The Jets lost 2020 1st rounder Cole Perfetti in a game against the Kraken on February 17th after he took a hard hit from Jamie Oleksiak and was labeled as dealing with a “upper-body (injury) and he’ll be maybe a little longer than day-to-day.”
Photo Credit: Alexander James (Illegal Curve)
Almost two months later we saw (courtesy of a post on the Jets social media page) that he was on the final road trip with Winnipeg for the last four games away from Manitoba.
Jets interim head coach Dave Lowry indicated that Perfetti skated on his own today for seven to 15 minutes as he recovers from his injuries. Worth remembering that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff advised during his Trade Deadline media availability that another injury cropped up when he was rehabbing from the first one which would require him to stay off the ice. Lowry added:
‘That’s just part of the progression with him. He is on the trip to skate. That doesn’t mean that he’s close to coming back. It just means that’s the next step, the next phase in his rehab.”
With just two weeks left in the regular season it seems unlikely he plays again in 2021-22. The unfortunate thing from a development perspective, which Kevin Cheveldayoff said in that media avail back in March, was that Perfetti wasn’t eligible to play with the Moose as they get set to make some noise in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
It is still possible he could play in one of the final home games to conclude this season so stay tuned for the latest progress reports about one of the Jets top prospects.
