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Cole Perfetti (born January 1, 2002) is a Canadian junior ice hockey centre currently playing for the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL, projected to be a top prospect in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Fantasy Summary Creative, intelligent pivot who owns an elite release. Can control the game in a myriad of ways. Who is Cole Perfetti? Perfetti is a young center/left winger who stands at 5’10” and currently weighs in at 185 pounds according to his profile at Elite Prospects, which puts him close to or at NHL ready size. He was born in Whitby, Ontario, Canada on January 1, 2002, and went through their AAA system. His OHL career began just a season ago in 2018-19 with the Saginaw Spirit, whom he currently plays for to this day. In his time with Saginaw, Perfetti has registered 37 goals twice; his jump in assists (from 37 to 74) and overall points (from 74 to 111) saw him contending for the OHL scoring lead prior to the season’s abrupt end for now at least. What Others Say About Cole Perfetti Today starts with writer Mike Morreale in his most recent Top 31 prospects ranking, where he had Perfetti at sixth overall. While the blurb is short, it does mention a few noteworthy details that can help to understand what Perfetti can bring to a team: A skilled left-hander with high hockey IQ, compete and a great shot, Perfetti ranks second in the OHL with 104 points (36 goals, 68 assists) in 58 games. He has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) during a nine-game point streak. Obviously the article is a bit dated (both due to stoppage and Perfetti adding seven more points in three games that followed), but the first line gives three positives. High hockey IQ should never be shied away from; the smarter a player is, the more likely he is to find success at any level. The fact that his compete does not need to be questioned is another welcome addition, and as I alluded to earlier, the Devils need guys that aren’t afraid to shoot the puck. Sam Cosentino of Sportsnet had his own 2020 prospect ranking post back at the start of February. Perfetti AGAIN came in sixth overall with Cosentino having this to say: Creativity and offensive zone awareness complement elite goal-scoring acumen. Post-world junior camp assault on the OHL scoring title continues – he’s now just three points behind Rossi for the league lead. Again, we have to deal with things being dated at this point, but the same mention of his goal scoring ability (going so far as to call it elite) has to be an encouraging sign for anyone hoping to see Perfetti in red and black. The team needs goal scorers plain and simple, and if the Devils can put Cole on the left side of one of their talented young centers, it could be a recipe for years of future success. Additionally on the side of things, Guillaume Lepage published a longer article with quotes from Perfetti himself back in November. It also gives us the brilliant nicknames of “Goal” Perfetti and Cole “Perfectti” that while Cole himself claims not to be comfortable with yet, he may have to be if he becomes a prolific NHL scorer. Tony Ferrari of Dobber Prospects published his insight on Perfetti’s game back at the end of January. In this section, he ranked him as a “Tier 5” prospect for this draft, but only because Tiers 1-3 were occupied by one player each. Ferrari’s rankings would see Perfetti fall beyond this sixth pick, and he offered this justification as to why he’s placed here: Perfetti, on the other hand, struggled to put the puck in the net initially this season after a Hlinka-Gretzky Cup that saw him tear the world apart with his goal-scoring. He’s rebounded quite nicely in that department though, currently sitting at 24 on the year. Where he has taken his game to the next level is in the playmaking department. I discussed the assist jump for Perfetti this season, and it’s good to see that according to Ferrari it’s because of improved play, not necessarily improved teammates. Additionally, Perfetti did add thirteen more goals to his total after the end of January, so it reflects positively to me that he played through his struggles and came out still scoring after an early drought.
