Jets’ Perfetti Rounding into Complete & Mature Player

Things haven’t always come easy for him. He has been no stranger to offensive droughts throughout his career and this season has been no exception as he had a nine-game pointless streak from Dec. 23 through Jan. 11 and a 14-game goalless streak from Dec. 23 through Jan. 22 despite getting a lot of good looks.

Perfetti Has Developed a Mature Mindset

It wasn’t luck that broke Perfetti out of his slump to the tune of five goals and seven assists for 12 points in his past 10 games. It was his mindset.

There’s no doubt Perfetti was drafted to produce offense considering his outrageous juniors stats and overall skillset. He must feel pressure when he’s not producing. However, a big sign of growth is that even when he wasn’t finding the back of the net, he didn’t get down and stayed focused on being a complete player.

He is now set on being, in his words, “a little prick to play against” and his play backs him up. He has been noticeably more involved in scrums and in physical battle. Adam Lowry he will never be at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, but he does have a career-high 51 hits to sit a surprising fifth among Jets forwards.

“The production might not be there, in the sense of stat sheet and stuff like that but I feel like I’m really starting to play good hockey,” Perfetti said on Jan. 24 after not scoring for 14 games. “All over the ice, becoming a two-way guy, that’s what I’ve been trying to focus on is being harder on the puck, being harder on the walls and kind of being a little prick to play against. Not being fun to play against but also trying to be annoying, reliable in all zones and eventually the production is going to come.”

A few hours after saying that, the production indeed came as he notched his first NHL hat trick.

The trio of goals against the Utah Hockey Club appears to have reenergized his scoring touch. The Jets, riding a franchise-high 11-game winning streak and sitting first in the NHL entering Thursday’s matchup against the Nashville Predators, have not lost since that game.

Perfetti in No Danger of Losing Place in Lineup

Last season, Perfetti suffered through a 23-game goalless drought from Jan. 11 to March 23, leading then-head-coach Rick Bowness to bump him down to the fourth line and into the press box for 11 games after the team added Tyler Toffoli to the forward group at the 2024 Trade Deadline.

Perfetti appears in no danger of being bumped from Scott Arniel’s lineup this season. Even if his offense does slow down again, what he provides now goes beyond his point production.

Will he ever be a top-10 or top-20 points guy in the NHL? Potentially not, but any team would take a 40-50 point player who is still developing for $3.25 million per season, which he currently makes on the two-year “prove-it” deal he signed in September after a bit of a stalemate.

Perfetti is proving his value. If he can reach around the 50-point mark this season and next while continuing to round out his overall game, he will be not only a key contributor to any success the Jets have during their contention window, but also in a good position to cash in on a long-term contract in the summer of 2026.