The Kansas City Mavericks announced on Wednesday that veteran forward Lane Scheidl has re-signed with the team. Agreeing to a standard player agreement, Scheidl saw success offensively last season, amassing 50 points on 24 goals and 26 assists. Coupled with forward Shawn Weller, the addition of Scheidl means the Mavericks have now used two of their four available veteran roster slots.
The six-foot-tall Saskatoon native came within one point of tying his professional career best point total in 2020-21. The Canadian started out hot, then had a slight scoring slump in January and March, before a very strong finish to cap off the season. Ideally, he can find some more consistency and have an even better campaign. His scoring may have decreased in those months, but he remained a consistently strong defensive forward. Scheidl was a powerful force on the forecheck and helped create offence, even if the scoresheet didn’t show it at times.
“Lane Scheidl was our most consistent three-zone player last season,” said Head Coach and GM Tad O’Had. “His leadership is seen on and off the ice. He plays an honest game and doesn’t cut corners to be successful. He understands the game at a high level and is willing to battle and get to the net. We consider Scheidl a fundamental piece of our team’s success and are excited to have him back in the Black and Orange.”
Prior to joining the Mavericks, Scheidl spent two seasons overseas, skating for HK Nitra in the Slovakian Hockey League. Before that, he spent four seasons competing with the Kalamazoo Wings. Returning with 342 ECHL games under his belt, he will be an important leader on the team with young talent like Jake Bricknell and Nick Pastujov. It’s a very good sign that Kansas City was able to retain one of their better of their better offensive players from last season. Despite missing the playoffs, the Mavericks were highly ranked in offence before their season abruptly came to a halt. Bringing back a key piece of that offence is a huge achievement for the hockey club.