Scheifele spent his first six years in hockey as a defenseman until his minor bantam coach, searching for offense, put him at forward.

By his recollection Scheifele scored four goals in that game and never went back to his old position, becoming a junior star and getting selected by the Winnipeg Jets with the No. 7 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft.

Blessed with the prototypical center's frame at 6-foot-2 and 207 pounds, the Kitchener, Ontario, native has a quick, hard shot with a smooth, long skating stride that makes it difficult for opponents to stop him. His bulk also enables him to win battles in the corners and along the boards.

The Jets franchise relocated to Winnipeg for 2011-12, and Scheifele made his NHL debut in the team's first game since moving. On Oct. 9, 2011, an 18-year-old Scheifele played 13:44 in a 5-1 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Scheifele scored his first NHL goal in his fifth NHL game -- and within about an hour's drive of his hometown -- when he put the puck past goalie James Reimer in a 4-3 shootout loss on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 19, 2011.

That goal would be Scheifele's only point in 11 NHL games over the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons as Winnipeg twice returned him to juniors. But in 2013-14 Scheifele made the Jets roster out of training camp and scored Winnipeg's first goal of the season in a 5-4 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 1, 2013.

On Dec. 17, 2013, against the Buffalo Sabres, Scheifele set a Thrashers/Jets record for the fastest two road goals, 36 seconds apart. That was part of a 39-game run in which Scheifele had 12 goals and 29 points before sustaining a season-ending knee injury in a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders on March 4, 2014.

Despite playing in only 63 games that season, Scheifele finished tied for eighth in scoring among NHL rookies with 34 points. The following season Scheifele was fourth on the Jets with 49 points and made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, recording one assist in four games as Winnipeg lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the first round.

Scheifele opened 2015-16 with a three-game goal streak and, on March 5, 2016, had the first hat trick of his NHL career in a 4-2 win against the Canadiens. On July 8, 2016, Winnipeg signed Scheifele, who was a restricted free agent, to an eight-year contract.

He's more than justified that contract since then, averaging more than a point a game during the next four seasons and being selected to play in the NHL All-Star Game in 2019 and 2020.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

• Played in NHL All-Star Game (2019, 2020)