The Winnipeg Jets will be without forward Mark Scheifele. The veteran skater has been suspended four games for charging by the Department of Player Safety after a brutal hit on Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens. Evans left the ice on a stretcher as a result. Any punishment would be Scheifele’s first since his debut in 2011-12.
Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele has been suspended for four games for Charging Montreal’s Jake Evans. https://t.co/MhMHK55lmC
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) June 4, 2021
Jets Mark Scheifele Suspended Four Games
Scheifele has been brilliant in the 2020-21 campaign. The 27-year-old centre posted 21 goals and 63 points in 56 games during the regular season. He also received credit for 31 hits and 38 blocks while averaging 20:58 per game. It was easily the best season of Scheifele’s career both from a traditional perspective and an advanced perspective with a 50.6 percent Corsi For and 3.3 relative Corsi. Finally, Scheifele has maintained that dominance into the postseason with two goals and five points in the team’s first four games.
The Jets originally selected Scheifele seventh overall in the 2011 Draft. He has been an excellent contributor almost from the very first year in which he received significant playing time. The 6’3″ Kitchener native has 201 goals and 507 points in 575 games with remarkable durability; he has appeared in at least 71 games in five of his seven full seasons.
What Could Happen With a Hearing
This hearing could go any number of ways. Many will point at Nazem Kadri‘s eight-game suspension as the benchmark for this sort of hit. However, Scheifele does not have a history of this sort of thing. The league’s player safety department is also not known for the consistent application of rules regarding high hits. A long suspension cripples the team’s chances for advancement, but any suspension at all isn’t good when the Canadiens are playing as solid as they currently are. The Jets are simply not built to weather the loss of their best player. Especially for four games.
However, that is meaningless in the face of Evans’ brutal departure. Player Safety cannot hope to get by with a slap on the wrist and come out unscathed. The same thing must be done to Scheifele as it was to Kadri if the league wants to send a clear message.
As a result of the suspension, the Jets have lost a player on their top line and will be forced to move players around. With Montreal already up 1-0 in the series this suspension similar to Scheifele’s injury last year could cripple the Jets chances of going deep in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It will be interesting to see who takes Scheifele’s place on the top line.
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