Cole Perfetti has 140 games of NHL experience. He has more muscle and confidence after a great summer of training. Now the 22-year-old forward has a two-year, $6.5 million contract ($3.25 million average annual value) with the Winnipeg Jets after he signed as a restricted free agent Monday.
It's time.
"I'm hoping for a bigger role," Perfetti said during the NHL North American Player Media Tour in Las Vegas earlier this month. "I think the opportunity is going to be there, and then it's in my hands whether or not I can make the most of it. That's all you can ask for, really, as a player. …
"I'm hoping for a big, big jump this year."
Perfetti has been working toward this since the Jets selected him with the No. 10 pick of the 2020 NHL Draft.
After splitting the next two seasons between Winnipeg and Manitoba of the American Hockey League, he became a full-time NHL player in 2022-23, and then set an NHL career-best with 38 points (19 goals, 19 assists) in 71 games last season.
Along the way, he developed relationships with forward Mark Scheifele and coach Scott Arniel, pushing to improve.
Perfetti and Scheifele have a lot in common on and off the ice, even though Scheifele is nine years older. The first time Perfetti came to training camp, Scheifele asked him if he wanted to do extra work.
"I'm super intimidated," Perfetti said. "But he was a superstar asking me to stay on with him, so he just kind of opened that door, and he's kept that door open ever since."
Perfetti spends time at Scheifele's house during the season, watching football or taking swings in the golf simulator. They go out to dinner together on the road. In the offseason, Perfetti travels with Scheifele to places like Calgary and Detroit to train, golf and hang out.
"Obviously he's one of the better players in the League, so being able just to watch what he does day in and day out, it's been really good for me," Perfetti said. "It's been really welcoming.
"It makes me feel that much more a part of the team right from Day One when the best player on the team is including you in everything and making sure that he's going out of his way to make sure you're good. It made me feel comfortable a lot faster than I think I would have been."
Arniel spent the past two seasons with the Jets as an associate coach. Perfetti would lean on him when he had questions about systems and what he could do better, because he didn't want to be a pain asking coach Rick Bowness.
"He was always willing to show me clips or stay on the ice extra," Perfetti said.
Arniel was named coach May 24 after Bowness retired May 6.
"Even though he's the head coach now -- he's going to have a little bit more responsibility and more of a role -- hopefully we can just build off that relationship we had in the past and I can still keep going to him and asking him [questions]," Perfetti said. "He's pretty helpful when it comes to that kind of stuff."
Perfetti said he and Arniel had a lot of good conversations during the summer. Free from injury, Perfetti had nothing in the way during his offseason training and said he put on seven or eight pounds of muscle. Although he is listed at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, he said he weighs 192 or 193.
"I feel really strong on the ice," Perfetti said. "I think that's the biggest thing. A lot faster. A lot stronger. I put on quite a bit of weight, so I feel a lot better with the puck and controlling the puck and handling it. A little more corner weight, they always say, like, jokingly, but I actually feel a lot stronger in battles and stuff like that. I feel a lot faster."
The Jets went 52-24-6 last season, finishing tied for fourth in the NHL with 110 points. They went 3-0-0 against the Colorado Avalanche during the regular season, outscoring them 17-4, but then lost to them in five games in the Western Conference First Round.
Perfetti said when the Jets are at their best, everybody buys in. The first line plays without the puck the same way the fourth line does. But they couldn't raise their game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs the way the Avalanche did.
"I think that's just our next big thing, is just being able to find that next gear, because we have the skill, we have the goalie, we have the 'D,' we have the players," Perfetti said. "We have the team to do it. It's just being able to find that next level, that 'it' factor for our team."
Perfetti wants to be a part of it.
