During the Winnipeg Jets postseason series against the Calgary Flames, the Jets Mark Scheifele was injured in a collision with the Flames Matthew Tkachuk. At the time, head coach Paul Maurice was incensed and claimed that Tkachuk injured Scheifele on purpose.
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In fact, Maurice couldn’t have been clearer. The Winnipeg coach felt called what Tkachuk did “a filthy, dirty kick to the back of the leg” and he called the incident “disgusting.” That’s Maurice’s perception as a coach. After the collision, Tkachuk went over to speak with Scheifele as he left the ice; however, there was no penalty assessed on the play. Obviously, the officials didn’t believe it was intentional.
Scheifele’s Injury Took Him Out of the Postseason
Perhaps more crucial than whether Tkachuk was at fault was the fact that Scheifele was unable to continue playing during the series. The injury occurred in Game 1 and perhaps cost the Jets the series. Scheifele was only able to play about two minutes of the entire series before he was forced to leave with his left leg injury. Winnipeg was eliminated by the Flames in four games in the best-of-five series.
When Scheifele was hurt in Game 1, he initially feared the worst. And, he and everyone else was thankful that the injury wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. At the time Scheifele noted:
“I’m very, very lucky that it wasn’t worse than it was. Initially I thought I tore my Achilles and I was done for six months, so I definitely was in a dark place. I had a lot of bad thoughts go through my mind that I was going to be out for six months and that my career could be over. That was tough on me and the worst part was the anticipation of getting some answers. But all I could do was thank God that I am on the mend, I didn’t need surgery and I’ll be back better than ever.” (From “I definitely was in a dark place’: Jets’ Scheifele thankful he’s OK,” Paul Friesen, Winnipeg Sun, 11/08/20).
A Scheifele Injury Update
Scheifele says that his Achilles injury is 100 percent healthy right now. After Tkachuk’s skate clipped Scheifele’s Achilles, the Jets feared that Scheifele’s Achilles was torn. Fortunately, the injury wasn’t as severe as they thought.
Yesterday, Scheifele said clearly, “I’m 100 percent, no question.”
He also noted that he was “Skating every day. I don’t know anyone who skates more than I do. I love being on the ice. That’s my No. 1 thing. I get on the ice as much as I can. I’m not a guy who likes to take much time off [in the offseason]. I think I was three weeks off the ice once I got home. I did a ton of rehab on it, lots of treatment, got it back to normal.”
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The fact that Scheifele’s 100% is really great news for the Jets. The 27-year-old Scheifele had 29 goals and 73 points in 71 games last season. He’s one of the really strong forwards in the NHL right now and the Jets are fortunate he plays in Winnipeg.
The bottom line is that, whenever the 2020-21 NHL regular season begins, Scheifele will be ready. That’s good news for the Jets.
