Scheifele to miss six to eight weeks with upper-body injury

But the NHL schedule waits for no injury, and with the New York Islanders in town tomorrow night, the Winnipeg Jets got to work trying to fill the void left behind by Scheifele.

That void may be significant - Scheifele is second on the team (and 14th in the NHL) in points with 38, and sits sixth in the NHL among forwards in ice time, averaging 20:58 per game.
"He's really developed into a leader on our team. It's a big void. Everyone is going to have to step up a little bit," said captain Blake Wheeler. "We're just going to have to fight. It's going to be one of those things that it may not look as pretty, we may not be quite as dangerous as we're used to being.
"There's still a lot of fight in our group. There's still a lot of capable bodies in here to get a job done. That's the key for us. We want to keep this thing afloat so that when Mark comes back, we'll be even stronger for it."

Wheeler took over Scheifele's spot at centre after his injury, and was back in that position during today's 45-minute practice at Bell MTS Place:
Connor-Wheeler-Laine
Perreault-Little-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Tanev
Matthias-Hendricks-Armia
Morrissey-Trouba
Kulikov-Myers
Chiarot-Poolman
Maurice used Wheeler at centre during the three games Scheifele missed between Dec. 3 and Dec. 6 last season.
Wheeler had an assist in each of those games, and the Jets went 2-0-1 in that stretch.
"What Blake has done quietly here, for the last three years, is make the players he plays with better," said Maurice. "Look at Mark's growth, and the way he plays the game. Nik Ehlers played there and learned how to play hard. Kyle Connor, that's a big part of the reason that Kyle is there. He's learning how to get on the puck. You don't even have to go back to last year, from training camp to now, there is a huge pay off to playing with a player like Blake."
Wheeler came into the NHL playing centre, and suggests playing the position will require a bit of a shift in mindset.
"There's different nuances. You have to be a little bit more patient underneath the puck," said Wheeler. "That being said, if you time it right, you can play with it more - less stopping and starting.
"I've done it enough to know what to do."

The second big move has Mathieu Perreault sliding up to the second line, vacated by Patrik Laine moving up to cover the right wing spot usually held by Wheeler.
"We won't be as offensive off that fourth line as we have been. It's going to look more like other NHL teams," said Maurice. "We were just fortunate that Matty handles that situation the way he did. He liked playing there. He likes playing with Hendy and Army because they can make plays. The guy that goes in is moving into a pretty good hole there."
Since returning from a lower-body injury on Nov 16, Perreault is averaging nearly a point-per-game, with eight goals and 17 points in that 21-game span.
"It's terrible. It's not good, but there's nothing we can do about it now," Perreault said of Scheifele's injury. "We just hope he gets better soon. For now, we have to focus, and put our efforts together to make some good without him.
"We've got good players in this room, and we've got to believe that we can still do it without Scheifs."
At this point, the Jets don't plan on recalling anyone from their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, and Maurice is still deciding whether it will be Shawn Matthias or Marko Dano that gets a look on the line with Matt Hendricks and Joel Armia.
One thing is for sure though. There is still confidence in the Jets dressing room.
The team has managed the adversity of having both Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom out of the line-up in recent weeks. Maurice hopes Byfuglien can return shortly after Jan. 1, while Enstrom's eight-week lower-body injury timeline would have him back later in January if it stays on schedule.
Help may be on the way, but the team knows it still has work to do.
"They're looking at this as a challenge," said Maurice. "I felt, from the bench anyway, all of those young players got better the minute Mark went down. Everybody understood what happened.
"Kyle Connor's game really changed gears. I thought that was a positive. We handled it right on the bench. It's going to be a while, we're not going to be sitting here waiting for him. Certainly you don't want him out for that amount of time, but we're not waiting for the weekend for him to come back and make all things better."
The one taking it the hardest may be Scheifele. His love for the game and his teammates is well known, and now he faces the long, grinding road to recovery.
"It's going to be a real difficult thing for him to go through. It's the mental part of it," said Maurice. "I know he'll be back the day the human body is ready to be back. His diet will be perfect, his off ice training will be perfect. He comes into the injury as a very fit man.
"He gives himself the best chance, but it's going to be tough for him. He's going to have a real difficult time for him."