Perfetti latest Jet sidelined by injury

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This article was published 27/12/2022 (1318 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The bad news is the Winnipeg Jets’ injury list has officially grown by one, with rookie Cole Perfetti now the seventh regular skater to be sidelined.

The 20-year-old forward suffered an apparent shoulder injury last Thursday in Boston, taking a big hit from Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk. Perfetti, who has 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 33 games, missed Friday’s contest against the host Washington Capitals, along with Tuesday’s meeting with the Minnesota Wild.

“He’s probably a week to 10 days,” coach Rick Bowness said following the Tuesday morning skate at Canada Life Centre.

The good news is much-needed help should soon be on the way.

Forward Saku Maenalanen, who was hurt on Dec. 8 against the St. Louis Blues, could return in the next week. And right behind him should be Perfetti and flashy winger Nikolaj Ehlers, who has been out since the second game of the year with a sports hernia that required surgery.

Forwards Mason Appleton and Blake Wheeler, and defencemen Nate Schmidt and Logan Stanley, could all be back within the next month as well.

“I know it feels like we’re just about over the mend here and we’ll start getting some bodies back in the lineup which will be good,” said forward Morgan Barron, who missed several weeks of action earlier this year with a broken bone in his wrist.

The Jets have adopted a “no excuses” mantra this season and believe there’s plenty of silver linings to the rash of injuries so far.

“I think a lot of us look at it like opportunity. Everybody wants to prove they can handle a little bit more. It’s opportunities for guys to step up and fill in those roles. That’s what you ask for as a hockey player,” said Barron.

THE GRISWOLDS WOULD BE PROUD: It was like a scene straight out of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Barron and teammate Michael Eyssimont were playing the role of lost tourists last weekend, taking an unfortunate turn as they tried to find the Lake of the Woods home of Pierre-Luc Dubois and his family.

The result was a vehicle stuck in deep snow.

“We went down the wrong driveway, which ended up being a boat launch,” Barron explained, with a sheepish laugh. “I didn’t really want to alert anyone. It was a little embarrassing. So, me and Mikey were trying to figure it out.”

It didn’t work.

Dubois, who had invited the pair over to spend the holidays, realized his Christmas Eve guests had arrived when he heard a commotion coming through the trees.

“Mikey is out there saying, ‘Go! Stop! OK, now back up! Go again!’” Barron said.

“And (Dubois) didn’t even know we were there, yet. So, he came tumbling through the woods. They had a shovel and helped take us out a little bit. Yeah, it was a hot start to the weekend. It was a little embarrassing, but we got out of it.”

Fortunately, it was all uphill from there. The players enjoyed first-class treatment from the Dubois clan, which included a tasty dish prepared by Pierre-Luc’s father, Eric, who is a Manitoba Moose assistant coach.

“Christmas night, my dad is a good cook, so he made sea-pie (capaille, in French), it’s called. It’s meat, potatoes, carrots kind of recipe. It was a new recipe, so we were kind of nervous. He did a good job,” said Pierre-Luc.

Barron gave it the chef’s kiss.

“Me and Mikey had it made. We had our feet up, we were just hanging out, and next thing we knew we had a beautiful meal in front of us,” he said.

With the Jets having such a small window of time off — they played in Washington last Friday night, then had to be back in town 72 hours later — staying relatively close to home was the smart play. But it also provided some much-needed respite after a hellacious stretch of hockey, which included five games over seven days.

“They looked after me and Mikey very well actually. It was a blast,” said Barron, who is from Halifax. Eyssimont hails from Colorado. “A beautiful part of the world. It was my first time there, I heard a lot about it but I loved it. It felt very Christmassy.”

WOE, CANADA: The World Junior Championship didn’t exactly get off to a golden start for Team Canada, with a stunning 5-2 loss to Czechia on Monday.

Jets backup goalie David Rittich, a Hall of Fame trash-talker at the best of times, was making sure all of his teammates from the Great White North were hearing about it during Tuesday’s morning skate.

“Hey, how did Canada play last night?” Rittich a native of Jihlava, Czech Republic, playfully taunted.

Dubois, who represented Canada in the 2017 event, isn’t too worried about one loss, which he watched with family while chowing down on some leftover sea-pie.

“It’s a tough tournament to play in — at home too,” Dubois said. “It’s fun but you have all these emotions running through you. For a lot of guys it’s their first tournament, it’s a dream come true, home crowd, but at the same time, it’s a long tournament. There’s a lot that can happen.”

With the event being played in Barron’s home city, his parents are taking in several games. The neighbours they are splitting tickets with were at the Czechia contest.

“Canada always seems to turn it around, so I have no doubt they’ll figure it out,” Dubois said.

Winnipeg has four prospects playing in the tournament. Chaz Lucius (2021 first-rounder playing this year with the Manitoba Moose) had the game-winner for the United States on Monday in their 5-2 victory over Latvia, while American teammate Rutger McGroarty (2022 first-rounder playing at the University of Michigan) was held off the scoresheet. They face Slovakia on Wednesday.

Fabian Wagner (2022 sixth-rounder playing overseas) had a goal and two assists in Sweden’s 11-0 rout of Austria, then was blanked in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Germany. Next up is Czechia on Thursday.

Brad Lambert (2022 first-rounder also playing with the Moose) didn’t have a point in Finland’s 3-2 overtime loss to Switzerland Monday, but scored his first goal in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Slovakia. His next game is against Latvia on Thursday.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg