TORONTO \u2014 The immense disappointment of being passed over for Team Canada won\u2019t keep Mark Scheifele from remaining in the Olympic testing protocol in case he\u2019s called on as an injury replacement ahead of next month\u2019s Milan Cortina Games.<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Jets center was one of the top players left off the 25-man roster unveiled on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously it was a tough day. News that you don\u2019t want,\u201d Scheifele said after a two-goal, three-point performance during Thursday\u2019s 6-5 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. \u201cIt just shows the amount of talent in Canada. There\u2019s so many great hockey players, so many great guys. It\u2019s an honor to be part of this country just because there are so many great hockey players, and obviously I wish I was picked. God\u2019s got a plan, and you\u2019ve just got to trust it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After being one of the final cuts for last year\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off roster, Scheifele is having the most productive season of his NHL career. His 1.23 points per game ranks sixth among Canadian skaters \u2014 trailing Nathan MacKinnon (1.79), Connor McDavid (1.71), Macklin Celebrini (1.55), Connor Bedard (1.42) and Mark Stone (1.41).<\/p>\n
Bedard was the only other player from that group passed over by Doug Armstrong\u2019s management group, but he\u2019s also currently sidelined by a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n
Scheifele has shown himself to be a reliable 200-foot performer despite playing on the NHL\u2019s 32nd-ranked team, and his 38 points at even strength are currently the third-highest among Canadian skaters. As a result, he\u2019s holding his head high after setting the goal of playing in his first Olympics this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what else I could have done,\u201d said Scheifele. \u201cI\u2019m proud of the way I played all season to now. I think I\u2019m probably playing the best hockey I\u2019ve ever played in my career. That\u2019s all you\u2019ve got to do is just trust in God\u2019s plan and know there\u2019s a reason for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is still a chance he could be called upon since injury replacements are permitted right up until the start of the Feb. 11-22 tournament. That\u2019s why it\u2019s significant that Scheifele is choosing to remain in the drug-testing protocol mandated by the International Olympic Committee.<\/p>\n
For example, New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat left Thursday\u2019s game with an undisclosed lower-body injury after being named to Team Canada. While the initial hope is that it won\u2019t be a long-term issue for Horvat, according to league sources, the Islanders expect to have more clarity on Friday.<\/p>\n
The NHL is using a condensed schedule this season to account for the Olympic break, and other issues could arise with players selected ahead of Scheifele.<\/p>\n
If it were up to those who see what the 32-year-old does daily in Winnipeg, he\u2019d already have a ticket to Italy booked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really thought he had a real good chance of being on the team,\u201d said Jets coach Scott Arniel. \u201cI know there\u2019s some really, really tough decisions out there \u2014 a lot of great players \u2014 but I just felt that he was so close last year. He\u2019s having a fantastic season, a great start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I\u2019m not in that coaching room (listening to) what they\u2019re looking for or what they\u2019re after, (but) I really felt that he would be a big bonus for Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The immense disappointment of being passed over for Team Canada won\u2019t keep Mark Scheifele from remaining…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":487232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68,292],"class_list":{"0":"post-487231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us","13":"tag-winnipeg-jets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115825901873393975","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}