What more does Mark Scheifele have to do to crack the NHL’s top 10 centres? Apparently, putting together the first 100-plus point season of his career isn’t quite enough.
The NHL Network unveiled its annual ranking of the league’s top 20 centres this week, with the Winnipeg Jets star checking in at No. 11 heading into the 2026-27 season.
Advertisement
The ranking is, in fact an improvement from his No. 14 placing from just one year ago, but after the season Scheifele put together in 2025-26, there is certainly an argument that the longtime Jet remains underrated.
Photo by James Carey Lauder/USA Today
Scheifele recorded 36 goals and a career-high 67 assists for 103 points last season, reaching triple digits for the first time in his 15-year NHL career. That wasn’t simply just a career year by Scheifele’s standards. His 103 points actually ranked fifth among all NHL players – regardless of position. Yet when the NHL Network ranked the game’s best players at his position, Scheifele couldn’t crack the top 10.
And no, he did not make the Canadian national team that played in the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games. Having 10 centres ranked higher than him just adds to what has already been a challenging offseason.
Advertisement
Jack Hughes landed immediately ahead of Scheifele at No. 10, while Nick Suzuki, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby and Jack Eichel occupied spots six through nine.
There’s obviously no shortage of elite talent in that group, and ranking players is certainly subjective. But Scheifele’s continued placement outside the league’s upper tier is becoming increasingly difficult to justify based on production alone.
He has scored at least 20 goals in 11 consecutive seasons and has reached the 30-goal mark seven times. Last season, at 32 years old, he took his offensive game to another level. Scheifele also continued rewriting Winnipeg’s record book along the way, further cementing himself as one of the greatest players in franchise history.
Perhaps some of the perception surrounding Scheifele stems from playing his entire career in Winnipeg, away from many of the NHL’s largest markets. Perhaps it’s the abundance of superstar centres around the league.
Advertisement
Whatever the reason, Scheifele has quietly continued producing at a level that stacks up against virtually anyone at his position. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Leon Draisaitl occupying spots near the top of a list like this is hardly debatable. But once the conversation moves beyond that group, Scheifele deserves to be firmly involved.
Instead, even after a 103-point season, he’s still looking in from the outside.
Read the full article here