Mark Scheifele is close to returning to the Winnipeg Jets lineup and he can’t wait to get back on the ice.
“You’re not doing a whole lot, especially when it first happened,” Scheifele said Thursday on Prime Time Sports. “I wasn’t able to move around too much, I wasn’t able to do a whole lot so you get bored pretty easily.
“That’s a tough thing to go through, if you’re not doing anything and just sitting around bored all the time it can take away from some of the healing.”
Scheifele hasn’t played since suffering a shoulder injury on Dec. 27. He credited his teammates and family for helping him stay active during his recovery, especially early on when the pain in his shoulder made it hard to sleep.
“We have such a great group of guys,” he said. “I have a great family around me, I have great friends and if I didn’t have them it would have been a really hard to go through.”
Scheifele returned to the ice last week and this week participated in full practice. He skated alongside his old linemates Patrik Laine and Blake Wheeler, a pair he had a lot of success with before the injury.
A lot has been made recently of how well the Jets have played without Scheifele, especially since he’s considered one of their best offensive weapons. The team entered Thursday’s action atop the Central Division standings and has an 11-2-3 record in his absence.
The team has played so well in fact that head coach Paul Maurice jokingly suggested that they might not even need Scheifele.
After missing the playoffs last year, the Jets look like a real championship contender. While that may be surprising to outsiders, Scheifele said he’s known since training camp that this is a special group. But he’s also is aware of the growing expectations on his team that come with continuing to win.
“The biggest thing for our group this year is not letting us get to high or letting us get to low,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s all about what you put on the ice, and when you get on the ice you have to put that all behind you, all out of your mind, and do what you can to win.”
That push for the playoffs will get a big boost once Scheifele is back. And that return could come as early as Friday against the St. Louis Blues.
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