11-12 Crown Royale Mark Scheifele Auto Rookie

Some players are just like fine wine and get better with age. Of course when you are a first round draft choice and more particularly one picked in the top 10 sometimes teams and fans can get a little impatient with a player's development. Mark Scheifele is a player who seems to have always played ABOVE expectations and when it came time for the Jets to make their first selection in the 2011 draft, they surprised many by selecting Mark 7th overall. Going into the draft TSN had him ranked 12th below players like Sean Couturier and Dougie Hamilton. However, the Dale Hawerchuk connection I believe helped turn the Jets into believers in this former 7th round OHL draft pick.

In year 1 Mark Scheifele played in 7 games and scored just a single goal before being sent back to junior. Fans were understanding of the move for the most part and were warned he would take some time to develop. The following year the Jets decided that junior was still the best place for him and he tore up the junior rankings including a 41 point performance in just 21 playoff games. After that season, Mark found a home with the Jets where he managed to score 13 goals and 34 points as a rookie and then followed it up with 15 goals and 49 point during the 14-15 season. Last year was Scheifele's break out year and the league began to notice his offensive skills as he scored 29 goals and 61 points which was good enough for second on the team in points and first on the team in goals.

In what is now Mark Scheifele's 4th full NHL season, he seems to be pushing his game to the next level and is currently 3rd in NHL scoring with 23 points and is 5th in the NHL in goals with 11. While it is still early in the season and cold streaks will come, he is currently on pace to finish the year with 41 goals and 86 points which would make the Winnipeg Jets geniuses for drafting him 7th in 2011 because I am sure there are a few teams which picked BEFORE the Jets who might like a mulligan and a chance to pick him this time (I'm looking at you Ottawa and New York) could you imagine Mark Scheifele playing with John Tavares? I am willing to be JT would move to the wing to have MS at centre.


11-12 Crown Royale Mark Scheifele Auto Rookie

 While I have never really loved the die cut cards you get with Crown Royale, but I do love the on card autographs you do get with them. While this card isn't serial numbered it is still a pretty nice rookie of a future NHL superstar.

Here is the backside of the card. As you can see, Mark isn't a small lad and has time has gone by he has grown into that 6' 3" frame and now clocks in at 207 lbs which probably makes him much more difficult to stop now.

I have enjoyed the scoring race greatly so far this season at the 25% mark and can't wait to see how Crosby closes the gap and how some of the new comers to the top of the list fare as time goes by. Happy belated Thanksgiving to my fellow American readers and see you on the next post!