IMO, it will be a bridge, if he actually signs something.
Also IMO, I think the holdup is Perfetti wanting a long-term deal and the Jets are reluctant to give it. And really, based on what we have seen so far, would you want to sign Perfetti to a 7 year deal? I guess it it was a really cheap long-term deal, sure, but Perfetti won't want a cheap deal for long-term.
Some people think it's Perfetti that wants the bridge, but I think it's the Jets.
I get what you are saying, but here is my counter to it from an organizations perspective. Currently all the pieces we have inked to long term deals are in their late 20's and early 30's. We really are playing with borrowed time with this core. The only way to stay competitive is to develop a good core of young talent that can take some of load and eventually take the torch from the vets.
Currently we have no one committed long term to the team that meets that criteria, and it's not for a lack of effort. We haven't had any young talent commit since KC and JoMo did half a decade ago. We've actually seen the opposite with young talent force their way out of here as quickly as possible. Trouba, Laine, Dubois, Roslovic, and heck even our top prospect McGroarty. This org is hemerging young talent at an alarming rate and it's only a matter of time before it catches up and impacts on ice performance.
So if Cole as is rumored is willing to commit long term, then I think it's something the org absolutely has to seriously consider.
1) It would lock into place the first member of the next wave core to help the vets.
2) As a young player with unfavorable usage it stands to reason he'll improve with more experience and better usage and would be a good bet to outperform his long term deal, especially with a raising cap.
3) It would improve the optics of the org around the league. Perfetti signing would counter the message that McGrarty put out when he refused to sign. It would start to plug the leak of top young talent leaving. It would also likely resonate well with our young players in the system. "Look they are willing to take care of a player off their elc".
All in all with the cap space they have and what has transpired with bother young players they may not have much of a choice but to make it work.