NHL
If the stars align, Mark Scheifele will pass Dale Hawerchuk's points total on the outdoor ice next season. James Carey Lauder / Imagn Images
Mark Scheifele has scored 343 goals and 816 points in 887 Winnipeg Jets games.
Those first two numbers are franchise records, meaning Scheifele passed Blake Wheeler, Bryan Little, and Atlanta Thrashers like Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov to set them. They’re not Winnipeg records, though: Scheifele has made it clear that he’s still chasing Jets 1.0 great, Dale Hawerchuk, for most goals (379) and points (929) scored while playing for a Winnipeg NHL team.
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But Hawerchuk doesn’t actually hold the first Winnipeg Jets franchise’s records in goals or points. He’s second to Shane Doan on both fronts, even though Doan played 1,466 of his 1,540 games for the Coyotes. Doan’s goals (402) and points (972) records include seven goals and 17 points scored for Winnipeg in 1995-96, which was less than five percent of his career totals. If Doan’s Coyotes records were treated the same way Hawerchuk’s Jets records were, moving from one city to the next as a franchise relocated, then Utah Mammoth star Clayton Keller would be chasing him.
But Arizona’s records, which include Winnipeg Jets 1.0 records, are currently collecting mothballs in Arizona. The NHL considers the Coyotes to be an inactive franchise, while treating the Utah Mammoth as though everything they do is brand new. Making sense of Winnipeg records would be a lot easier if the NHL had treated Atlanta’s record books in the same way when True North purchased the Thrashers and moved them to Winnipeg.
“That’s just part of the craziness from an organization (city) losing their team and then getting it back again,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.
As it stands, we’re left to keep track of four columns: Jets 1.0, Jets 2.0, the current Jets franchise (including Atlanta), and the former Jets franchise (which includes the Coyotes.) Each of those categories means different things to different people — Winnipeg’s fanbase doesn’t always agree on everything — but there is a growing push in this city to consolidate Jets records in a single, Winnipeg-based set of books.
Scheifele’s most recent goal was scored on a two-on-one rush against Calgary earlier this week. It brings him within 36 goals of tying Hawerchuk — something Scheifele could accomplish late this season. He’s also within 113 points of Hawerchuk — a total Scheifele should be able to accumulate partway through next season. Those accomplishments should be more than milestones. They should be Winnipeg Jets all-time records — and the NHL should work with the Jets to make it so.
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“The 1.0 and 2.0, it’s a tough one for me because I played in the first (era),” Arniel said. “At the end of the day, (Scheifele) will end up catching (Hawerchuk).”
Hawerchuk’s mentorship of Scheifele is well known — first as his junior coach in Barrie, then during Scheifele’s NHL career prior to Hawerchuk’s death in 2020. It would make sense if Scheifele’s desire to catch him were 100 percent personal. Scheifele told The Athletic this week that his connection to Hawerchuk “obviously means so much to me … I owe so much of my career to him … and everything he helped me with.”
It goes even deeper than that.
“Dale is the all-time Winnipeg Jet. Obviously there’s 1.0 and 2.0, but he was a Winnipeg Jet (and) I’m a Winnipeg Jet.”
There are precedents for moving team records from one franchise to another. The Cleveland Browns were “deactivated” during a controversial NFL relocation in 1996, but allowed to keep their history and records, which were restored to a Cleveland Browns expansion team three seasons later. The NBA’s original Charlotte Hornets relocated to New Orleans in 2002, but a 2004 Charlotte expansion team was eventually allowed to reclaim the Hornets’ name and records when New Orleans changed its name to the Pelicans in 2013.
What’s the best way to approach this?
“I don’t know if there’s a ‘right’ or a ‘wrong’ way,” Scheifele said. “It’s just whatever the team thinks is best.”
True North maintained Atlanta’s records upon purchasing the Thrashers in 2011 — just as the Coyotes had done when the original Jets franchise moved to Phoenix. This was a sensible decision at the time, whether for reasons of NHL precedence, respect for the Thrashers organization, or inclusion of Thrashers fans who followed Atlanta to Winnipeg. It may also have made sense for True North not to ruffle the Coyotes franchise’s feathers while the Arizona franchise was still active.
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Now that Winnipeg’s 1.0 records are attached to the “inactive” Arizona franchise — and now that Scheifele is within striking distance of Hawerchuk for the goals and points record — there is no better time for Winnipeg to reclaim them. Knowing that the gears are in motion to prepare for a Heritage Classic in 2026-27, it would make sense if the Jets are actively working on repatriating Jets 1.0 records, too.
And what a moment it will be if Winnipeg announces the outdoor game and its acquisition of Jets 1.0 records at the same time.
If the stars align, Scheifele will pass Hawerchuk’s points total on the outdoor ice at Princess Auto Stadium next season, where Hawerchuk put on a show at the 2016 Heritage Classic against Edmonton. He’ll do so while wearing a Jets heritage jersey, setting an official, all-time Winnipeg record.
Dale’s son, Eric Hawerchuk, says he’s aware of Jets fans’ push to reclaim his dad’s records. He wants it known that the Coyotes organization was always first class to the Hawerchuk family, calling them “amazing,” but Arizona is not where his dad’s records belong.
“Regardless of what is official or not, everyone knows that his record is with Winnipeg and nowhere else,” Hawerchuk said.
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Murat Ates blends modern hockey analysis with engaging storytelling as a staff writer for The Athletic NHL based in Winnipeg. Murat regularly appears on Winnipeg Sports Talk and CJOB 680 in Winnipeg and on podcasts throughout Canada and the United States. Follow Murat on Twitter @WPGMurat
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