Winnipeg Jets winger Cole Perfetti presents intriguing case as one of the year's best sleeper picks.
Heading into the 2025-26 NHL season, the Winnipeg Jets are looking to remain as a Stanley Cup contender. With defence and goaltending still rock solid, the spotlight now shifts to a retooled offence grappling with the loss of top-six winger Nikolaj Ehlers. The Jets made modest offseason adds in Gustav Nyquist and Tanner Pearson, leaving many questioning where the scoring will come from.
The Jets new big time depth scorer taking the place of Ehlers, could be his winger in Cole Perfetti, a 23-year-old forward on the cusp of fantasy breakout even larger than the one he experienced last season. The Whitby native is setting up to be one of this year’s most intriguing sleeper picks.
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Perfetti will start the year on a revamped second line alongside veteran Jonathan Toews and Nyquist. On the surface, this may seem underwhelming with Nyquist coming off the worst season of his career and Toews is no longer the elite center he once was but the context tells a different story. This trio is expected to see a significant uptick in ice time, as the Jets' once-reliable third line has been dismantled.
Team captain Adam Lowry is out indefinitely with a hip injury, and winger Mason Appleton departed for Detroit in the offseason. Last year, Winnipeg often deployed its second and third lines in a balanced, almost interchangeable 2A/2B setup but that structure is no longer in place. With key depth pieces gone, Perfetti’s line is now poised to absorb a much larger share of minutes and responsibilities.
Last season, Perfetti quietly posted a career-high 50 points despite limited usage (15:12 ATOI). He really came alive down the stretch, recording 25 points in his final 33 games, a stretch that saw him produce at a clip comparable to Dylan Larkin, Sebastian Aho, and one point behind Connor Bedard. In the playoffs, he added 6 points in 13 games, including a jaw-dropping, buzzer-beating goal in Game 7 against St. Louis, instantly becoming part of Jets and NHL history.
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Taking Over Ehlers Role On PP1
Perfetti could see his numbers climb to almost 17–18 minutes per game as he is set to play on the team's top power play unit, replacing Ehlers. He'll be at the front with Mark Scheifele and Gabe Vilardi as Kyle Connor slides behind them to the blueline alongside Josh Morrissey. The opportunity for Perfetti to seize a true top-six role and PP1 usage is undeniable.
Yahoo’s current projections have him very narrowly exceeding his numbers last season with 24 goals and 28 assists for 52 points, but the argument is building for him to clear this number and land somewhere in the 65–70 point range.
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Sleeper Appeal
Perfetti is still flying far under the radar in most fantasy drafts, currently ranked 160th overall in Yahoo’s fantasy projections. This means he's going very late in the draft pending on the size of your league with very shallow league's likely seeing Perfetti hit the wavier wire following the draft.
If Perfetti hits his upside of 65-plus points, he could finish in the 80–90 range in overall rankings, right alongside names like Ottawa’s Drake Batherson (projected 66 points), Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky (54 points), and Carolina’s Nikolaj Ehlers (65 points). He was a top-10 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft for a reason, and after steady growth in his first three NHL campaigns, all signs point to this being the year he puts it all together.