He’s no longer a streaky player that scores in bunches and then fades away. He’s not a passenger in the top six, nor is he simply a power-play merchant.
Perfetti has evolved into a legitimate top-six forward who can be a difference-maker.
And nothing encapsulates Perfetti’s progression more than his goal on Sunday afternoon, which cemented the Winnipeg Jets‘ 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
With less than eight minutes remaining in the third period, Perfetti deked out Derek Forbort, slipping the puck through the legs of the Canucks defender, before roofing the puck top corner past goalie Thatcher Demko while falling to the ice.
“Everyone kind of gives each other that ‘wow’ look,” Mason Appleton said. “You don’t see goals like that too often.”
A few weeks ago, Perfetti might not have attempted such a move in a one-on-one situation. However, Perfetti’s confidence has been compounding over the last two months, with the 2020 first-round pick recording nine goals and 21 points over his last 25 games.
“When the confidence isn’t there, you’re a little more hesitant and a little slower with the decision making because you don’t want to make a mistake,” Perfetti told Sportsnet.ca on Friday morning.
The 23-year-old’s recent surge began with a hat trick against Utah on Jan. 24. While Perfetti rode a 14-game goal drought into the matchup, he told reporters beforehand that he believed he was taking positive strides and striving to become a “prick” to play against.
But make no mistake — the five-foot-11 forward wasn’t announcing that he was shapeshifting from a playmaker to a grinder.
“It kind of got (interpreted) further than what I intended,” Perfetti clarified. “It was more so about trying to be hard to play against when I’m on the ice. It’s hard, I’m a smaller guy and I’ve got to be smart with how I use my body and stick. I have to use every bit of leverage that I can get.”
A clear sign of his improvement is his increased effectiveness in winning puck battles along the boards. He’s not shying away from the dirty areas of the ice.
“He used to do a lot of cutbacks and he used to get hammered into the walls,” head coach Scott Arniel said Friday morning.
Lately, he’s been embracing contact to make plays.
“A lot of the game is spent on the wall. Guys in this league are so good at it that it looks easy but really, it’s a hard thing to do and a big part of the game,” Perfetti said.
“In junior and growing up, you could go into a puck battle with one hand and fish the puck out. Guys are stronger (in the NHL). They’ve got better positioning, they’re better with their sticks. You’ve got to go into every puck battle with the understanding that it’s a big deal.”
Perfetti is also attacking the net more frequently.
Over this 25-game stretch, Perfetti has recorded 9.73 five-on-five scoring chances per 60 minutes, which places him in the 96th percentile across the league.
“The other night against Washington, twice he drove it inside to the crease to the net-front area,” Arniel said. “To me, that’s a player that’s changed his game.”
And that doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s a byproduct of a player learning — the hard way — what happens when you rely solely on your skillset. At this time last year, Perfetti was an occasional healthy scratch, having been replaced in the top six by Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli. He watched four of the team’s five playoff games from the press box.
“When you come into the league, very few guys come in and just produce right away,” teammate Vladislav Namestnikov told Sportsnet.ca on Friday.
“You have to find yourself and as time goes on you learn. You learn things like how sometimes you don’t need to make that extra play, you can just chip it out. That’s all part of maturing. The most important thing for him is that he now knows what he needs to do to help (our team) win games.”
Better yet, Perfetti knows how to ensure his production doesn’t taper off.
“I think what we’ve talked about is the mental part of it,” Arniel said Sunday. “He recognizes that he’s going to have highs and lows, he’s going to have slumps, he’s going to be in situations where he’s going to have a bad game or a bad shift or a bad period. He’s been able to get himself out of it this year faster than he’s ever been able to.”
