The fractured and winding road that is the Winnipeg Jets record book has been repaved by the NHL — and that means Mark Scheifele has some more chasing to do.
The league announced Thursday that the statistical histories of the two Jets franchises are being consolidated, so no more asterisks are needed to differentiate between the 1.0 and 2.0 franchises.
And no more needing to say 1.0 and 2.0.
“It’s something that people can have an easier conversation about, that’s for sure,” said Jets spokesperson Scott Brown.
The original NHL Jets franchise existed in the city from 1979–1996 before relocating to Arizona to become the Coyotes. The NHL came back to Winnipeg in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated and were renamed, by popular fan demand, as the Jets.
Ever since, any reference to records had to be qualified by which franchise set it.
True North Sports and Entertainment, which owns the current Jets, never officially had property rights over those 1.0 statistics or the ability to search through them. That all changes now.
In fact, the records are already updated on the Jets section of the league’s website.
For Scheifele, it means he slips from No. 1 to No. 2 in Jets all-time scoring.
He surpassed Blake Wheeler last season as the 2.0 all-time points leader but with the consolidated records, he now sits back of 1.0 legend Dale Hawerchuk.
Scheifele has 372 goals and 535 assists for 907 points. Hawerchuk, has 379 and 550 for a 929 total.
“That’s something that Mark has talked openly about, that has been his goal all along,” Brown said, “so it’s not something that I think he is overly upset about at all.”
“I think, privately, going after Dale Hawerchuk record, a person that had such an influence on his career, having their two names on paper in black and white, always connected, will have some significance for Mark for sure.”
Scheifele was coached by Hawerchuk in the Ontario Hockey League, for the Barrie Colts, and it was Hawerchuk’s encouraging that prompted the Jets to make Scheifele the 2.0 franchise’s first-ever draft pick in 2011.
Hawerchuk died in August 2020 from stomach cancer.
Another legend, Thomas Steen, still leads the franchise in assists with 553.
“Today’s announcement is a long time coming,” Brown said. “We called [the team] the Winnipeg Jets because of the historical connection the franchise … had with the city and with the community.
“While this [acquiring the records] wasn’t something that we started to do right away when we first came back, as time passed on it was a conversation that began at very high levels between individuals in our organization and the National Hockey League. It just became more and more of a reality within the last couple of years.”
Much of that had to do with the relocation of the Coyotes franchise to Utah in 2024, ending that connection with Winnipeg.
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The consolidated stats will also include the current team’s time as the Thrashers, from 1999-2011, but the original franchise’s time in Arizona will not be in there.
The decision to exclude those stats was made by the NHL, not the Jets, Brown said.
Speaking of record books, this is a first for the NHL. But the original franchise’s time in Arizona, from 1996-2024, will not be included.
“No we have not done anything like this before after a franchise relocation,” said Russell Levine, group vice president, statistics and information, for the league.
The original franchise built the identity and tradition the current team proudly carries forward today, Mark Chipman, True North’s executive chair, said in a statement from the team.
“For our fans, these players and these moments always have been part of the same Winnipeg Jets story, and we’re pleased that our official records now will reflect that.”
