Jets suffer major loss; Scheifele out 6-8 weeks
Winnipeg’s top-line centre out with upper-body injury
WINNIPEG (CP) — The news that Mark Scheifele will miss six to eight weeks was a hard blow to the top-line centre and his Winnipeg Jets teammates.
Head coach Paul Maurice announced after Thursday’s practice that Scheifele is out with an undisclosed upper-body injury he suffered in Winnipeg’s 4-3 victory over Edmonton on Wednesday night.
“It’s going to be a real, real difficult thing for him to go through, and it’s the mental part of it,” Maurice said when asked how Scheifele was doing.
“I know he will be back the day that human body is ready to be back because his diet’s going to be perfect, his off-ice training’s going to be perfect and he comes into the injury as a very, very fit man. So he gives himself the best chance, but it’s going to be tough for him. He’s going to have a real difficult time with it.”
How difficult it will be for his teammates to fill the hole he leaves behind remains to be seen.
Scheifele, 24, had assisted on linemate Kyle Connor’s goal early in the second period against the Oilers, but took a hit by Edmonton Brandon Davidson and went sliding hard into the boards at 7:37. As the Bell MTS Place crowd grew quiet, Scheifele stayed down in obvious pain and then left on his own to the dressing room, appearing to favour his right shoulder or arm.
“From what we saw (Wednesday) night, it didn’t look good, it didn’t sound good,” veteran centre Bryan Little said. “But I think it could have been worse, from what they were saying.
“Hopefully, he heals quickly and is back pretty soon. It’s never something easy to see, one of your best players on the ice like that.”
The assist gave Scheifele 38 points in 38 games, four points behind leading linemate and captain Blake Wheeler. Scheifele also averages 20:58 of ice time, sixth among NHL forwards.
“It’s a huge hole. (He’s) one of the best in the game and a huge part of what we do,” Wheeler said of the alternate captain.
The Jets (21-11-6), who host the New York Islanders (20-13-4) tonight, are already without injured veterans Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom on defence.
The ripple effect from Scheifele going on the injured-reserve list had Maurice juggling three of his four lines at practice.
Wheeler had moved to Scheifele’s spot after the injury and was still there during practice, with regular linemate Connor on the left wing and Patrik Laine moving up from the second line.
“It’s unfortunate to see your teammate go down like that,” Laine said. “He’s one of our key players on the team, so it’s not good for us.”
Mathieu Perreault was bumped up to the second line from the fourth to play with Little and Nikolaj Ehlers. Either Shawn Matthias or Marko Dano will now dress too.