age 24 or younger, including three (Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor) that are age 21 or younger.

Since the start of the 2015-16 season Mark Scheifele (currently the team’s leading scorer) and the criminally underrated Blake Wheeler have been two of the top-eight point producers in the NHL.

Only six players have scored more goals than Laine since the start of last season (Laine’s first in the NHL), while Ehlers is on pace for his second 60-plus point season before his age 22 season.

These are all top-line players and currently some of the most productive in the entire NHL. And other than Wheeler, they are all still young enough that their best days might still be in front of them.

Put all of that together and you have a team that has been one of the best offensive teams in the league for two years now and one that probably still has a chance to get better.

Winnipeg fans waited a long to get an NHL team back, and for six years the team they were given was just a rebranded version of the that just happened to be playing in a different city.

It’s taken a long time, and a lot of patience, but they finally have a team that is worth getting excited about and a team that might actually be worthy of being labeled as a contender. www.winnipegjets.com https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/off-day--paul-maurice/t-277437442/c-55318403

OFF DAY | Paul Maurice

Head Coach Paul Maurice addresses the media following Saturday's team meeting at Bell MTS Place https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/off-day--bryan-little/t-277437442/c-55318303

OFF DAY | Bryan Little

Bryan Little on the Jets' 16-6-4 record, and how it feels to be atop the Western Conference standings https://www.nhl.com/jets/video/off-day--mark-scheifele/t-277437442/c-55318203

OFF DAY | Mark Scheifele

Mark Scheifele on how the Jets are handling success, and what the focus is entering Sunday's game against the Senators