Mark Scheifele Postgame Mark Scheifele should be on Team Canada. It's as simple as that. No, he was not selected by Don Sweeney and company back on December 4 when the official team announcement was made. At the time, the Winnipeg Jets' star centre was in the middle of battling a wrist injury, which was limiting his shot and temporarily switched him away from face-off duties. But since his snub, the Kitchener, ON. product has been on an absolute tear, putting up 18 goals and 36 points in the 30 games since the announcement. "I think he should be on the team," Scheifele's head coach Scott Arniel said. Scheifele currently ranks third across the NHL in goals with 31 on the season and 11th in points with 61. “Since we got the call that he wasn’t going to be on the team, he’s played fantastic. He’s had a great year, actually. I take that back. It’s all year. But even since that day he’s even taken it up another notch.” On Friday, it was announced that the Jets' alternate captain was told to remain on-call over the next two days prior to the start of the 4 Nations Cup. With 14 games on Saturday and two on Sunday, the possibility of injuries could serve as an invitation for Scheifele to join the squad, should a forward currently on the team go down in action. Currently, the Canadian captain, Sidney Crosby, has been dealing with an arm injury that has kept him out of action in recent days. He has been skating and practicing on his own, but his status is not yet 100 percent clear. Also, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli has been listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury that forced him to miss Thursday's game vs. Ottawa. Should Crosby, Cirelli, or any other Team Canada member that suffers an injury on Saturday or Sunday not be good to go for the four-team tournament, it is believed that Scheifele would be the team's first choice as a replacement. “If it works out for him, that’d be great,” Arniel added. “That’d be a great experience for him. All those guys going to play in that, it’s like playing playoff hockey in February. And you love those guys to get into that, be around those type of players. We will see where it ends up." Whether or not he already has a warm winter getaway booked for the next two weeks, one would think he has the resources to have purchased trip insurance/cancellation. And injury to Crosby would be completely devastating for Canada, but would give another rightfully deserving Jet an opportunity to play for his country. As it stands, Josh Morrissey will play a large role on the Canadian blueline, while Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck should have critical roles for the United States. Officially, teams have until 4:00 PM central on Monday evening to name their final rosters, including injury replacements. The tournament kicks off on Wednesday with Canada taking on Sweden, and concludes with the Gold Medal Game on February 20.
