Mark Scheifele has found his groove, and the Winnipeg Jets are winning early in 2026-27, fending off any potential rebuild.
While Connor Hellebuyck has dominated trade headlines, Scheifele's name has also been thrown around. Coming off a bad 2025-26 that kept the Jets out of the playoffs, it looked like they were, at best, heading toward a possible retool, if not a rebuild.
Naturally, it led to speculation that Scheifele could be on his way out. But with Winnipeg posting a 4-1-1 record in this young season, Scheifele doesn't look like he's going anywhere. There is no way he would play for anyone else should Winnipeg keep up its winning ways.
While Scheifele got off to a slow start this season, he was lights out in Tuesday night's win over the Minnesota Wild. Scheifele ended the game with three points and a goal, giving him six points, one goal, and five assists in six contests.
Scheifele is also part of one of the NHL's most dangerous scoring trios that includes Kyle Connor (10 points, seven goals) and Cole Perfetti (eight points, five goals).
The Jets may have entered Tuesday night's tilt vs. the Wild 3-1-1, but they had a minus-2 goal differential. Winnipeg had 13 goals coming into the contest. Connor and Perfetti accounted for nine of them, while Scheifele dished out three helpers. One of which sealed a game-winner nearly one week ago vs. the Colorado Avalanche .
That trend continued on Tuesday night when Connor and Perfetti combined for three goals while Scheifele and Cole Koepke each pitched in with one. Both of Scheifele's assists came on Perfetti's goals. Meanwhile, Connor provided the secondary assist when Scheifele scored.
This shows that Winnipeg's scoring is still very top-heavy. It also shows that, for a team trending northward as players are getting acclimated to the long season, Scheifele is one of the most valuable assets for a team capable of winning a lot of hockey games.
If the Jets keep winning games like this and relying on Scheifele to be a massive part of their scoring unit, he's staying in Winnipeg. Scheifele is also chasing history , so he has even more of an incentive to keep producing well in a Jets uniform.
The only way Winnipeg would make trading Scheifele look logical is if they were falling out of contention near the trade deadline. But to put up five goals on Tuesday against one of the NHL's most defense-oriented teams? All without star two-way defenseman Josh Morrissey?
As the season keeps navigating through its early stages, the Jets are looking more like their 2024-25 version than they are their 2025-26 version. That should be reassuring to fans. And as far as Mark Scheifele's status goes? He should be going along for the ride.
The Jets will get another chance to keep turning their fortunes around on Thursday when they face the Chicago Blackhawks . Given Chicago's struggles this season, it may be a prime opportunity for the Jets to see if they can get a few other players involved in the scoring.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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