Winnipeg Jets open training camp without Cole Perfetti

Another season of Winnipeg Jets hockey is now upon as they officially opened their 14th training camp since returning to Winnipeg, but there was a notable absence.

Jets first round draft pick Cole Perfetti is still a restricted free agent after the end of his entry-level deal. The 22-year-old is coming off a three-year contract that paid him a little under a million dollars per year.

The two sides are still talking to hammer out a deal.

“I had a conversation with Cole’s representatives there this morning,” said Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. “We’re looking at things and trying to make it work.

“Things happen fast, day-by-day. So you hope that it gets done.”

Perfetti went a long stretch in a scoring slump last season, but still had 19 goals and 19 assists in 71 games in his third campaign with the club.

“Personally, I’d give these guys the moon,” Cheveldayoff said. “I’d love to have the ability to pay them everything that they want and deserve. In a salary cap world you have to make business decisions.”

The Jets skated in the fog in two different groups at the Hockey For All Centre on Thursday. All the players passed their physicals but Henri Nikkanen wasn’t on the ice as he’s dealing with an illness.

With the off-season departures of Brenden Dillon and Nate Schmidt, there’s some jobs up for the taking this year and Josh Morrissey expects it to be a competitive camp.

“There’s some guys that look great here at the start of camp that will have some opportunity,” he said. “To either elevate their role or to make the jump to the big leagues. That internal competition and depth is something that is huge for our team. I think it’s probably as strong as it’s been in awhile.

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“The next few weeks will obviously determine how that shakes out for everyone, but it should be a really competitive camp.”

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Of course it’s the first camp under new head coach Scott Arniel and he’s hoping to get every player at least one exhibition game.

Arniel had Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi all skating on the same line, but said don’t read too much into the line combinations this early in camp.

As Arniel puts his stamp on the team, he wants to see a higher compete level right from the start.

“You can’t try to just get through the first part of the season not defending,” Arniel said. “We talked about being a really good defensive team, so that we get to the playoffs, we’re used to that. Well it’s the same thing with compete. You can’t all of a sudden come to the playoffs and compete harder. I want that now.

“You talk about great elite athletes — Michael Jordan, Tom Brady. All you hear is the competitiveness of those guys, how much they want to win. And that’s the mentality I think that, that’s the next step for us.”

And things might get even more competitive when it comes to roster spots for the regular season because the Jets new bench boss is considering the idea of going with just 2o skaters and two goalies when the games begin for real on October 9 in Edmonton.

“We would actually like to get to 13 and 7,” said Arniel in terms of the number of forwards and defensemen the team will carry. “We did carry eight D the last couple of years, but at the end of the day we want to have a rotation where our seventh guy is getting a little bit more. We’ll see. We get to the end of camp and we’ll certainly have guys who will have to go through waivers and we’ll have to fight that battle too. It certainly helps you cap wise if you can go 13 and seven.”

The Jets have just two full skates before Saturday’s first pre-season game against the Minnesota Wild where the Jets will dress mainly their youngsters.

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