What were you doing when you were 21 years old? Pumping gas in your free time while attending university? Living in your parents’ basement, playing video games? There’s a pretty good chance you weren’t leading your NHL team in scoring, that’s for sure. But with an average age of 21.1, the Winnipeg Jets’ top line of Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, and Patrik Laine are the top three scorers on the team. At the end of 2016, Scheifele leads all Jets with 33 points in 36 games while Ehlers and Laine both have 31 points in 39 games. You can also find them all among the top 25 scoring leaders in the entire league.
Scheifele is the “old guy” on the line, as he’ll turn 24 early this year. Ehlers is quickly approaching his twenty-first birthday, while the rookie Laine won’t reach his twenties until 2018. The young trio have played the majority of the season on the same line and have developed some nice chemistry. Each bring a different set of talents to the table, and those skills really complement each other.
Ehlers is all about speed and handling the puck. He’s great at creating offense, and especially offensive zone entries. He loves to cross the blue line with speed and quickly curl around to create space from a defender. This move gives him time to find an open teammate or take the puck to the net. Not many players have the speed to keep up with him. He’s a natural scorer who put up points in bunches in Junior. He topped the 100-point mark both seasons he played in the QMJHL for the Halifax Mooseheads. He had a fine rookie season last year with 38 points in 72 games for Winnipeg, but he will easily surpass those numbers this year. He’s up to ten goals entering 2017, but really he could be closer to 15 or 20 with some better luck. He’s been creating a high number of quality scoring chances all season, although he went through a 15-game goalless streak from mid-November to early December. The goals have been coming more easily lately as he finished 2016 with six goals in his last nine games.
Patrik Laine already has one of the best shots in the NHL. The guy was born to shoot the puck. He’s already established himself as one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the league and will only get better. He’s shown that he can score in a multitude of ways. He’s obviously got the big slap shot and powerful wrist shot, but he’s also scored on deflections and has some pretty sweet dekes in the shootouts. It’s not all about the shot, though; he’s an excellent passer and loves to make the cross-ice pass on the power play. He makes his fair share of poor decisions with the puck, but the things he can do at 18 years of age are remarkable. He’ll certainly be in the discussion for Rookie of the Year at the end of the season. He’s been a huge part of the Jets’ success, or lack of success, this season as the team is 10–2–1 when he scores a goal and 7–17–2 when he doesn’t.
Mark Scheifele didn’t make the same splash Ehlers and Laine did so early in their careers, but he’s made steady progress every season and is now one of the top centres in the league. He’s a tremendous overall player with a great shot and excellent vision. He still has room for improvement, especially when it comes to faceoffs, but he is turning into the number one centre that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff envisioned when he selected him with the seventh pick in the 2011 draft. Scheifele started the season on fire, leading the league in scoring for parts of October and November. An injury put him on the side line for three games in early December and he hasn’t been finding the back of the net as much since then, with only two goals in ten games. He’s still on pace for his best statistical season, though, as he’s averaging 0.92 points per game. He’s increased his points per game average in each of the last four seasons.
The Jets may not be having the type of team success most fans want (they continue to sit close to the .500 mark and are out of the playoff picture), but the Ehlers-Scheifele-Laine combination is certainly giving Jets fans a lot to cheer about.
