Perfetti to play for Canada

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This article was published 12/05/2021 (1621 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a year where many young hockey players’ careers have been stunted owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Winnipeg Jets prospect Cole Perfetti has seen his development soar to unthinkable heights over what’s been a very unique year.

Scooped up by the Jets with the 10th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft last October, Perfetti would have followed a trajectory similar to that of many others selected outside of the top-three.

An invite to the Jets development camp in the summer would have preceded his first NHL training camp later that fall. Even if Perfetti was able to impress, given the Jets depth on forward, it’s more than likely he would have played in a number of preseason games and perhaps even cracked the regular-season roster for a handful more before heading back to star with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League.

Instead, Perfetti, who turned 19 on New Years Day, not only got to participate in the World Junior Hockey Championship over Christmas holidays, he also got to sharpen his skills playing a truncated season of pro hockey, suiting up with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

“For a year where a lot of kids didn’t get much development, I got more than expected, more than normally you’d ever get. Playing in the World Juniors, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so to be able to get that opportunity was unbelievable,” Perfetti said Wednesday.

“And then obviously playing in the AHL, as a 19-year-old it’s just something that doesn’t happen. For me to get that experience it’s priceless; it’s so crucial for my development. I didn’t realize how beneficial it was going to be until looking back at it now, like how much of a better hockey player I became. Where I am now compared to where I started, it’s night and day.”

Playing in the AHL was only made possible because of the uncertainty around junior hockey because of the global health crisis and the need to come up with creative ways to have young players such as Perfetti get the right opportunities to develop. Under normal circumstances, players drafted out of the Canadian Hockey League must either play in the NHL or return to their junior team. A player must be 20 before they’re eligible for the AHL. Since the OHL was forced to cancel its season – making it the only major junior hockey league in Canada not to play in 2020-21 – Perfetti was allowed to continue with the Moose.

Now, the young product from Whitby, Ont., is getting the chance of a lifetime. He’s been invited to join Team Canada at the 2021 World Championship, scheduled in Latvia between May 21 and June 6.

“I’m super thrilled and honoured and super excited to get over there and put that (Team Canada) jersey again,” Perfetti said. “It’s always been a bucket list tournament for me; so to be able to do it, especially as a 19-year-old, and get the chance to play in this tournament it’s pretty special.”

In an ordinary season, Perfetti wouldn’t have even been on the radar, let alone offered a spot on a roster often reserved for experienced NHLers. Just consider Team Canada from 2019 – the 2020 tournament was cancelled – that won gold in Slovakia. It included the likes of Mark Stone, Sean Couturier and Pierre-Luc Dubois, who is now an important member of the Jets.

Every player on the roster had at least some NHL experience. Perfetti, who played admirably with the Moose, registering nine goals and 17 assists for 26 points in 32 games, has yet to play in the regular season for the Jets.

Given the kind of year it’s been, with COVID throwing a wrench into most players’ offseason plans, Hockey Canada has had to pivot and look elsewhere for talent. The roster is still being finalized but will include a mix of NHL regulars and prospects such as Perfetti.

Perfetti admits he isn’t sure how exactly he got on the radar, perhaps through the Hockey Canada connections he developed at the World Juniors. Either way, he’s just happy to have made a strong enough impression to get the call.

Perfetti said it was a pretty surreal moment to hear from Team Canada general manager Roberto Luongo. Luongo, a future Hall-of-Fame goalie who played 1,044 NHL games with the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks before retiring after the 2018-19 season, called Perfetti on Monday to welcome him to the team. He had only heard the day before Hockey Canada was interested and he had the night to consider the opportunity.

“Everything happened very fast and kind of went from getting ready to go to Ottawa and play the Senators the next night, to all of a sudden, within an hour, figuring out that I’m flying to Latvia in three days and that I get to go home for a couple days and that my season would be done with the Moose,” Perfetti said. “It was kind of unexpected, I didn’t really know what to do. But I’m really excited with the opportunity that I have and I’m thrilled with how everything’s gone so far.”

Perfetti is home now and will need to fly out Friday to Newark, N.J., where he’ll meet a number of his new teammates before chartering a flight to Latvia on Sunday. The team will get a few days to adjust to the time change and practise before the tournament begins.

It might help that Perfetti has already competed in Latvia, while playing in a tournament as a teen. It’s some welcomed familiarity in what will otherwise be a unique experience over the next few weeks.

“It’s cool to go back there and I’m looking forward to seeing what I can remember,” Perfetti said. “Obviously the hockey’s gonna be really hard. But if I can just carry the confidence that I had from the Moose and continue to play the way that I have… I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the team and hopefully I can put up some points or be productive, at least offensively, and then bring that two-way game that I started to develop with the Moose.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton