With the remainder of the 2021-22 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship cancelled, prospect Cole Perfetti’s dream of capturing gold has been lost, however, he’s since been added to the National Hockey League.
Well, sort of.
On Friday, the Winnipeg Jets announced they had assigned Perfetti, 19, to their taxi squad in hopes of having the top young forward skate with the big club.
In total, Perfetti now joins forward Mikey Eyssimont as the lone skaters on Winnipeg’s taxi squad, which is capable of holding a maximum of six players. Taxi squads are scheduled to remain in place league-wide until at least the all-star break in early February.
The 5’10” prospect, who made his NHL debut at the beginning of the 2021-22 season, will travel with the team to Vegas where they’re slated to play against the Golden Knights on Sunday. However, it’s unclear if he’ll be activated from the taxi squad for that contest.
In the meantime, Perfetti will continue practicing with the Jets as he attempts to get back up to “NHL speed,” according to coach Dave Lowry.
Through 17 games with the Manitoba Moose this season, the former first-round selection has scored six goals and 15 points in the American Hockey League.
Winnipeg and Vegas are scheduled to face-off against each other Sunday at 3:00 pm CT.
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