The Winnipeg Jets aren’t a lock to make the playoffs, but it’s very probable. They are one point away from claiming the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. What should fans look for moving forward? How well Mark Scheifele plays. If you look at the Jets’ results over this season, when he plays well, the team has success. When he doesn’t, they don’t. As Scheifele goes, so do the Jets.
After weeks of frustrating play, the Jets have been like a proverbial lifeboat with a hole in the hull with no one knowing how to plug it. However, the past two weeks have been symbolic of their season. They played well against the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils, racking up a half dozen goals each night. Then surprisingly, played an uninspired game against the Calgary Flames, the team nipping at their heels for the last wildcard spot, only to come back a few nights later and dominate the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks positioning themselves to earn that final available playoff spot.
Scheifele’s Poor Play Highlights Jets’ Fall
Look at the performance of Scheifele in those games. He was one of the best skaters on the ice for four games and was miserable in another. Any guesses about which game he played poorly in?
The Scheifele comparison began a month ago. On March 14, he and his linemates, Kyle Connor and Nino Neidereitter, were benched for the second half of the second period against the Carolina Hurricanes. Benching someone is the coach communicating to a player that he can play better and that he expects more from him. It becomes incumbent upon the player to heed the message and show results. Scheifele either didn’t get the message or chose to ignore it.
Related: Jets’ Scheifele Has Quietly Quit on His Team; Trade Request Coming?
After that game, he went the next eight with a point total of only a single assist to his credit. He also reverted to his apathetic play with little intent to play defense, which had garnered heavy criticism last season. In those next eight games, his plus/minus rating was minus-12; he was a minus in seven out of the eight, his best game being an even rating.
More importantly, he directly contradicted his coach. In the past, Scheifele has faced criticism for overpassing the puck and trying to make spectacular plays instead of making the simple play. For the first half of the season, that was not the case. Head coach Rick Bowness has been preaching for his team to keep the game simple and get more shots on goal. Find the goals in the dirty areas in front of the net and put more pressure on the opponent’s goalie and defense.
Rick Bowness looks unhappy with Mark Scheifele’s view of the #NHLJets offence.
— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) March 29, 2023
I have empathy for both. Scheifele, because he’s traditionally great at holding on to pucks and creating in the middle.
Bowness, because Scheifele is putting his own view above the coaches’ gameplan. pic.twitter.com/iqZ2SsLrAc
On March 29, after a dismal performance and a 3-0 loss to the woeful Sharks, Bowness gave a classic eye-roll when told that Scheifele said, “I like to hold on to the puck, especially below the goal line. That’s kind of where I create my offence. I don’t think it’s really as much about shot quantity as it is about quality.”
Scheifele appears to have grown tired of the try-hard system Bowness once had his team dancing to, and one that helped him tie a career-best 38 goals.
But his absence at such a critical juncture of the season is a big part of why his team’s playoff chances have gone from basically a shoo-in to who the heck really knows in short order.
– Scott Billeck, from “Winnipeg Jets at risk of epic collapse”, Winnipeg Sun, 29/03/2023
No one knows what goes on behind closed doors, but it would appear the coach and the player aired some differences after the San Jose debacle. In the five games since, the Jets have turned their game around, and not coincidentally, so has Scheifele.
Scheifele’s Recent Resurgence Comes with Jets’ Wins
The Jets have won four of their last five games and have scored six goals in three of them. In those five games, Scheifele has added three goals and three assists, has returned to playing engaged hockey, and has been one of the best players on the ice.
After a dominating performance against the Predators on April 8, Sportsnet’s Ken Weibe said, “We’ve been waiting for Mark Scheifele to sort of put his stamp on a big game down the stretch and to me this was it. He was very active in the offensive zone, you saw him hustling in on the back-check. His 40th (goal) ends up being the game-winner, in a night when the Jets really needed him to be a force.”
Scheifele is the Key to a Potential Playoff Run
As the Jets potentially move into the playoffs, many think they will be a round-one disaster and get bounced without much of a fight. That could happen, but the opposite could also occur. The Jets have shown throughout the year that they can beat any of the NHL’s best teams when they play with pace and energy.
The question remains, will they? Will the Jets from the first half of the season show up for postseason play should they get in? Or will it be the team that has been abysmal in the second half of the season? If it’s the former, they could surprise people, return to being the team that was ranked amongst the top five in the NHL’s power rankings, and make a deep run. If it’s the latter, they will be fodder and find themselves on the golf course early this spring.
How will the Jets play? That depends on how Scheifele plays. It’s not totally fair in a team game to put the onus squarely on his shoulders, but as Sean Reynolds of Sportsnet said about Scheifele in the linked conversation above, “As he has struggled throughout the year, so have the Winnipeg Jets, no doubt there’s a correlation between the two, but when he’s dominant he is one of the most dominant players in the league.”
