Winnipeg Jets’ General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff only had one remaining Restricted Free Agent (RFA) left to deal with this summer and that negotiation was entering its most tense period as the calendar showed there was less than 7 days before winger Cole Perfetti would get a hearing in front of an arbitrator.
While those things can go pretty smoothly between the club & player/agent at times….resulting in a short-term contract near the middle of the opposing asks. Yet…things can also get tense when a player has to listen to his team list off all the negative aspects of his playing abilities. So it was certainly pleasant news for True North fans when the media announced that the creator of the “Manitoba Miracle” had reached an agreement with the team prior to it even getting to that point.
Chevy & agent Pat Brisson were able to find common ground on a 5 year $30M deal for the 24 yr old Perfetti, paying the talented set up man $6M a season, which runs up to the 2031 off-season when he will still be 29. The Canadian winger had expressed a desire to stay long-term in the Peg…so maybe he’ll even crack a smile today at the thought of all those cold winters heading his way? If not, the boost to his bank account should certainly do it ($2M signing bonus). Coming off a 2 year bridge deal paying $3.25M a season, the cheques from the Winnipeg Jets will get quite a bit larger in 2027-28. Here is the full breakdown of Fetts’ new contract via PuckPedia:
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From Cheveldayoff’s side, I do like the above deal when it comes to future flexibility. With only a pair of seasons with trade protection (6 team no go list in yrs 3 & 4) and none in the final season, Winnipeg should have no problem moving on from the contract if that becomes necessary in the future. Not that is very likely. There may be some in the Jets’ fanbase who won’t be happy with the thought of paying a player who is coming off a 32 pt campaign that much for that long….and I will admit that I am not one of those. Let me explain.
Winnipeg’s front office hasn’t done the former 10th overall selection (2020) any favours by never having enough top six talent to fill out their roster. Yet despite that, Cole had a breakout campaign in 2024-25 along side talented Nikolaj Ehlers & bottom sixer Vladislav Namestnikov, amassing a career high 50 pts. An ankle injury during pre-season derailed the start of last season for Perfetti, causing him to miss games and looking slower than normal even when he did return. To add to the issues, the young winger was initially thrown together with veterans Jonathan Toews & Gustav Nyquist…and their lack of finishing abilities (combined for 12 goals on the year) resulted in only 7 pts in the first 24 contests (on a 24 pts full season pace). Fortunately as the year progressed, Fetts was given slightly better linemates until he was ultimately paired with the slick hands of Gabriel Vilardi and bottom six grinder Adam Lowry. Therefore, from January to when the Jets finally called it quits for the season (with 4 games left to play), Perfetti was averaging 0.568 pts/gm…or 51 pts in a full campaign.
So in my mind, the Ontario born forward is already capable of putting up 2nd line production and he has never actually been paired with 2 equally talented linemates. At this point it seems the Jets are relying on rookie Viggo Bjorck to possibly help Cole out in that area, yet even if he pans out there is still only 5 true top six talents on Winnipeg’s roster. Therefore…help may or may not be on the way. Either way, with the rapidly rising cap, as long as Perfetti continues to stay healthy and produce like he has….the contract should provide the club good value. Now….if they could actually get a couple bigger players with sniping abilities to skate along side him….the deal might even look like a bargain.
Perfetti’s Career Stats Via PuckPedia
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While a lot of people will focus on the Points categories in the graphic above, my attention is always drawn to the small winger’s Goals Percentage (GF%), Expected Goals (xG%) Percentage, & Corsi For Percentage (CF%) columns.
The stats are unfortunately for all situations, so less valuable to me since Perfetti will get a boost from his PP time without suffering a negative from the PK (because he doesn’t get deployed in those situations). However, they still reflect the theme that the 5 on 5 stats say…which is that when #91 is on the ice, Winnipeg generally is expected to and actually does outscore the opposition. This past disaster of a season was the first time that Fetts has ever lost the GF% battle and I have already provide many reasons (excuses?) for why that happened (he also had a career worst shooting % and didn’t help himself in that way, so hopefully that rebounds).
Another thing that always catches my eye as well is the Relative Expected Goals For Percentage (RELXGF%) stat. What this tries to tell us is whether a player was a better option for the coaching staff than his teammates, by comparing the xG stats and determining how much higher or lower a specific skater is than the roster average (+/-). In Perfetti’s case, he has been a better option for the head coach in all of his seasons except the President’s Trophy winning campaign…..when Lowry’s line bumped up the xG numbers by quite a bit as they dominated the opposition (54% xG & 64.7% aG) to take over the 2nd place spot behind the Jets’ top forward unit. Yet even then Fly & Fetts weren’t far behind those figures, with a 53.3% xG and a 63.2% aG in 2024-25.
So overall, while I am aware that Cole’s small stature, lack of goal scoring skills, & skating are negatives that stop will him from ever becoming a game changing player for Winnipeg….the benefits from his strong 2 way game, on ice vision, & passing skills will outweigh those if the front office can surround the forever scowling Perfetti with some linemates that are good at putting the puck in the net (too bad there wasn’t a metric to help identify possible targets, eh?).
Well now that you have had to listen to me drone on about how I feel about the signing….lets hear it in the Comment section your thoughts on the signing…..but before I go, I thought I would take a quick look at the Winnipeg Jets’ cap situation now that the final RFA has put pen to paper.
With the signing, the True Northers now have filled up their 23 man NHL roster with 13 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders for a total bill of $98,468,332 for ownership. Chevy still has a bit of wiggle room as the club has around $5.5M to try and improve the roster, though it is looking like there will have to be a departure to open up a slot to fit in a newcomer.
That group includes a single player that will be waiver exempt in 2026-27 in Swedish defenseman Elias Salomonsson, but doesn’t capture recent 8th overall selection, Viggo Bjorck (current slotted in the AHL). Young Salo will unfortunately miss the start of the season due to shoulder surgery, so a roster spot will open there before the coaching staff will have to decide who they want to try and sneak through waivers to go to the Manitoba Moose to bring up the talented rookie.
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With the cap rising all the time and the ability to shed Nino Niederreiter & Namestnikov’s $7M at the end of the season, I don’t really see cap space being an issue for the Jets in the near future. With the uncertainty surrounding goalie Connor Hellebuyck, there could be an opportunity to make some additions via trade (possibly Perfetti’s old Junior linemate Ryan McLeod?). Yet with Bucky’s $8.5M/yr salary going out in any prospective trade, it would allow Winnipeg to take up as much as $14M in contracts coming back. If not, the cap space could be used at the deadline to add if our team is in the wildcard race or help out a cap space strapped playoff team by taking on a contract for a perk.
We are just under 2 months away from the Prospects tourney in Ontario (Sept 13th/14th) and just over 2 months away from the Jets’ first pre-season game (Sept 19th). So lots of time for changes to happen….or this could be the team that takes the ice when the puck drops on the NHL’s 2026-27 season. I think I know where most of our hopes lie.
Now let those comments fly!!!
