NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Cole Perfetti

One burning question will remain on the minds of Buffalo Sabres fans between now and the start of the NHL Draft on Oct. 6: Who will be available when the team selects eighth overall?
According to Dan Marr, the director of the NHL's Central Scouting Services, eighth is a pretty good place to be.
"The top eight is where you want to be if you want to get a marquee prospect," Marr said. "Not every club is going to have the same order, so they could conceivably get somebody who they have five or six on their list and they're going to be tickled pink to be able to do that.
"I know they've really been working hard preparing. They probably are going to have to get their eyes checked after watching so much video they had collected on these prospects. They're going to get a marquee NHL prospect here."
Alexis Lafreniere is the consensus favorite to be selected first overall. After him, most projections have forwards Quinton Byfield and Tim Stutzle going second and third in some order - though, as we have seen in recent years, those projections are never a guarantee.
Neither is this one. But, over the coming days we can do our best to profile some of the candidates who might be available when the Sabres pick. We continue today with Saginaw center Cole Perfetti.

8 for 8 profiles: Marco Rossi | Jack Quinn| Anton Lundell| Lucas Raymond| Alexander Holtz

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Cole Perfetti - C, Saginaw (OHL)

5-foot-10, 177 pounds

2019-20: 61 GP, 37 G, 74 A, 111 P

We already covered Marco Rossi, the Austrian-born centerman who led the OHL with 120 points last season. Perfetti - another centerman who is similar to Rossi in skill and stature - finished right behind him with 111 points in 61 games.
The two traits that are discussed most in regard to Perfetti are his excellent passing ability and vision along with an impressive hockey IQ. Perfetti is a self-described "hockey nerd" who called this year's NHL playoffs - with as many as six games a day - "a dream."
The same initiative that drives Perfetti to constantly learn the game drove him to master the Rubik's Cube at 13 years old.
"It's something that I think I just have a big passion for," Perfetti said. "Hockey's pretty much my entire life. Everything revolved around hockey. That's my mindset. I just want to be the one that's getting better. I have a passion for it. I enjoy just spending time watching hockey and breaking down what the elite players are doing and what makes them successful on the ice."
TSN's Craig Buttonand **NHL.com's Guillaume Lepage** both have the Sabres selecting Perfetti with the eighth pick in their mock drafts. Others have him going as high as fourth (***The Athletic's* Corey Pronman**).
NHL Central Scouting Services ranks Perfetti fifth among North American skaters (third among forwards), one slot ahead of Rossi.

What they're saying

Dan Marr, director of NHL Central Scouting Services: "He does have a high-end hockey IQ in the sense that, on the ice, with the puck on his stick he controls the play. And he dictates it with his speed because he can pull away to lead a rush or generate a 2-on-1, or he can set up his playmaker. When the puck's on his stick, he sees the ice. He's the type of player that, he sees the ice well, but he can deliver that tape-to-tape pass. Sometimes you have to get it in the air so it gets over a defender's stick or through somebody, but he's one of the better tape-to-tape passers in the offensive zone. And I think he's a goal scorer in his own right because he can finish chances."

What he's saying

Perfetti on what he looks for when he watches hockey: "You can learn stuff from anyone. I mean, some guys I look for are guys that I kind of play similar games (to) such as Brayden Point, Mitch Marner, Claude Giroux, kind of guys like that where their brain is so strong and is what makes them who they are. I try to pick out things that they do in their game and try to implement them into mine.
"… You can see small things that not a lot of people recognize, but it's the little things they do: routes they take, footwork, how they delay up the wall, stuff like that, that I try to put into my game. I key on certain guys that I feel I play a similar game too so I can take some of the stuff that makes them so successful and put them into my game, for sure."
Perfetti on his community involvement (He already established his own non-profit, "Fett's Friends."): "It's big for me because I want to give back. Without the fans, without the community behind us and supporting us, we wouldn't be able to be a team in Saginaw and be able to survive. They're really the backbone of our organization and without them what we do wouldn't be possible. So, it's the least I can do to give back in the areas that I can."

Watch this

See the range of Perfetti's passing abilities in his five-assist performance against Sault Ste. Marie from Feb. 12, including one play that sees him spin away from a defender down low before delivering a backhand feed through the paint:

And another in which he changes his angle upon entering the offensive zone to create a passing lane to a teammate down low:

Find full highlights of the game here.
Also stay tuned for Perfetti's interview with Brian Duff and Martin Biron, coming soon to Sabres.com.