![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791457810_265_indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\nLast season, Winnipeg\u2019s top line was Scheifele flanked by Connor and Gabe Vilardi, who\u2019s taken Perfetti\u2019s place on the second line.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
Early in the 2026-27 campaign, Connor and Perfetti have been Winnipeg\u2019s scoring duo, accounting for eight of the team\u2019s 12 goals. <\/p>\n
Connor\u2019s two against the Avs included the game-winner with one minute left. The tally extended the Jets\u2019 (3-0-1) season-opening point streak to four games. <\/p>\n
Perfetti\u2019s goal against Colorado wasn\u2019t achieved with finesse. He went to the front of the net and the puck hit his skate and went in past Mackenzie Blackwood after a point shot by Dylan Samberg.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just fine with Connor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does a lot of things well,\u201d he said of Perfetti. \u201cYou see the (goal Wednesday), he just wins body position. It\u2019s such an underrated thing for a player \u2014 to get to the net and find that lane.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe makes plays and he\u2019s smart, too. It\u2019s real good. He\u2019s adjusted great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perfetti, a 24-year-old forward from Whitby, Ont., was selected by the Jets with the 10th pick overall in the 2020 NHL draft. He became a regular on the roster in 2022-23, but was hit by injuries and has only played 82 games once in 2024-25.<\/p>\n
Last season, he missed 14 games with a high-ankle sprain. The five-foot-11, 185-pound product of the Ontario Hockey League\u2019s Saginaw Spirit started slow in his return, with just three goals over his first 27 games of the campaign. <\/p>\n
Now times have changed for the better.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Perfetti said. \u201cObviously, it was a long summer so I had time to heal and really get my body into the shape that I wanted it to be. I spent a lot of time in the gym and on the ice and worked on a lot of things. It\u2019s nice to know that it is off to a good start and paying off right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to get that opportunity. It\u2019s always great to move up and get more and that\u2019s what every player strives for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in his sixth NHL season, Perfetti has 62 goals and 163 points across 294 regular-season games. In July, he signed a five-year, US$30-million extension that takes him through the 2030-31 season.<\/p>\n
With points in all four of Winnipeg\u2019s games, he\u2019s having a career-best start to the season.<\/p>\n
Connor leads the team with five goals and seven points. Perfetti is next with his three goals and six points.<\/p>\n
Scheifele picked up his first two points of the season against the Avalanche, assisting on one of Connor\u2019s two goals and Perfetti\u2019s marker.<\/p>\n
Jets head coach Scott Arniel said he gave Perfetti the opportunity on the top line for a variety of reasons, including his skill set and hockey IQ.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Scheifele and Connor) can really help people play well because they have the puck a lot, but they are also hard to play with,\u201d Arniel said. \u201cIt takes some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the exhibition games, I know Cole was getting frustrated because he didn\u2019t know where to go, but K.C. and Mark spent time with him. When they\u2019re here, they\u2019ll tell him to go there, those types of things \u2014 being on the same page. Now he\u2019s got them figured out.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2026.<\/p>\n
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last season, Winnipeg\u2019s top line was Scheifele flanked by Connor and Gabe Vilardi, who\u2019s taken Perfetti\u2019s place on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-925211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}