Jets sign Cole Perfetti to two-year contract with $3.25 million AAV

The Winnipeg Jets have signed center Cole Perfetti to a two-year contract with a $3.25 million cap hit.

Two years. $3.25 mill aav. https://t.co/HuDx3Asvwl

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) September 24, 2024

Perfetti was one of two remaining restricted free agents after the conclusion of his three-year entry-level contract with an $894,167 cap hit. There are no signing bonuses or no-move/no-trade clauses with this contract. He will be paid $3 million in 2024-25 and $3.5 million in 2025-26.

Perfetti receives a raise of almost $2.5 million per year, and will be locked up until he’s 24 years old at 3.69% of the 2024-25 salary cap. He shares a cap hit with Radek Faksa, Dakota Joshua and Jets teammate Adam Lowry.

Perfetti is coming off of his best season in 2023-24, where he had 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points in 71 games. With that season, he surpassed his previous career highs of 8 goals and 30 points, which were both set in 2022-23.

Perfetti also played one playoff game for the Jets last season, where he was held pointless during their 6-3 elimination loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5. That game was his playoff debut.

Perfetti was the 10th-overall pick for the Jets in the 2020 NHL draft out of the OHL. With the OHL’s 2020-21 season being cancelled due to COVID-19, he spent the season with the Jets’ AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, before making his NHL debut the following year. He will be entering his fourth NHL season this year, all spent with the Jets.

The Jets will look to get out of the first round for the first time in four seasons this year. While they didn’t make any big splashes this summer, they added some depth with Eric Comrie, Kaapo Kahkonen, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Mason Shaw, Dylan Coghlan and Haydn Fleury. They have just over $2.5 million in cap space with no more restricted free agents left to sign.

The Jets find themselves winless through their first two games of the preseason, losing 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday and 3-2 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. They’ll get back into action on Wednesday when they host the Oilers in Winnipeg at 8 p.m. EST.