I’m not sure if anyone cares what The Hockey News has to say anymore, but their annual prospects issue just came out and the Jets have 3 players in the top 100 prospects: Perfetti (#17), Heinola (#30), and Samberg (#92). They also gave our prospect pool a B-, good for 15th in the league (up from 18th in 2020). For those wondering, Trevor Zegras is ranked #1.
Perfetti is ranked 9th in his draft class behind Byfield (#2), Drysdale (#3), Raymond (#4), Sanderson (#7), Askarov (#8), Holtz (#9), Lundell (#10), and Jarvis (#16). Lafreniere and Stutzle don’t count as prospects. Seems a bit harsh to Cole, but whatever.
Here’s the Jets top 10 prospects, and a brief excerpt paraphrasing what was said about them:
1. Cole Perfetti: Perfetti has displayed his on-ice intelligence, vision and ability to find space. Now, the Jets want him to add strength to his modest frame, become stronger on the puck, and develop his skating.
2. Ville Heinola: “He plays a lot like Teppo Numminen,” says Winnipeg Jets assistant GM Craig Heisinger. “He’s an angle player. That’s what he does well.”
3. Dylan Samberg: He’s got pretty good feet and reads the game well, but his puck game needs work.
4. Kristian Vesalainen: His offensive tools are what garners him attention, but the Jets have done a nice job of developing him for use up and down the lineup. He’s good defensively, can kill penalties and does all the little things right.
5. David Gustafsson: He has no offence. No flash. No style. And that’s OK. Gustafsson plays to his strengths: winning faceoffs, forcing turnovers, moving the puck up the ice and defense.
6. Mikhail Berdin: Skilled at playing the puck and looks like a future NHL backup.
7. Simon Lundmark: Very little flash. Good puck-mover and positionally sound.
8. Daniel Torgersson: Hulking winger with all the physical tools. Needs to translate his skills to the pro game.
9. Declan Chisholm: Excellent offensively in junior. Defence needs to improve.
10. Henri Nikkanen: Huge center with offensive upside. Size and skating are his greatest assets.
Very encouraging to read re: Vesalainen and Nikkanen, especially. Also a bit surprising, but positive, to see Lundmark so high. Surprised to see them dump on Chisholm’s defence. Wonder if whoever wrote that has actually seen him play.
Again, not sure how much THN knows about Winnipeg anymore but I thought it was fun to read.