The Winnipeg Jets came home from a season-opening road trip without a win, or their team captain. And on Wednesday the Jets assigned rookie forward Cole Perfetti to the AHL Manitoba Moose.
Blake Wheeler entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols on Monday and remained in the Twin Cities to self-isolate for the mandatory 10-day period after testing positive for the virus on Tuesday.
Perfetti made his NHL regular season debut in last Wednesday’s 4-1 loss at Anaheim, playing 9:49 with no points, no shots and one hit.
Winnipeg’s 2020 first-round draft pick was also in uniform for the 4-3 loss in San Jose on Saturday, but it turned into a healthy scratch for the trip-ending 6-5 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
The Jets host Anaheim in a rematch Thursday night at 7 p.m. in their first home game 2021-22 at the Canada Life Center.
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In the two games he dressed in, Perfetti averaged just one touch under nine minutes of ice time and it was minus two.
The 19-year-old Whitby, Ontario native played 32 games for Manitoba last season and scored nine goals and added 17 assists for 26 points.
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Perfetti also represented Canada’s gold medal-winning team at the IIHF men’s championship in Riga, Latvia and the silver medalists at the junior world tournament in Edmonton.
The Moose are wrapping up their own three-game season-opening road trip tonight in Laval after winning a weekend doubleheader division in Toronto. Perfetti will join his AHL teammates for Manitoba’s home opener at Canada Life Center on Friday night at 7 pm against Grand Rapids.
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