With the Winnipeg Jets losing Sean Monahan in free agency to the Columbus Blue Jackets, they have a big hole at second-line centre that needs filling for this upcoming season.
General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff only tinkered on a hectic Free Agent Frenzy Day that saw more than $1 billion worth of contracts dished out league wide. He was also reportedly interested in centres Chandler Stephenson and Adam Henrique, but was unable to bring either on board — the former inked a massive deal with the Seattle Kraken and the latter re-signed with the Edmonton Oilers. The Jets’ longtime GM has made only depth signings since, so the role will have to be filled internally.
Monahan will not be easy to replace as he fit in seamlessly up the middle upon being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens, putting up 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points in 34 games and winning 54.7 per cent of his faceoffs. However, replace him new head coach Scott Arniel and company must, so we’ll look at the most likely candidates.
Cole Perfetti
Cole Perfetti was drafted as a centre and the organization still envisions deploying him as such one day. However, he hasn’t played much centre yet, taking just 115 draws in 140 games.
The 10th-overall 2020 pick, in the first three seasons of his career, has mainly played right wing, which comes with less defensive responsibility than centre. He’s been good there, especially in the first half of last season when he was a staple on the second line and had 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) through 41 games before falling into an extended slump and seeing his role decrease. However, top prospects eventually need a chance to “cook,” and this could be the time for him to prove he can handle the increased heat.
Despite being scratched a number of times down the stretch last season, Perfetti still had the best campaign of his fledgling career, with 38 points (19 goals, 19 assists) in 71 games. He is great at completing high-danger passes leading to primary assists, generating offensive chances when set up in the offensive zone, and posts above-average defensive numbers.
Perfetti’s 5-foot-11, 177-pound size will always be a knock against him, rightly or wrongly. However, another positive development from 2023-24 is that he stayed healthy all season for the first time and appeared more capable of protecting himself from hard contact and avoiding putting himself in positions to get crunched. Centres don’t have to be big to be successful — Joe Sakic is the same height as Perfetti and so was late Jets’ 1.0 legend Dale Hawerchuk, who changed the entire complexion of the franchise when he came on board up the middle in 1981.
Arniel described young players as “vital” in his introductory press conference, and giving Perfetti a chance to play where he can make the biggest impact would lend credence to the new coach’s words.
Brad Lambert
Brad Lambert’s electric season with the Manitoba Moose has also put him in the conversation for work at the next level.
Moose head coach Mark Morrison and company gave the 2022 30th-overall pick top-six and top power-play opportunities last season, and the young Finn capitalized on them, racking up 21 goals and 34 assists for 55 points in 64 games. He received a well-deserved call up to the Jets for the final game of the regular season and he recorded an assist in his NHL debut against the Vancouver Canucks.
2023-24 was actually Lambert’s second season in the AHL, and the growth from his rookie stint was obvious. In 14 games in 2022-23, he struggled at times to adjust to the stiffer competition and North-American-sized ice, recording just two goals, one assist, and a minus-9 rating.
Lambert was eventually sent to the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds after playing for Finland at the 2023 World Juniors and he dominated the WHL, posting up 17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points in 26 games and six goals and 20 for 26 points in 17 playoff games. One key was Thunderbirds’ head coach Matt O’Dette moving Lambert back to his natural position — centre.
He’s been a centre ever since, and while you can’t hand a top-six role to a guy who’s played one NHL game, Lambert should be an impact NHLer sooner than later and at least be given a chance to strut his stuff at training camp and during the six-game preseason slate.
Lambert showed up to and participated in the Jets’ recent summer development camp — which he didn’t have to do — and that speaks well to his character and dedication to developing. “He comes in now with a little swagger to him and carries himself within this group as a leader,” Morrison said at development camp.
Gabriel Vilardi
Vilardi is another player capable of playing centre who hasn’t done so much with the Jets.
In his first season in Winnipeg, Vilardi was deployed in a top-six right-wing role with a rotating cast of linemates, recording 22 goals and added 14 assists for 36 points in 47 games. He took just 59 faceoffs, winning 45.8 per cent of them.
Vilardi played a lot more centre, in a bottom-six role, earlier in his career with the Los Angeles Kings. In 2020-21, as a 21 year old, he took more than 600 faceoffs, winning 45.9 per cent of them. He played a lot less centre with the Kings in the two seasons after as he was shifted to the wing and eventually traded to the Jets for Pierre-Luc Dubois in June, 2023.
Vilardi, a net-front wizard, has a skillset Winnipeg has not seen in a long time or perhaps ever. He doesn’t produce a ton on the rush, as nearly all of his goals last season came from within a foot of the net and were thanks to his uncanny awareness and stick-handling skills. He was especially hot in December while on the first line with Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Related: Winnipeg Jets’ Top 5 Goals of 2023-24
The way he generates offense would make him an unorthodox, but potentially compelling, fot for the role. Arniel would have to make sure Vilardi’s north/south play-driving game is good enough to get the most out of high-flying linemates (it’s worth noting Vilardi did post strong CORSI and Fenwick possession metrics of 55-plus per cent last season.) Arniel would also have to make sure he doesn’t hamper someone on the cusp of stardom by giving him a role he can’t handle.
Vilardi’s durability is also a concern. He has struggled with injuries throughout his career and last season was no exception as he missed 35 games with four various injuries or illnesses.
Vladislav Namestnikov
This would be the safer, stop-gap solution to allow the three younger guys another season of development.
Namestnikov, a 31-year-old veteran of 700-plus career games, has proven to be a versatile forward who can jump between the bottom six and top six as needed without missing a beat. He’s shouldered the Jets’ second-line centre role before, including down the stretch in 2022-23 after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning — playing between Ehlers and Blake Wheeler — and at times last season when injuries occurred or when now-retired head coach Rick Bowness switched up his lines to get a spark.
Namestnikov is best deployed as a bottom-six player and is known for his aggressive forechecking, strong skating, and making the players around him better. He would be far from the most offensively-talented second-line centre in the league; he had 37 points last season (11 goals and 26 assists in 78 games) which was the second-highest of his career. However, that was with 14:08 of average ice time, so if he was closer to the 17:34 average Monahan had with the Jets and played with a little more offensive talent, he could flirt with the 50-point mark.
There are some downsides to Namestnikov in the role. He is in the final year of his contract and may not return, so it might make more sense to give the role to one of the three younger guys and let them work through the growing pains for the long-term good instead of delaying them for a season. His career faceoff percentage of 42.11 per cent is also a concern.
