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Winnipeg Jets: How Mark Scheifele would impact each NHL Division

By Andrew R

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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Scheifele and Dubois

For anyone who might speculate that Scheifele’s job is in danger, I’ll suggest that isn’t the case. Pierre-Luc Dubois scored 29th out of 36 First Line Centers, broken down as follows:

  1. TOI:42.1%
  2. vs elite: 25.6%
  3. ES Pts: 40.6%
  4. CDiff: 45.0%
  5. PPTOI%: 53.5%
  6. PP%: 14.27%
  7. PPP:15.6%

Overall Score: 33.8%

Let’s compare that again with Scheifele:

  1. TOI: 100.0%
  2. vs elite: 100.0%
  3. ES Pts: 60.5%
  4. CDiff: 4.0%
  5. PPTOI: 73.8%
  6. PP%: 41.0%
  7. PPP: 37.8%

Overall Score: 59.6%

Dubois was not heavily utilized in Columbus. Most noteworthy is his minimal deployment against elite competition.

On Winnipeg, where Scheifele is the most heavily utilized center in the league, both players are likely to see less time than what they’re used to. And for both of them, that will be a good thing, because it will lead to more quality minutes.

With the amount Scheifele was utilized, it is clear that Winnipeg sorely needed more depth at center. And with Dubois, they now have it – a quality center who was good enough to be the First Line Center in Columbus last year.

I would still, however, expect Dubois to assume a Second Line Center role. Scheifele would likely command first-line minutes, as well as time on the first unit PP. Dubois struggled somewhat on Columbus’ PP, which wasn’t a strong PP to begin with.

As a Second Line Center, though, Dubois will be among the league’s best, and the Winnipeg tandem will be elite as well. Just looking at the other teams with two First Line Centers, Winnipeg might be sitting somewhere behind Pittsburgh, Edmonton, and Toronto in terms of quality depth at the Center position.

And that’s a great look for Winnipeg. While for Columbus, they were already struggling at center depth. They got Jack Roslovic in the deal, but he isn’t likely to be relied upon as heavily as Dubois was. On the other hand, maybe Scheifele was preventing Roslovic from getting more responsibility, and we see him flourish in Columbus. I wish him the best of luck.

Final Verdict

There’s only a handful of teams in the NHL that Scheifele wouldn’t the First Line Center on. I counted five or six. That really does put him in the top-tier of First Line Centers. For Dubois, it’s the other way around. At this point in his career, there are more teams he wouldn’t be the First Line Center on than those he would. But he still has plenty of time to grow into that player. For now, we’re likely to see him getting solid minutes as Winnipeg’s #2 center.

The Full List of 1C

Now that I’ve covered all the Divisions, here’s the full list of the NHL’s best First Line Centers (by Overall Score for the 2019-20 season):

  1. Connor McDavid
  2. Leon Draisaitl
  3. Nathan McKinnon
  4. Auston Matthews
  5. Jack Eichel
  6. Sidney Crosby
  7. Mika Zibanejad
  8. Elias Petterson
  9. Mark Scheifele
  10. Evgeni Malkin
  11. John Tavares
  12. Dylan Larkin
  13. Sean Couturier
  14. Alexander Barkov
  15. Ryan O’Reilly
  16. Patrice Bergeron
  17. Bo Horvat
  18. Matt Barzal
  19. Brayden Point
  20. Niklas Backstrom
  21. Sebastian Aho
  22. Phillip Danault
  23. Steven Stamkos
  24. Anze Kopitar
  25. William Karlsson
  26. Nico Hischier
  27. Jonathan Toews
  28. Tyler Seguin
  29. Pierre-Luc Dubois
  30. Sean Monahan
  31. Matt Duchene
  32. Logan Couture
  33. Eric Staal
  34. Ryan Getzlaf
  35. Derek Stepan
  36. Chris Tierney

Next. Pierre-Luc Dubois looks pretty, pretty good in a Winnipeg Jets jersey. dark

Thanks for reading!

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