Father of Winnipeg Jets star centre Mark Scheifele's has died, team says

Gregory Strong · CBC News

· Posted: May 17, 2025 2:34 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said the enactment was doing everything it tin to enactment guardant Mark Scheifele aft the decease of his begetter overnight.

Cheveldayoff, who held a media availability Saturday astatine American Airlines Center in Dallas, said Brad Scheifele's decease was unexpected.

"We privation to springiness [Mark's] family our astir sincere condolences and evidently inquire that everybody respect his and their privateness astatine this time," Cheveldayoff said.

The Jets are scheduled to play the Dallas Stars successful Game 6 of their second-round NHL playoff bid connected Saturday night. It wasn't instantly wide if Scheifele would play.

"It's a unspeakable loss," said Jets skipper Adam Lowry. "It's pugnacious to enactment into words however gutted we each consciousness for Mark and his family."

The players were told the quality earlier the team's optional skate, Cheveldayoff said.

Head manager Scott Arniel, who returned to the squad edifice to enactment Scheifele aft the players were advised, was expected to clasp a precocious day media availability.

The Jets need a triumph Saturday nighttime to unit a deciding crippled connected Monday astatine Canada Life Centre successful their best-of-seven bid against the Stars.

Scheifele, a top-line centre connected the team, had 87 points successful 82 games this past season. The 32-year-old autochthonal of Kitchener, Ont., has 10 points successful 10 playoff games this spring.

There was nary contiguous connection connected the origin of his father's death.

"That's specified a large loss. That's your mentor, that's the idiosyncratic you looked up to increasing up," Lowry said. "That's the idiosyncratic you privation to beryllium like. So I deliberation there's conscionable a batch of small things that you've got to bash to truly marque definite Mark feels supported contiguous and moving forward."

Lowry added that Brad Scheifele had an "infectious laugh" and vigor that "was unmatched."

"Just his joyousness and excitement for life, and helium truly passed it down to Mark," helium said. "But I deliberation his positivity, his outlook connected life — [he was] conscionable a genuinely blessed person, and [it's] a unspeakable nonaccomplishment obviously."