Should Jets Fans Be Concerned About Perfetti's Lack of Contract?

Should Jets fans be concerned about the lack of news surrounding the 22-year-old forward? He seems to be a bigger part of the team than ever before and a potentially-damaging holdout situation is looming as the regular season quickly approaches.

Perfetti is the last-remaining restricted free agent (RFA) on the Jets' books, as general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff signed the rest by the end of July. However, the 2020 10th-overall pick was the highest-profile of the bunch by far, so negotiations were always set to be much more complex.

Perfetti's 2023-24 season was an up and down one. In the first half, he excelled and his play showed significant leaps forward. Through 41 games, he was a key contributor to the Jets' surprising dominance: as a fixture on the second-line right wing, he had 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists), just one point shy of his season career high with half the season to go.

However, he fell into an extended scoring drought at about the same time the team started experiencing some second-half struggles. He suffered through a 23-game goal-scoring slump from Jan. 11 to March 23, leading now-retired head coach Rick Bowness to bump Perfetti down to the fourth line and into the press box after the team added Tyler Toffoli to the forward group at the 2024 Trade Deadline.

While a modest two-year bridge remains a potential solution to give Perfetti a chance to be more consistent, a long-term deal isn't out of the realm of possibility if the organization really wants to commit to the youth movement seemingly underway under new head coach Scott Arniel. Cheveldayoff has a history of signing similarly-aged RFAs long term: he locked Mark Scheifele up at 23 for eight years in 2016, Nikolaj Ehlers at 21 for seven years in 2017, and Josh Morrissey at 24 for eight years and Kyle Connor at 21 for seven years in 2019.

There is also recent precedent for players Perfetti's age getting long-term deals: Winnipegger Seth Jarvis, a fellow 22 year old who has 146 points over his first three campaigns with the Carolina Hurricanes, just cashed in on an eight-year deal worth $7.4 million annually. Perfetti has a modest-by-comparison 75 points in his first three seasons and didn't break out to the degree Jarvis did last season, so it's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but still interesting as they're the same age and first round picks from the same draft.

Source: Yardbarker
Perfetti Yet to Sign On Dotted Line After Up and Down 2023-24