Scheifele practiced without restriction at Bell MTS Place on Monday. He has missed 15 games because of an upper-body injury sustained in a 4-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 27.

WINNIPEG -- Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele could return to the lineup against the St. Louis Blues on Friday.

The Jets are 10-2-3 in Scheifele's absence.

"I feel really good," Scheifele said. "Now it's a little bit in the doctor's hands, they are the experts."

He was expected to need 6-8 weeks to recover; Wednesday would be six weeks.

Coach Paul Maurice said Scheifele will not play against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV), but he likely will return against the Blues on Friday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-MW, NHL.TV).

"Mark got cleared for full contact, got through the practice today," Maurice said. "We'll see how he comes back in tomorrow, but I don't have him in the lineup (against the Coyotes). But if he has two more days like that, he'll play against St. Louis."

At the time of the injury, Scheifele was second on the Jets with 38 points (15 goals, 23 assists) in 38 games.

Scheifele wouldn't get into the specifics of how the injury happened.

"I went into the boards and I hurt myself … I could tell something went wrong," he said. "It's healing really well. It [stunk] being out for that long. It gets boring. Being in a sling for as long as I was, it [stunk].

"I had to bring my brother in for a week to keep me sane. I was pretty immobilized for the start of it. It was tough to sleep like that."

Scheifele said he's seen the depth the Jets possess while watching from the press box.

"We've got some great players," Scheifele said. "Every guy stepped up, every guy has been doing more and we've been playing solid."

Scheifele said he received support from Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.

"[Stamkos] has been through it all, so hearing it from him and knowing he's been through a lot worse than I have, that obviously makes it easy," Scheifele said.

In addition to Scheifele, the Jets will be without centers Adam Lowry and Matt Hendricks against the Coyotes.

Lowry aggravated an upper-body injury during a 3-2 overtime loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday.

Hendricks left the 3-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday because of an upper-body injury.

Forward Brandon Tanev also sustained an upper-body injury Saturday.

"We're hoping that Hendricks is not long-term, but Tanev is week-to-week," Maurice said.

Maurice said he was contemplating the idea of moving defenseman Tucker Poolman to forward Tuesday but said that decision won't be made until later Monday.

"We wanted to see it, liked what we saw there," Maurice said.