Day 7 of Winnipeg Jets training camp was easily the most noteworthy to date.
Topping that list was the arrival of Cole Perfetti after reaching an agreement the night before on a bridge deal that will pay him $6.5 million over the next two seasons.
Perfetti skated out onto the ice Tuesday morning at Hockey For All Centre to stick taps from 31 other teammates, and afterwards admitted it was a relief to have his first “business” experience as an NHLer in the rearview mirror.
“Yeah, it’s nice to get that done,” the 22-year-old from Whitby, Ont., said. “It’s nice to be back in camp with the guys. Sucks missing time, so it’s just great to get that contract done and now it’s time to focus on hockey.
“Both sides were working together. I’m working with my side to figure out a plan. Obviously, no one wants to miss time, no one wants to miss camp. From the get-go I always wanted to be a part of it from day one; obviously that wasn’t the case. You wait all summer for that and then you have to wait a couple of extra days — it was nice to walk into the rink today and have that feeling gone and just focus on hockey.”
One of the “minefields” in contract negotiations like these is the potential for animosity to develop between the two sides, but Perfetti says he always tried to maintain that it was just business, and not to take anything personally.
“They’re not just going to give away money for no reason. Everyone understands that. You know where you stand with other guys and you obviously want to be in that range,” Perfetti said. “So find a number that works for both sides, be happy, and get to play hockey again.”
Perfetti has always maintained he wants to be in Winnipeg for the long haul when asked if he would have preferred a long-term deal for his second pro contract. But the young forward says that’s not the direction contracts took, so now it’s up to him to better position himself over these next two seasons.
“That’s what a bridge deal is, you have two more years to prove yourself — to go show what you can do on the ice,” said the five-foot-11 forward who is listed at 185 pounds but says he is reporting to camp at about 193 or 194 pounds after a summer of working out with renowned trainer Matt Nichol.
“I’m going to use this year to try and take a big step in my game. A bridge deal is all about, I wouldn’t say betting on yourself, but I would just say an extra two years to go prove what kind of a player you are and what you can do for this organization.”
Perfetti had a strong start to his third NHL campaign a year ago, scoring 14 goals and adding 15 assists for 29 points in the Jets’ first 40 games. But a second-half extended drought resulted in just five goals, five assists, and 11 games where he was made a healthy scratch. So Perfetti “100 per cent” agrees he has something to prove in 2024-25.
“Wasn’t too pleased with how it went, personally, for me down the stretch. But I think last year, all things considered, still was a pretty decent year I think. Proved that I can produce in this league,” Perfetti said. “It didn’t go like that the whole year but I’m just going to use that as motivation, take the good from it.”
The timing for an agreement to be reached on a new contract was probably as good as it could have been for Perfetti in not putting himself too far behind the 8-ball in terms of catching up with everyone else at camp. It also nipped in the bud any type of off-ice distraction.
But Jets head coach Scott Arniel says beyond Perfetti getting a chance to work on several power-play units during an on-ice session Tuesday that was devoted entirely to special teams, there are other benefits to having Perfetti back in the fold with two weeks still remaining before the start of the regular season.
“We’ve talked about having him get some different looks when it comes to lines, using some different people,” Arniel said following Tuesday’s practice. “Now that he’s here, I get to do that. It takes a lot of the questions about it out of the equation and now we move forward.”
Arniel confirmed Perfetti will make his pre-season debut Friday night in Minnesota to allow the young forward to get in a couple more practices. Perfetti said he was able to skate with some AHL players and others headed for ECHL camps to stay in shape during his time away.
Arniel and his coaching staff had Nikolaj Ehlers working in the bumper spot occupied by Sean Monahan last year on the number one powerplay unit. And Ehlers feels “playing the right way” in that position will create opportunities for loose pucks and scoring chances.
“You’ve got Brayden Point in Tampa — he’s been unreal in that spot. Reinhart this year in that spot. Bergeron when he was in Boston, Aho in Carolina,” Ehlers said, listing off a group of players he would like to emulate. “I’m going to do my best to learn how to play in there. It’s going to be a process for me and you want to see, especially those guys I just mentioned, how they move in that slot and not just do figure eights.”
Another interesting twist to practice saw Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor working as a penalty-killing tandem. Arniel says each of those players’ ability to read the game and break up plays is an asset the team wants to take advantage of, and Arniel shared another reason he wants to use Scheifele when the Jets are short-handed.
“Last year, (Adam Lowry) had to go and take almost all the faceoffs, (Sean Monahan) as well, but we didn’t have a right side,” Arniel explained. “Scheifele is a good faceoff guy and … (we) always found last year that everybody, because the power play gets to choose the side they’re on, they kept going to our right side all the time. So this helps.”
And Arniel says the plan for the Jets is to be a little more aggressive on their penalty kill.
“The one thing about top-end, sort of skills guys, they have great instincts where the next play is going and they have a tendency to jump those plays — we’ll see,” he said.
The Jets are also down to 41 players on the camp roster heading into Wednesday’s third game of the pre-season against the Edmonton Oilers.
A dozen players were released or assigned on Tuesday. Forwards Chaz Lucius, Henri Nikkanen and Danny Zhilkin were assigned to the AHL Manitoba Moose. Forward Ben King and the defensive trio of Dylan Anhorn, Dawson Barteaux and Ashton Sautner — who all attended camp on AHL contracts — were released to the Moose.
Five other players were released to their junior teams. That group included 2024 draft picks Kevin He, Kieron Walton and Markus Loponen, along with Jacob Julien and Connor Levis, who were selected in 2023.