TORONTO – At the ripe old age of 22, it appears Mark Scheifele is already becoming a mentor and, increasingly, it looks as though he’s in the middle of something special.
The line of Bryan Little between Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler still has top billing on the Winnipeg Jets — if for no other reason than Wheeler’s status as the team’s best offensive player — but the trio of Scheifele with rookie right winger Nikolaj Ehlers and playmaking port-sider Mathieu Perreault is making a case for co-headliner status.
Scheifele, now 13 games into his third full NHL campaign, registered his fifth goal of the season in helping the Jets to a hard-fought 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre Wednesday night. Perrault, meanwhile, added a pair of assists and now has nine on the year, putting him one behind Wheeler — who also had two helpers versus Toronto — for the team lead in that category.
The only member of the unit who didn’t register a point was Ehlers, though he did have the best Corsi rating of any skater in the game, and, for those who haven’t been paying attention, it’s already abundantly clear this 19-year-old Dane has game.
The Jets have actually been a little possession-challenged this season, through absolutely no fault of the people who now comprise the Scheifele line. Entering playing against the Leafs, Winnipeg’s three best Corsi ratings among players who’ve suited up in every game belonged, in order, to Perreault, Ehlers and Scheifele. That kind of second troika makes life a bit easier on the guy tasked with sending charges over the boards.
“We’ve got another line of weapons there and we’re a little harder to check,” said Jets coach Paul Maurice.
While Scheifele himself is just starting to hit his stride as a big, rangy NHL centre — and make no mistake, he’s on his way to becoming a serious impact player — Maurice said his young pivot has already had a sizable influence on Ehlers as the latter transitions to the show. Scheifele is always in Ehlers’ ear, telling him anything he can to help the adaptation and Maurice said the freshman is the kind of kid who soaks up every syllable, then asks for more.
Opponents, meanwhile, may soon be asking for mercy.
“They’re not going to be crushing a lot of people, but they get the puck on their stick, they’re awfully dangerous and it makes us more dangerous, too,” Maurice said.
As it happens, the least-known commodity on the line might be 27-year-old Mathieu Perreault. Unlike his linemates, who were both top-10 NHL draft picks, Perreault is a sixth-rounder on his third club despite showing some promise in the past with the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks.
The Francophone signed as a free agent with Winnipeg in the summer of 2014 and, last year, scored at a 55-point pace during a season in which he was limited to 62 contests because of a high ankle sprain.
Wheeler said Perreault and his passing instincts were basically singlehandedly responsible for elevating the Jets’ top power-play unit last year and, through a baker’s dozen games this season, the speedster’s vision and hustle has delighted his centre.
“Every time you’re open, he’s going to find you,” Scheifele said. “He’s unbelievable that way. He’s hard on the forecheck. He does just about everything.”
And whatever it is he doesn’t accomplish, it’s a good bet Scheifele or Ehlers will.