Before we get off on the wrong foot, I want everyone to know that I want to see a full 82 games from Mark Scheifele and would like to see some folks outside of Winnipeg put some respect on his name. However, we do need to be realistic. Injuries happen in the NHL. Although the first-ever draft pick by the Winnipeg Jets has managed to stay healthy for the most part over the last six seasons, he has played in 431 of a possible 455 regular-season games, which is 95%.

Scheifele is just three goals away from 300 and three games away from 800 games played. If an unexpected injury occurs, the Jets would lose a significant amount of firepower. He is a bit of a Swiss Army knife; Scott Arniel has him and Kyle Connor playing on the penalty kill. This isn’t the first time No. 55 has played on the PK—he logged nearly 100 minutes while short-handed in 2018-19.

We also expect him to be on the power play throughout the season, and we hope to see him win more than 50% of his face-offs and score 80 points for the third consecutive year.

The Jets have been fortunate to have a dependable player who can stay healthy as their top-line center. There’s a reason he is one of the highest-paid Jets ever. If he goes down with a significant injury during the regular season, what is the protocol for the team?

Currently, the Jets lack quality center depth. They don’t have a true second-line center and really only have two NHL-quality centers in Scheifele and Adam Lowry. I’m not sure if David Gustafsson has the chops to play more than fourth-line minutes if an injury occurs.

We can hope that young Brad Lambert can make the transition from the AHL to the NHL, but we need to have realistic expectations for our players. Can a 20-year-old go from being an AHL rookie All-Star to a top-six player in the NHL? It has happened before, but that is a bit of a gamble on the Jets’ part.

Even if Lambert is capable of playing in the top six, could he step into the role of top centerman if Scheifele gets injured? There is a case to be made for him based on his preseason performance, but we need to see more before we can confidently place him in that position.

Both Gabe Vilardi and Alex Iafallo were drafted as centers. Vilardi played a fair amount as a center when he was with the LA Kings, taking 1,029 face-offs and winning 46.6% of them. He has the drive and hockey IQ to be a full-time center. If he weren’t so effective alongside Scheifele on the top line, I would argue for him to be the Jets’ full-time second-line center.

He could be a serious contender for the top center spot with the Jets if Scheifele were unable to play.

Iafallo has only taken 154 face-offs in his seven-year career and has won just 41% of those, which is why he can continue to play up and down the wings.

Adam Lowry is one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL right now. He wins his face-offs and plays a tough game. If it were just for one game, sure, he could play on the top line. However, he is a bit too slow for that role and doesn’t have the finishing touch needed at the NHL level.

Nothing against him; he is a solid third-liner, and in a different scenario, he might even be a second-liner, depending on the team. Fifteen goals is probably his ceiling; I doubt he could find 20 on the top line, and you need your top line to score goals.

To be honest, if the Jets lost Scheifele, they could utilize Vilardi, but I think they would need to pursue a proper trade for a defenseman.