Somewhere, Winnipeg Jets centre Mark Scheifele must have been kicking himself.
The big news in the NHL this week — the breathtaking eight-year, $76-million contract extension right-winger Nikita Kucherov signed with Tampa Bay — will have come with particular resonance for Scheifele.
Both men were drafted in 2011 — Scheifele in the first round, seventh overall; Kucherov in the second round, 58th overall — and their careers have been on somewhat parallel tracks ever since.