Winnipeg Jets sign Mark Scheifele to a 8-year contract, 6.125 AAV

The Winnipeg Jets have signed Mark Scheifele to an eight-year, one-way contract. The average salary being $6.125 million per year. The individual breakdown of the years has yet to be announced.

Mark Scheifele’s development arc has been steep and steady. He has steadily grown into becoming a legitimate #1 NHL centre, something many outside of Winnipeg (and even some inside) did not see coming.

The 23-year-old has dressed for 227 games for the Winnipeg Jets. In these games he has 58 goals and 87 assists, giving him a 0.64 point per game pace. A large cause for Scheifele’s big pay day is a 29 goal and 32 assist career year, putting up 61 points in 71 games.

Scheifele lead the team in 5v5 point production relative to ice time, with a 2.57 point per sixty minute pace. Removing secondary assists, Scheifele’s 2.09 primary points per sixty minutes was second only to Wheeler.

The 6’3 centre was third on the team in relative Corsi% (+4.48), second in relative Fenwick% (+4.5), second in relative shots on goal% (+4.12), and third in relative expected goal% (+4.93). In other words, the Jets severely outshot their opposition with Scheifele on the ice relative when he was on the bench, and were expected to outscore their opposition significantly more when combining at shot volume and quality.

With Scheifele locked up long term throughout his prime years and until he is 31, the Jets have their top centre situation figured out for years to come.