The 2021-22 season ended for Jets 2020 1st rounder Cole Perfetti back on February 17th in a game in Winnipeg against Seattle when a Jamie Oleksiak knocked him from the game. While it was initially ruled an upper-body injury that was “a little longer than day-to-day”.
Of course that dragged on a bit longer than “longer than day-to-day” and during the March 21st trade deadline media availability with Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff it was revealed that he was dealing with a second injury which cropped up and required rehabbing. The problem was if the team wanted him to be eligible to play in the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs with the Moose he had to be assigned (even if it was just a paper transaction) on that day but because of the percentage of days he was up in NHL he wasn’t able to be sent down.
Photo Credit: Jonathan Kozub/Manitoba Moose
It was a shame for both the player and for the team as it could have been excellent for Perfetti’s development given Manitoba head coach Mark Morrison called two rounds of the playoffs the equivalent of a season’s worth of games and obviously the Moose would have certainly benefited from having a dynamic player like Perfetti in the lineup.
Today following practice Perfetti was asked about the nature of his injury. He did disclose that the injury he suffered on the 17th was a shoulder injury although he didn’t disclose what the second injury was that cropped up when he was rehabbing from the first one. He simply labelled it an old one that popped up that was “worse than they thought”.
Asked about what he is ramping up for given the Jets season ends on Sunday and he isn’t eligible to play for the Moose. He spoke about missing the deadline to play with Manitoba:
“Obviously missed deadline to go to the Moose which is tough. They have a great team, they’re going to go on a long run. Would have been amazing to go there and join that team for that run”.
Perfetti was asked about cheering on his friends/teammates on the Moose in the Calder Cup playoffs. He had this to say
“Spending the last year with them, build a lot of friendships, really close with a lot of those guys, they got a heck of a team. Sucks can’t join them and help try to win. But at same time they’re going to do great on their own”.
Perfetti was asked about this CBA rule preventing what is best for the player. He added this
“Anytime you can get any playoff experience it’s massive. Especially in the AHL on a team that’s going to go far on a big run, that experience is really important for players and if I was able to get that at a young age that would have been beneficial for me but obviously the rules prevent that so there’s nothing I can do about it, just kinda have to ride with the punches’ and go with it.”
While unfortunate that Cole Perfetti won’t be able to join the Jets for their three remaining home games or the Moose for their Calder Cup playoff run the Jets 2020 1st rounder should be raring to go when training camp gets underway for the 2022-23 season in September.
