Mark Scheifele is enjoying watching the success of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs.

The Winnipeg Jets centre is using it as inspiration that his youthful team complete the same type of turnaround the Maple Leafs' have enjoyed this season.

"We want to be that team," Scheifele said in an interview with Postmedia. "You see that any team can go on that run. You see that a team can go from last to the playoffs, and that's something that we have to strive for.

"We can't look at ourselves as young or inexperienced. Toronto did that and they're just as young as we are. We have to believe in ourselves. Just missing out on the playoffs can't be satisfactory. We have to be better than that."

The 24-year-old is coming off the best season of his career, posting 32 goals and 50 assists in 79 games. He ranked seventh in the NHL with 82 points.

He told Postmedia he would have liked to time up his individual success with the success of his team.

"It's tough," said Scheifele. "You want the team to do well, but you look at your overall success and you weigh that with the team's success. You have to take the subtle victories. Obviously, you always have to be optimistic. Once you start getting negative, things aren't going to go good for you. But you do get frustrated.

The Jets finished the 2016-17 season on a seven-game win streak to boost their record to 40-35-7 on the year. Winnipeg finished as the top Western Conference team to miss the playoffs.

"You want to win and you want to win now," the Kitchener, On. native said. "Obviously, this league is a really good league and it's tough to make the playoffs. A lot of good teams don't make the playoffs every year, but for me, you can't get frustration fully into your head, because you always have to keep working and pushing.

"That's something that our team has to realize. It's not management, but as players we have to know that we can't be complacent with either individual success or just going through the motions."

Through 306 career NHL games, Scheifele owns 90 goals and 227 points. The 24-year-old had one assist in his lone career playoff series, a four-game sweep by the Anaheim Ducks in 2015.