Draft Profile: Cole Perfetti

The Anaheim Ducks need dynamic offensive players.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Obviously, the Ducks need a lot of help at basically every position but goaltending. But what the last several Stanley Cup Champions have taught us is that you can’t win if you can’t score. And the one thing this team does not do is score.

Anaheim ranks 28th in the NHL over the last three seasons in goal scoring and really haven’t been particularly threatening offensively overall since 2015. The fact of the matter is that they need to get pucks into the back of the net.

Enter Cole Perfetti.

The 18-year-old Canadian has mostly played center but also has experience on the wing. While the Ducks have plenty of centers at the moment, it’s easier to convert a center into a winger as opposed to the opposite pathway. Position should not matter here; what should matter is his skillset.

Perfetti’s strength, like Trevor Zegras, is his playmaking ability. His hockey IQ is near elite-level with not only his ability to find open lanes to create scoring chances, but also his incredible reaction time as opportunities open up. If you’re an opposing skater and you are caught out of position even for a second in your own zone, chances are Perfetti is going to see it and make you pay.

He does this with a set of elite hands that make him arguably the best puck handler in the draft. He can manipulate the puck and dance through defenders like he just lazily stepped around a traffic cone. Just look at some of the highlights below to get a feel for what I’m talking about.

Where he differs from Zegras, however, is that he is more willing to shoot the puck. He still tends to be a pass-first guy, but he will not hesitate to pick a corner with a very good wrist shot if he sees the opportunity.

To me, this is what makes Perfetti so good. He’s completely unpredictable. Defending him is difficult because if you take away the passing lane, he can rip off a good shot. If you try to step up to him, he will fly around and burn you. He can beat you in multiple ways and he will not hesitate to switch up tactics, making it a nightmare to develop a game plan to attack him.

Like any player, however, he has his faults. The biggest one that most observers harp on is his skating. He’s not a bad skater per se, but at the moment it’s difficult to call him anything but average in that facet of the game. Given his incredible offensive skillset, this is the most significant thing holding him back from being a surefire superstar. If he had above average skating ability to go along with his IQ and stick handling, we could be seeing a very different ranking for Perfetti.

Another aspect he needs to work on, in my opinion, is his tenacity. Unfortunately, we all know how much Bob Murray likes his big, aggressive skaters who are willing to put their bodies on the line to win a puck battle. This is something that Perfetti is not known for. It almost feels like he can give up on puck battles too easily sometimes which can lead to opposing teams establishing cycles against him without much trouble.

At 5’10” and 185 lbs, he’s certainly not small, but he’s also not big either. Like many high-skill players his age, putting on weight is never a bad idea. This could certainly help him gain more confidence to jump into physical puck battles.

Overall, I see Perfetti’s skill set as being similar to Brayden Point. While on the smaller side, his dynamic offensive ability and quick-thinking enable him to be unpredictable and beat opposing skaters in multiple ways. Point is a better skater however, so it remains to be seen how Perfetti can make up for that deficiency in his game, either by working with a skating coach or with some other method.

Unfortunately, I have a hard time believing Perfetti will be available to the Ducks at sixth overall. He was scouted heavily by Detroit Red Wings General Manager Steve Yzerman last season playing in their backyard with the OHL’s Saignaw Spirit, and is the type of dynamic offensive force that the Detroit GM absolutely loves.

Outside of the top three picks, however, the draft can go any number of ways. It’s not inconceivable that Perfetti slips to the Ducks should the Red Wings decide they like someone else better.