Perfetti learning on the fly

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This article was published 26/10/2022 (748 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES — Like all talented young hockey players trying to make it in the NHL, Cole Perfetti is learning on the fly.

At 20 years old, and with just a handful of games (24) playing at the sport’s top level, the Winnipeg Jets forward is still adjusting to life in the big leagues. The game is quicker, the players are bigger and the stakes much higher.

It helps that Perfetti is a quick study and possesses an IQ and maturity for the game that goes well beyond his years. His vision and playmaking ability is why the Jets thought so highly of the Whitby, Ont., product, enough to select him in the first round (10th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft.

While some elements of his game have translated seamlessly to the NHL and will continue to grow, there are parts that remain a work in progress. Perhaps the most noticeable is Perfetti’s ongoing adjustment to playing against faster and stronger competition compared to his years in junior, where he starred with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit.

“I’m a young kid, 20 years old, still getting that kind of man strength, still learning where I can do stuff, where I can’t, what I can get away with it. Then it’s just naturally getting stronger in the gym and that natural strength is going to be a big part of it,” Perfetti told the Free Press following Thursday’s morning skate in L.A., ahead of their game against the Kings.

“It’s going to be a learning process, feeling out and just seeing what I can do on the ice.”

Listed generously at 5-11 and 177 pounds, Perfetti is undersized by NHL standards. No one on the Jets is shorter than his listed height, and only forward Nikolaj Ehlers weighs less, with Ehlers coming in at 172 pounds.

Nonetheless, Perfetti plays a pivotal role on the Jets, slotted on the left wing of the team’s second line, alongside centre Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler on the right wing. It’s by design that Dubois (6-2, 205 lbs) and Wheeler (6-5, 225), two of the team’s biggest forwards, are playing with Perfetti.

With that level of responsibility, including a spot on the second power-play unit, Perfetti is leaned on to play heavy minutes and in doing so has been subjected to several heavy hits early into his pro career.

“Every team, I’m sure they have their description of players of the opposing team before the game and if some teams think they can play physical against him, that’s how you shut him down, then that’s what they think,” Dubois said. “But Fetts is creative, he’s smart, he’s elusive, he’s fast. He’s smart enough that whether another team wants to play physical on him or whatever they want, he seems to always find a way out of there.”

When asked if, as an up-and-coming player that logs notable ice time, he felt he was a target for opposing teams, Perfetti dismissed the idea, but he’s also aware that by being a smaller player, and someone known for making plays, teams will naturally look to stop him by using physical contact.

Perfetti also feels he could do a better job protecting himself from potential injury, something he’s trying to improve on each game.

“Looking back at a couple of those hits, I’ve got to do a little bit of a better job. You can get away with more in junior, you can have your back to someone and still try to make a play and not really worry about it,” he said. “But here, they’re big, strong guys that are finishing their checks, so I’ve just got to learn how to put myself in good spots and then not be vulnerable.”

Head coach Rick Bowness, who remains away from the club as he recovers from a bout of COVID-19, has talked about the need for Perfetti to rid his tendency to turn his back away from the play as a way to protect himself from harm. Jets associate coach Scott Arniel added to that Thursday, noting it’s been an ongoing discussion.

“We don’t want him to get hurt and he’s been in some situations where he has got hit and maybe at another level you can get away with it. In the NHL, teams collapse so quick, and they take away your space so quick. We like his move — it’s a cutback move that he does — we just don’t want him to do it so close to the boards,” Arniel said. “He had a great example the other night in St. Louis — we actually showed it (in film session) — where he’s out by the faceoff dot and did a real good cutback and the guys still put pressure on him, but he pushed him almost away from him, he wasn’t being slammed into the wall. He got to skate out of that trouble.”

While being on the receiving end of a heavy hit is a normal part of the game, there are a few examples this season where Perfetti has tried to evade or brace for contact, only to be checked from behind into the boards. The most recent occurrence was during a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 22, with Leafs defenceman Rasmus Sandin delivering a hard hit that went uncalled by the officials and sent Dubois looking for retribution.

Finding ways to better protect himself will be crucial to having a long and successful career. Perfetti knows the potential for the worst to happen, having suffered a season-ending shoulder injury following a hit from Seattle Kraken defenceman Jamie Oleksiak in a game last February.

After a months-long rehab — a stretch where Perfetti admitted he struggled mentally at times — he’s back at full health. That process, though gruelling, served as another lesson in what’s been a career full of them.

“It feels great now and really glad that’s over with, but I think there’s lots to learn in how to overcome things mentally,” he said. “No one wants to deal with injuries, but it’s good to kind of learn that stuff early and then move on with it.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton