We’re now down to the final four players to be mentioned in this year’s Jets Nation year in review series. After this one, there will be three more: Gabriel Vilardi, Vladislav Namestnikov and Dylan DeMelo. With all the talk about teams needed centres in the upcoming NHL entry draft and in free agency, I think it’s a good time to reflect on the season of the Jets number one centre: Mark Scheifele.

This season was full of ups and downs for Mark Scheifele, whether that’s on or off the ice. On the ice, Scheifele reached several career milestones, continuing to stamp his legacy in the Jets organization. It was also an almost fully healthy season for Scheifele, who only missed two games in the playoffs. The unfortunate and sudden passing of Scheifele’s father before the Jets round 2, game 6 against the Stars was a story heard around the hockey world. With the hockey community behind him, Scheifele fought through what must have been all kinds of emotions to play in game 6. Although the Jets unfortunately lost that game, Scheifele scored the Jets only goal in this highly emotional game.

Scheifele’s nicknames include “Scheif”, “Bambi” and “Fefe”. Some fans also refer to Scheifele as “Mark Frickin’ Scheifele”, a similar style nickname to Kyle Connor’s nickname for his initials “KFC” (Kyle Frickin’ Connor). After this season, I think Scheifele deserves another new nickname that describes his trusted and talented play, but I’ll leave that up to Jets fans to come up with in the 2025-26 season. Much like other Jets that have been in the organization since being drafted, it’s crazy that this season was Scheifele’s 12th full year in the NHL with the Jets. The 32-year old from Kitchener, Ontario played this season on the Jets top forward line with Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi. The trio of former 1st round picks built on the chemistry they gained last year playing together, pushing each other to new career highs.

Scheifele played in all 82 regular season games this year, scoring 1 goal shy of his 2nd 40+ goal season (39). Scheifele collected 48 assists, just 2 shy of his career best back in 2016-17. Points wise, his 87 points was a career high, beating out his old career best of 84 points back in the 2018-19 season. I’m not sure what this means about Scheifele’s game, but he set a new career high in penalty minutes with 61. I noticed that some of the penalties Scheifele took this year were just “silly”, but maybe that just happens sometimes without much that a player can do. In the Jets 1st round playoff matchup with the St. Louis Blues, Scheifele suffered an “undisclosed” injury which forced him to miss game 6 and 7. Despite missing those 2 games, Scheifele still made his impact in the playoffs, scoring 5 goals and adding 6 assists for 11 points in his 11 games.

Just like Connor Hellebuyck, Scheifele is locked in to the Jets until the end of the 2030-31 season. Scheifele is part of the Jets’ “core four” that includes himself, Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and Connor Hellebuyck, all of who will likely be Jets for their whole careers. Scheifele’s $8.5 million cap hit is very reasonable for his production, and with the salary cap rising in the upcoming seasons, the Jets did well to extend Scheifele to a long term deal at the right time.

Overall, Scheifele continues to be underrated as a number one centre in the NHL, perhaps due to him playing in a “smaller” market in Winnipeg. Entering his mid-30s in a few seasons, Scheifele’s game continues to improve, and his high-skill, offensive minded playing style allows him to excel on a nightly basis. The Jets had the number 1 powerplay in the league this season at 28.9%, and Scheifele was one part of that success. So many times this season the Jets number 1 line would strike with a goal when you sometimes didn’t expect it, and some of those goals happened because of Scheifele’s quick thinking and hockey IQ. Entering the 2025-26 season, Mark Scheifele will continue to be energized by playing on the Jets top line, and I have him down for another 80+ point season. Number one centres are getting harder to find in the NHL, but the Jets have one now with Mark Scheifele.

Browse inventory, schedule a test drive and experience your dream Toyota today
at shoptoyota.ca