Player Discussion: Cole Perfetti 10th OA pick

[surixon]

One thing I’ll say, some teams in their “championship windows” so-to-speak have had their best shots (and successful shots) at winning cups with the up-and-coming stars/future core players on ELC’s playing meaningful minutes on 3rd and/or 4th lines. It provides significant scoring depth at a cheap price which is hard for other teams that don’t have that option to compete with. Bones doesn’t seem to see it that way though, he has a set-in-stone idea of the “role” that the 3rd and 4th lines “should” have (example: a “checking” line, a “defensive” line). This is an old school mentality and it has been successful in the past, so by no means am I saying it can’t work. But given the assets that this team currently has, going with the Perfetti in-the-line-up option and trying to have a 3rd and/or 4th line that has an edge offensively that other teams may not be able to create is a route that should be considered too — That approach has also worked for other cup championship teams too. And given that our top line isn’t a Mckinnon/mcdavid/matthews type led line (all due respect to Scheifele - I like him but he’s not at that level), it would perhaps make sense to look at adding 91 to the 3rd or 4th line instead of sitting him in the press box.

Well Bones's underutilization of him and the back half will ensure we have him cheap for the next two years. Maybe that was the plan.

 

[robertocarlos]

Well Bones's underutilization of him and the back half will ensure we have him cheap for the next two years. Maybe that was the plan.

It worked for Laine.

 

[jetsfan15]

Well Bones's underutilization of him and the back half will ensure we have him cheap for the next two years. Maybe that was the plan.

This is true lol. Maybe next year with 91 on a cheap bridge deal and mcgroarty on an ELC and Lambert (maybe)… maybe that’s the year we’re in real business lol. Honestly I like the players we have coming up. Chevy has done well drafting.
(Chevy has also done well in trades (hard to argue against that, recency bias aside re: PLD; and he did a good job locking up Helly & Scheifele IMO).

 

[Buffdog]

I could be Perfetti's new player agent. I won't eat until he's back on the second line. I'll chain myself to the front door at Donald and Portage.

To be fair, he was gifted the 2C spot out of training camp... so it's not like the org has a hate on for him (vs, say, Ville). He played top 6 minutes until his game fell off... and they gave him plenty of time to work his way out of it.

I think the reason they acquired Toffoli is because prior to the trade deadline is that Cole showed no sign of snapping out of his slump

Personally I'd like to see him in the top 6 movi g forward, but I think that ship has sailed for this season. I'm positive he'll be a mainstay there from next season on

 

[robertocarlos]

Remember that he was so close to snapping out of his slump just before he was PBed. The puck just would not go in the net and the bums he played with could not score as well. Don't get me wrong, those are our 4th line bums and I like them.

 

[surixon]

To be fair, he was gifted the 2C spot out of training camp... so it's not like the org has a hate on for him (vs, say, Ville). He played top 6 minutes until his game fell off... and they gave him plenty of time to work his way out of it.

I think the reason they acquired Toffoli is because prior to the trade deadline is that Cole showed no sign of snapping out of his slump

Personally I'd like to see him in the top 6 movi g forward, but I think that ship has sailed for this season. I'm positive he'll be a mainstay there from next season on

I think the org has put way too much pressure on itself to win this year and it's lead to some of their decisions.

Once Cole's skid became 10 games on the second line it's like the coach gave up on him there. Afterwords he was demoted and scratched and not given another top 6 opportunity until a week ago when he only got in due to an illness and a massive losing streak. He sparked the team out of the skid showing he still very much had it in him all along. The more prudent move would have been to have given him that reset and then put him right back into the top 6. But there was no thoughts of that as they moved the vet fourth line guys up and went out and got Toffoli.

Since the conference finals appearance they have been very reactionary across all levels and don't seem to have the methodical planning and abundant patience they once had. Something isn't working for a bit, oh no we must pull the plug and go to the next option.

 

[NA Hockey]

To be fair, he was gifted the 2C spot out of training camp... so it's not like the org has a hate on for him (vs, say, Ville). He played top 6 minutes until his game fell off... and they gave him plenty of time to work his way out of it.

