May 4, 2025; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets center Cole Perfetti (91) celebrates after his goal against the St. Louis Blues with teammates left wing Kyle Connor (81) and defenseman Neal Pionk (4) in the third period in game seven of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images

Young Jets Phenom Gets Rough Injury Update

Originally posted on Breakaway on SI | By Tyler Miller | Last updated Oct 7, 2025 7:00 AM ET

It seems like so long ago when young Winnipeg Jets forward Cole Perfetti tied up Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues to send it to overtime where the Jets would eventually win and move on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Well, the Jets will need to be prepared to be without Perfetti to begin the season and it does not bode good news for them.

It was recently announced by Jets head coach Scott Arniel that Perfetti is going to miss some time with an ankle injury that he suffered in a preseason contest against the Calgary Flames. Teams want to play their stars a little during the preseason to get them tuned up and ready for the season, but injuries can happen.

Cole Perfetti is out week-to-week with an ankle injury, Scott Arniel announced. pic.twitter.com/rtJ384kxtP
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 5, 2025

And unfortunately for the Jets, Perfetti ended up getting injured in a meaningless preseason game where he was just trying to get his legs under him and find his spark for the season. Now the Jets will try to readjust without Perfetti for a while.

This was Cole Perfetti’s last shift. You can see his discomfort.

Jets head coach Scott Arniel post-game:

“With Perfetti lower-body injury. We gotta get him home here. First glance doesn’t look great. We’ll see when we get home. Hopefully it’s not as bad as we’re hoping.” pic.twitter.com/pHWszyuEhM
— Dave Minuk (@ICdave) October 4, 2025

Perfetti was able to play in the top six for the Jets last season and be one of their mainstays on the first powerplay unit. Now the Jets are going to have to reshuffle their top six and make it work with the likes of Nino Neiderreiter, Mark Schiefele, and Gabe Vilardi among others.

Perfetti finished the 2024-25 season having played all 82 regular season games and tallying 18 goals and 32 assists and he played in all 13 postseason games and tallied 3 goals and 3 assists. One of his goals being the huge game 7 equalizer against the Blues with less than 3 seconds left in regulation.

Perfetti is a player that the Jets have been really high on for the last couple of seasons and it is going to be tough for Arniel and company to try to navigate the first few weeks without him. The Jets also win a lot of games when Perfetti is in the lineup and being without him could be detrimental to that.

The players in the Jets top six will have to step up in Perfetti's absence. It helps that the Jets have other offensive players that can pick up his production.

This article first appeared on Breakaway on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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