TSN: John Lu on the Winnipeg Jets and Cole Perfetti being far apart on a deal heading into the weekend, and the longer Perfetti is absent from training camp, the more opportunity may arise for someone else.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Lu: “Jets training camp opened on Thursday, and Cole Perfetti was absent, remaining at home until he hammers out a new deal. He also wasn’t at Wednesday night’s opening team dinner, where Kevin Cheveldayoff typically catches up with players and coaches after the summer.
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Cheveldayoff said that he spoke to Perfetti’s agent Cameron Stewart, on Thursday morning, but had no news to report. And also didn’t want to get into comparisons with previous jets RFAs, who went through similar situations, like Josh Morrissey, who signed a two-year bridge deal coming out of his entry level contract almost exactly six years ago.
Now, the belief is both the Jets and Perfetti’s camp are far apart in both term and AAV. But from the Jets’ perspective, they’re trying to keep relations cordial. Last week, perfetti went to a couple of Team functions representing the Jets, and at the start of last week, he was in Vegas representing the Jets at the NHL players media tour. An experience that Cheveldayoff said he chose Perfetti to go to because he thought it would be a good experience for the RFA forward, and that team management thinks the world of Perfetti, even though contract negotiations are at a stalemate.
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But the reality is that the longer Oerfetti stays out, the more the door opens for hungry, young, offensive prospects, like 20 year old Brad Lambert, who could surprise and seize a 2C opportunity in the early goings of the season, or winger Nikita Chibrikov who could use his combination of skill and grit to find a way into a roster spot on the big club.”