I think the reason they acquired Toffoli is because prior to the trade deadline is that Cole showed no sign of snapping out of his slump

Personally I'd like to see him in the top 6 movi g forward, but I think that ship has sailed for this season. I'm positive he'll be a mainstay there from next season on

To be fair he wasn't gifted the 2c spot. He was there for 3 games and then they moved him to the wing when the team went 1-2 in those games. They didn't give him a chance to grab the spot or grow into it. He also was in the top 6 but not really playing top 6 minutes. He was averaging at his highest 14.30 mins a game. He was also leading the team in pp points in Dec when they took him off pp1. When he went into that 10 game skid they then demoted him to 4th line/pb for the next 15 games. That stretched the slump out so long. A number of guys have gone cold for 10 plus games but none of them were sent to the 4th line or pb'd. They gave up on him so quickly and then never tried to get him back in a position to succeed. Then he goes in for Toffoli plays 4 games and has 4 points and was the best player in the LA game. One bad mistake in the Preds game is all it took for them to give up on him again. Many many players made as big or bigger mistakes in that game but only he paid a price. "Selective Accountability"

 

[Buffdog]

To be fair he wasn't gifted the 2c spot. He was there for 3 games and then they moved him to the wing when the team went 1-2 in those games. They didn't give him a chance to grab the spot or grow into it. He also was in the top 6 but not really playing top 6 minutes. He was averaging at his highest 14.30 mins a game. He was also leading the team in pp points in Dec when they took him off pp1. When he went into that 10 game skid they then demoted him to 4th line/pb for the next 15 games. That stretched the slump out so long. A number of guys have gone cold for 10 plus games but none of them were sent to the 4th line or pb'd. They gave up on him so quickly and then never tried to get him back in a position to succeed. Then he goes in for Toffoli plays 4 games and has 4 points and was the best player in the LA game. One bad mistake in the Preds game is all it took for them to give up on him again. Many many players made as big or bigger mistakes in that game but only he paid a price. "Selective Accountability"

I think the move to the wing was to take the defensive burden of playing 2C off his plate so he could focus on putting up points after vilardi got hurt

 

[NA Hockey]

I think the move to the wing was to take the defensive burden of playing 2C off his plate so he could focus on putting up points after vilardi got hurt

Sure, that could be true, but then you can't say he was gifted "2c".

 

[Buffdog]

Sure, that could be true, but then you can't say he was gifted "2c".

If you go back and look, I said "out of camp"

There's a joke there about the type of gift it was, but I don't want to get cancelled lol

 

[TS Quint]

One thing I’ll say, some teams in their “championship windows” so-to-speak have had their best shots (and successful shots) at winning cups with the up-and-coming stars/future core players on ELC’s playing meaningful minutes on 3rd and/or 4th lines. It provides significant scoring depth at a cheap price which is hard for other teams that don’t have that option to compete with. Bones doesn’t seem to see it that way though, he has a set-in-stone idea of the “role” that the 3rd and 4th lines “should” have (example: a “checking” line, a “defensive” line). This is an old school mentality and it has been successful in the past, so by no means am I saying it can’t work. But given the assets that this team currently has, going with the Perfetti in-the-line-up option and trying to have a 3rd and/or 4th line that has an edge offensively that other teams may not be able to create is a route that should be considered too — That approach has also worked for other cup championship teams too. And given that our top line isn’t a Mckinnon/mcdavid/matthews type led line (all due respect to Scheifele - I like him but he’s not at that level), it would perhaps make sense to look at adding 91 to the 3rd or 4th line instead of sitting him in the press box.

The Jets have 13 forwards in double digit goals. I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Jet]

Growing pains for Koal - he's stronger this year than last - I was really worried for him on the ice last season, but I don't worry about him physically this year.

I think what he's working through now is the mental marathon of an NHL season. He is going to go into the offseason knowing a lot more about what is needed to be a productive player through the season, and I have no doubt he will come into camp stronger, faster and more mentally strong. I think he'll also have a chip on his shoulder.

Remember, he's never experienced this in his hockey career before, hes always been the top player, big minutes, big producer. I think you need to mentally reconcile that and it doesn't happen overnight.

I'm not at all worried about Cole. He's smart and so talented. I also do not believe he's thinking he's getting screwed by the Jets. I think he's learning that this is the big boys league, and you either perform or you are replaced. He won't be replaced.

 

[NA Hockey]

The Jets have 13 forwards in double digit goals. I have no idea what you are talking about.

And Perfetti is 6th on the team with 17 goals in hundreds of mins less on ice time than most. He would certainly give an edge to the the 3rd or 4th line. Not mnay teams have 17 goal scorers on their 4th line or PB, I think was the point.

