The Press in Winnipeg | Dominate or grow?

(Winnipeg, Manitoba) Filip Mesar and Owen Beck were two interesting files to follow during the Canadiens’ training camp. These two 18-year-old players, freshly drafted, have raised eyes, but will still spend the season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), against players of their age.

Guillaume Lefrancois
The Press

In Winnipeg, there’s a 20-year-old who’s off to an interesting start, but didn’t have to return to the junior ranks at 18: Cole Perfetti.

Choice of 1^er Jet Tower (10^e in total) in 2020, Perfetti comes tied for 3rd^e rank among NHL rookies this season with six points (three goals, three assists) in nine games. He has been employed in the first two lines since the start of the season.

However, in January 2021, three months after being drafted, Perfetti found himself in the American League. As the pandemic prevented the Canadian junior leagues (grouped in the CHL) from starting their season, drafted players aged 18 or 19 registered in one of the three leagues exceptionally had the right to evolve in the American League. At the Canadiens, for example, this arrangement allowed Jan Mysak to play with the Laval Rocket.

If Mysak’s experience was inconclusive (2 points in 22 games), Perfetti offered a more than acceptable production with 26 points in 32 outings. And he now considers himself ahead thanks to this season.

“I learned to play without the puck, I measured the speed of the game better and I played against men, that also helped me”, enumerates the young man, sitting at his locker after training of the Jets on Tuesday.

What’s special about Perfetti is that in his draft year, he terrorized the OHL by amassing 111 points (37 goals, 74 assists) in 61 games. He therefore found himself in this in-between where he was too strong for the junior ranks, but not strong enough for the NHL.

This is a common problem with athletes of this age who play in the CHL. There is of course an issue of caliber of play, but also a very real financial issue, which colleague Martin Leclerc summarized in the context of a case that has been handed down… to the Supreme Court!

Case by case

In the Jets locker room, two players experienced this stage of their career differently.

On one side, there is Pierre-Luc Dubois. Claimed at 3^e rank by Columbus in 2016, he was already physically mature, at 6’2″ and 205 lbs. He was also coming off a 99-point campaign in Cape Breton.

“Games, I made two or three points, but I was not playing well, remembers Dubois, at the training center of the Jets. The following year, I made fewer points [55 en 48 matchs]but my game in general was better. Made there, the points, I knew that I could make some. I wanted to develop another phase of my game and by returning to junior I was able to do that. »

In addition to the hockey aspect, Dubois points out that not all 18-year-olds are ready for the life of a professional hockey player.

“You grow up so quickly in this profession… I’m 24 and I feel like I’m 35! At 18, your life begins. My friends were in CEGEP and there I would have found myself on the road, living alone. There’s no reason to speed this up and become an adult right away. It’s fun to be with guys your age.

“And on the ice, I’ve always thought you have to dominate on one level before moving on to the next. Not just be good, but dominate. »

His locker neighbor, Sam Gagner, joined the NHL at 18. In 2007, the Edmonton Oilers drafted him 6^e rank, after he racked up 118 points in 53 games in the OHL.

Unlike Dubois, Gagner believes that the rule prohibiting players from Canadian junior hockey from playing in the American League at 18 or 19 could be reviewed.

“Young people coming from the NCAA or Europe can play at 18, so it would be nice if the young people from the CHL could also play. But I know that would be asking a lot of these leagues. »

Perfetti, he, even if he took advantage of the particular arrangement of the pandemic season, believes that the status quo is preferable. “The CHL would lose a lot of 18-year-olds and they are the headliners of the league. For my part, I was lucky, but the circumstances were exceptional. »

The CHL will obviously still fight to maintain the current rules. However, it will be interesting to observe the players of Perfetti’s generation who benefited from a different layout.

In short

Meet Rick Bowness again

Rick Bowness was back with the Jets after dizziness forced him to stay home during the team’s recent three-game road trip. The 67-year-old man led part of the day’s exercises, exercises during which the emphasis was placed on the level of competitiveness, two days before the Habs’ visit. “I’m fine, but I don’t want to talk about my state of health any more,” he said from the outset, even before the first question from his press briefing. He obviously followed his team’s activities remotely during the trip. “It’s easy to follow a match on television, except for my wife who hears me shouting at the TV! But I haven’t been around enough, so I need players to tell me what’s wrong. »

Difficult game

If Bowness is talking about what “isn’t working,” it’s that his team is coming off a tough trip despite picking up five out of a possible six points. Sunday in Vegas, they got away with a 2-1 overtime loss despite outscoring the Golden Knights 48-24 (and 33-8 after two periods) on penalties. “It was probably the worst game I’ve seen in my career,” Dubois said. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Me, I probably played one of the worst games of my career. Not much was right. »

New threesome

Dubois must also adapt to new trio partners. However, it will be necessary to see if the combination will last. Accustomed to playing with sniper Kyle Connor, Dubois now plays with Perfetti and Blake Wheeler. “Our trio has not yet found its identity. We’re going to build that. Last year I played all 82 games with Connor. I knew in every game what I had to do to be successful. This year, the trios have changed. There, I play with two guys who like to pass the puck. But me too, I like it. We don’t want to end up with 10 goals each! »