WINNIPEG – The last time we saw Mark Scheifele on the ice was Game 6 of the Winnipeg Jets series with the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center, a 2-1 overtime loss that ended the team’s season.
Earlier that day, Scheifele lost his father Brad. The outpouring of support from the Jets organization, his teammates, the Dallas Stars players, coaches and from the hockey community was noticeable.
Following the first day of training camp at hockey for all centre, the 32-year-old started his media availability with a statement.
"I really want to say thank you to the guys in this room, the brothers, obviously my family, my friends,” said Scheifele.
“All the guys in the league that reached out, the organization and especially the fans, the support that that I had, and my family had the at the end of the season was amazing, and it just shows how great this hockey world can be.”
Last season, Scheifele was a driving force behind the Jets Presidents’ Trophy win with his career best 87-point season. He is currently nine points away from passing Blake Wheeler as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer. The team looks poised to make a deep playoff run in 2025-26.
“Yeah, I'm really excited to get the season started,” said Scheifele.
“Obviously a lot of unfinished business after last season. So just really excited to get going again.”
During the first on-ice session of the day, Scheifele was paired up with his usual wingers, Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi. That trio was one of the NHL’s best at five-on-five and certainly, one of the reasons the Jets power play led the way at 28.9%. A missing component from that top unit will be Nikolaj Ehlers who signed with the Carolina Hurricanes in the off-season.
The Jets added Jonathan Toews, Gustav Nyquist, Tanner Pearson and Cole Koepke to add even more depth up front.
“I think you just can't fill what Nikky does at the end of the day. He's an absolutely fantastic player. And obviously talked to him out throughout the summer. And obviously we're going to miss him a lot,” said Scheifele.
“He's obviously a close friend. Played with him for 10 years. And we're going to miss him. But obviously, getting Toews, Nyquist, Pearson, you're doing it a little bit more cut by committee. You're never going to find a another Nikolaj Ehlers. He was absolutely so dynamic. And a fantastic part of this team for a long time. And you can't fill those shoes, but I really like the moves we made.”
Like many of his teammates, Scheifele looked up to the three-time Stanley Cup champion Toews, who chose to sign with his hometown team. Scheifele then told a great story about having dinner with Toews when he was 18.
“I actually brought up this story to him the other day at dinner. I was like, ‘do you remember having dinner with me when I was 18 years old? And he was like, you know what, a buddy brought that up to me actually the other day.’ And I was like, ‘yeah we had dinner together.’ I was roommates with Andrew Ladd, and he was like, ‘hey do you want to come to dinner with me and Buff?’,” said Scheifele.
“And I was like 18 at the time, it was my first road trip, I was like, ‘yeah of course.’ And I show up and it's Taser and Duncan Keith, Marion Hossa and Brent Seabrook and I was like — I nearly crapped my pants. But I brought that up to him the other day and he was like, ‘someone actually did bring that up to me the other day,’ so it's kind of cool to re-live that story.”