 

[surixon]

Growing pains for Koal - he's stronger this year than last - I was really worried for him on the ice last season, but I don't worry about him physically this year.

I think what he's working through now is the mental marathon of an NHL season. He is going to go into the offseason knowing a lot more about what is needed to be a productive player through the season, and I have no doubt he will come into camp stronger, faster and more mentally strong. I think he'll also have a chip on his shoulder.

Remember, he's never experienced this in his hockey career before, hes always been the top player, big minutes, big producer. I think you need to mentally reconcile that and it doesn't happen overnight.

I'm not at all worried about Cole. He's smart and so talented. I also do not believe he's thinking he's getting screwed by the Jets. I think he's learning that this is the big boys league, and you either perform or you are replaced. He won't be replaced.

He hit a wall and the org elected to go to plan B and bring in a vet for the playoffs. Bones has a rigid view on what he wants in his bottom 6 and it was very clear that Perfetti while being better then most in the bottom 6 didn't fit that view. His play style didn't mesh with the template.

When put back into a role he's able to succeed at he looked very good again but his coach now has vets for those roles and will defer to them.

He's going to have to wait for an injury to go back in this year and if we make any kind of a run there will be some so he needs to be ready.

He isn't happy, his coach said as much but he's handling it right. I'm sure he'll channel it into the summer to ensure this doesn't happen again.

I think the org and coach could have handled him much better this year but that is neither here or there at this point.

 

[Hobble]

I expect him to go through similar growing pains to Scheifele, who didn’t really take off until he had a few seasons under his belt. I’ve definitely liked the glimpses I’ve seen so far!

 

[surixon]

I think the move to the wing was to take the defensive burden of playing 2C off his plate so he could focus on putting up points after vilardi got hurt

Pretty much just echos my thoughts on the org being highly reactionary. It shouldn't take a single injury to completely switch gears and deviate from the plan.

 

[Buffdog]

Pretty much just echos my thoughts on the org being highly reactionary. It shouldn't take a single injury to completely switch gears and deviate from the plan.

I guess you could say reactionary, but I think you're saying it in a negative way

Chevy sees that there's a small window to compete while schief and helle are at the tail end of their primes. This isn't the time for patience and development

 

[surixon]

I guess you could say reactionary, but I think you're saying it in a negative way

Chevy sees that there's a small window to compete while schief and helle are at the tail end of their primes. This isn't the time for patience and development

Then why have that plan to begin with? If it was all about winning then they should have started him on the wing. I'm sure they are smart enough to know that there would be a learning curve with Cole at center. I'm sure they were expecting growing pains and development.

To me it just seemed so half baked to begin with. Cole being told about 2 weeks before camp he'd be the 2C and then a week into the year he wouldn't be.

Even if you are still trying to win you need a proper plan in place for your players and having a half baked one for your top young player seems short sighted to me. It also shows an org that is feeling pressure and is desperate to have a good year for ticket sales.

 

[Buffdog]

Then why have that plan to begin with? If it was all about winning then they should have started him on the wing. I'm sure they are smart enough to know that there would be a learning curve with Cole at center. I'm sure they were expecting growing pains and development.

To me it just seemed so half baked to begin with. Cole being told about 2 weeks before camp he'd be the 2C and then a week into the year he wouldn't be.

Even if you are still trying to win you need a proper plan in place for your players and having a half baked one for your top young player seems short sighted to me. It also shows an org that is feeling pressure and is desperate to have a good year for ticket sales.

They had a plan. Ease him in at C with Nino and Vilardi as his wingers

Vilardi got hurt. They had to change the plan.

You happen to not approve of the new plan, which is fine. But it makes sense to me

 

[surixon]

They had a plan. Ease him in at C with Nino and Vilardi as his wingers

Vilardi got hurt. They had to change the plan.

You happen to not approve of the new plan, which is fine. But it makes sense to me

Vilardi wasn't even his winger. It was Nino and Ehlers.

 

[Buffdog]

Vilardi wasn't even his winger. It was Nino and Ehlers.

Same principle

 

[TS Quint]

And Perfetti is 6th on the team with 17 goals in hundreds of mins less on ice time than most. He would certainly give an edge to the the 3rd or 4th line. Not mnay teams have 17 goal scorers on their 4th line or PB, I think was the point.

Again, perfetti has been inconsistent. He had a pretty good peak early in the year. But he has struggled after. He hasn't been the same player every game.