Виннипег Жетс Коул Перфеттиг багийн бүрэлдэхүүндээ урт хугацаагаар үлдээлээ

The Winnipeg Jets have avoided arbitration with Cole Perfetti, signing the forward to a five-year contract with a cap hit of $6 million. The contract keeps Perfetti with the Jets until 2031, buying three years of unrestricted free agency.

“(A long-term deal) would obviously be great,” Perfetti said in April. “That would be a real honour to have the team show that and express that faith in you as a player and as a person.”

Perfetti, 24, was drafted 10th by the Jets in 2020. He’s scored 157 points in 290 regular-season games, along with the latest Game 7-tying goal in NHL history against St. Louis in 2025, but a high ankle sprain limited him to 32 points in 68 games last season.

“Looking back, I probably came back just a hair too early,” Perfetti said. “It was eating away at me every night, not being out there with the guys … Around the Olympic break is when I started to feel full confidence and I felt like my game started to get that chippiness back, get the speed back, get the legs going, (and I) started making plays a lot more.”

Perfetti’s second-half return to form helped mitigate the team’s lack of secondary scoring, but his end-of-season numbers were still disappointing. The Jets’ 2026-27 fortunes depend, in part, on Perfetti not just returning to form but taking another step forward in his development.

“You want to be that guy that is able to step up for your team and help and contribute and drive lines,” Perfetti said. “It’s not easy to do that. So it’s going to be a long summer of work and making sure that when I come back in September, I can take that next step and really drive a line.”

With Perfetti signed, Winnipeg’s offseason work is nearly complete — albeit with one notable exception. The following Jets roster, with Connor Hellebuyck still included, would start the season with $5.3 million in cap space.

The Jets will want to leave some of that cap space unused, creating a cushion of at least $1.0 million for Viggo Björck’s performance bonuses. They’d also do well to start the season below the cap ceiling, building up space that they can use at the trade deadline if their season has gone well.

But the only big question remaining involves Hellebuyck’s future. While it’s possible that Winnipeg is able to placate its No. 1 goaltender, all signs point to a trade. Conversations have continued with the Sabres after a pre-draft deal did not come to fruition. Winnipeg does have room to maneuver, with Hellebuyck’s $8.5 million cap hit big enough to leave room for a top six forward — perhaps one of Josh Norris or Ryan McLeod — along with goaltender Alex Lyon, if the teams are able to agree to a deal.

Perfetti’s contract appears to be fair value for player and club alike. His $6 million AAV is almost exactly in line with projections by public models like AFP Analytics ($6.4 million) and Evolving Hockey ($6.04 million). It leaves the Jets in solid position if Perfetti runs in place, scoring close to 50 points per season in a rising cap environment. They’ll get tremendous value if he pushes past his previously established peak.

The worst-case risk is a deal that becomes an overpay in the unlikely scenario that Perfetti’s 32-point season is his new normal. The best-case risk is that Perfetti scores more than anticipated, making himself a surprisingly expensive 29-year-old free agent in five years. More likely, Winnipeg just paid the going rate for 24-year-old secondary scorers and will be glad to have done so on an otherwise aging club.