Today at morning skate it was reported by Mitchell Clinton that 2020 1st rounder Cole Perfetti had hit the ice late in the skate in a red, non-contact uniform for the first time with his teammates since he sustained the injury back in February.
One week ago today the headline on Perfetti was that he was “done for a while yet” so while his appearance today is a good sign it would seem that he still isn’t ready to help the Jets before the regular season concludes this week.
With his appearance on the ice this morning however, the focus in the media availability with head coach Rick Bowness was on what his return to the ice meant and if that impacted his projected return to the lineup. The bench boss of Winnipeg poured cold water on that notion saying:
“We’ll give him a couple of weeks, he’s going to need that. He’s missed a lot of time. Thought today was a light day for him. As we go along we’ll increase the workload.”
Asked if he saw it as a good sign:
“Let’s make sure we are playing in two weeks so we can use him. I think that’s the key here.”.
With him in the lineup they went 31-19-1 and without him they’ve gone 12-13-2.
