It’s no secret the Winnipeg Jets need another top-end centre after the recent Pierre-Luc Dubois trade and the impending free-agency status of Mark Scheifele. If the Jets want to be competitive without fully rebuilding, they need to solidify the centre position. The trade market for buyers is currently unappealing, and free agency is now in the rearview mirror. Cole Perfetti is a silky passer, who possesses the elite hockey sense of a seasoned veteran. While he isn’t the fastest skater, he makes up for it by being in the right places at the right time. Due to his young age and breakout potential, he should be the player to carry the mantle at centre going forward. Plus, there is a player on the Jets who has had lots of success before with players similar to Perfetti. That player is Danish superstar Nikolaj Ehlers.
Ehlers is a dynamic player, who has the unique ability to thrive as a playmaker or a finisher at any given moment. This sequence of skill and speed forces the opposition to have to sit back at the risk of getting burned. By doing this, it allows Ehlers to carry the puck from zone to zone with ease, which leads to more offence. This is why Ehlers has the game-changing ability to carry an entire line on his own. He has previously done this with slower but intelligent centres such as Paul Stastny, Cody Eakin and current jet, Vladislav Namestnikov. If he could do it with these players, why wouldn’t he also be able to do it with Perfetti?
Previous Examples of Why Perfetti Would Thrive as a Center
There are definitely some concerns about his size and lack of foot speed, which could make the transition to centre difficult. However, the three names previously brought up weren’t the fastest or biggest players. Furthermore, Ehlers’ best season was when he scored 20 goals and posted 46 points in 47 games while playing with one of these players.
He played primarily second-line minutes with Stastny and Andrew Copp. Stastny used his hockey IQ to play a passenger-type role and completely complement the way Ehlers plays. It is no surprise that once Stastny moved to the Carolina Hurricanes to play a bottom-six role his game completely fell off. Perfetti has a style of play to fit into the role of second-line centre, who always feeds Ehlers the puck in a passenger type of role.
Eakin was a reliable shutdown centre who fit in well on the third line in his prime. When not in his prime, he was a fourth-line player. After having a career Renaissance with the Vegas Golden Knights scoring 41 points in 2018-19, he struggled soon afterward, and the Jets decided to take a chance on him. During the eight games Eakin played with the Jets before the NHL shut down (due to covid-19), he had five points. For a brief moment, Jets’ fans thought they might have a stop-gap solution at centre. Unfortunately, once Eakin stopped playing with Ehlers, he scored zero points in five playoff games. I use Eakin’s regular season stat line as a guideline for Perfetti in the future. As if Eakin (a fourth-line caliber player) can score five points and eight games with Ehlers, Perfetti could blossom into a star with the Danish star beside him.
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The most recent example in this article is the 2023 trade deadline acquisition of Namestnikov. He’s a player who can play many different roles on any line due to his dependable two-way style of play. While he fit nicely alongside Ehlers, putting up 10 points in 20 games, he is more of a bottom-six player. Perfetti (like Namestnikov) plays a very direct game due to how well he sees the game. The main concern is size, speed and face-offs for the Jets’ 2020 10th-overall pick. Namestnikov is only one inch taller, struggled in the face-off dot and isn’t the fastest player. If the Jets were willing to let him play center, then Perfetti should have a chance too.
The Jets Have a Chance to Bolster Team From Within
Perfetti has all the skill and potential to grow into the Jets’ full-time second-line centre. He is a young player just about to enter his prime while in a contract year. The stage is set for him to hit the ground running as a key center for the Jets moving forward. This combined with Scheifele re-signing for a fair-value deal, could be the difference between retooling and rebuilding. If Ehlers can have success with three severely limited players, the possibilities for a skilled two-way play like Perfetti are endless. Unlike Eakin and Namestnikov, his ceiling is a high-end player who can fit in nicely in the top six. While, unlike Stastny, he’s about to enter the peak of his hockey career. Ehlers and Perfetti perfectly complement each other’s game and have the potential to be Winnipeg’s next great dynamic duo.
