The Winnipeg Jets were strong for most of November before losing the last three games of the month. They posted a 8-5-0 record despite missing head coach Rick Bowness until Nov. 24, With a 12-8-2 record overall, they sit third in the Central Division entering December.
The Jets, a much deeper team up front than in years past, played a sustainable brand of hockey and got contributions from up and down the lineup before their current rough patch. In fact, it’s difficult to single out just three players for success that was achieved as a collective.
However, three Jets stand out slightly above the rest as the top performers of November.
3: Cole Perfetti
The Jets’ top prospect is evolving into a top-end player before our eyes.
Perfetti, who is in his third NHL season since being selected 10th overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, just had his best month as a professional. Playing right wing on a line with Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikolaj Ehlers — a trio that’s put up strong possession numbers — the on-the-rise youngster displayed his skills with consistency and showed why Jets’ management has had such high hopes for him.
The 21-year-old had seven goals and five assists for 12 points and had an eight-game point streak between Oct. 30 and Nov. 18. In that eight-game point streak, he also had a five-game goal streak. Overall, he was held off the scoresheet just twice in 13 games and sits fourth on the Jets with eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points. As a result, Perfetti is the Jets’ top player in surplus value (providing $5.7 million in surplus value from his $800,000 salary) as per the most recent player card from The Athletic.
Perfetti deservedly saw his ice-time jump as he averaged 15:04, significantly higher than his October average of 13:18. This increase in ice time indicates the coaching staff is gaining trust in him not only to produce offensively but also be responsible defensively: he was promoted to the top power play unit and has been deployed more frequently in late-game situations.
Most crucially, Perfetti has stayed healthy. The factor most likely to derail is development path to a top-six forward has never been any lack of ability but rather lack of durability. His first two professional campaigns were riddled with injuries: he missed 31 games last season due to two separate ailments, and in his rookie 2021-22, was knocked out for the remainder of the season in mid-February by a Jamie Oleksiak hit and suffered a separate injury while rehabbing that one.
Four injuries in 69-career games — especially for a player who is undersized by NHL standards and put himself in vulnerable positions too often — put him under the microscope entering this season. So far, the microscope has only showed him getting into a good position for this summer’s contract negotiations (his is on the last year of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent this summer.)
2: Josh Morrissey
If there’s one thing Josh Morrissey’s November proved, its that his dominant 2022-23 was not a fluke.
The defenseman continued to prove he’s an elite two-way talent and a tremendously valuable player. He posted three goals and nine assists for 12 points to pace all Jets defenseman and sits eight among all NHL d-men in points with 19. While his offensive performances — he had four multi-point games and on Nov. 14 against the New Jersey Devils became the third Jet already to have a four-assist night this season — were impressive, defensemen also need to defend effectively. He was no slouch in that facet alongside Dylan DeMelo on the top pairing, keeping his CORSI and Fenwick possession metrics near 60 per cent.
The 28-year-old, who posted 76 points (10 goals, 66 assists) last season and was empowered by Bowness to jump up in the play, was in tough to replicate such lofty numbers this season. Some regression seemed inevitable — especially since his 2022-23 points more than doubled his previous career high — but there’s been no real regression to speak of.
He is on pace for a slightly-lower 70 points, but if he continues playing to this calibre, could snag a Norris Trophy nomination after finishing fifth in voting last season.
1: Kyle Connor
Kyle Connor was not only the Jets’ leading goal scorer in November, but also one of the NHL’s most prolific.
The sniper racked up nine goals and seven assists in November and sits tied for fourth place in the NHL in that category with 14. On Nov. 18, after scoring against the Arizona Coyotes for his 14th of the season, he actually led the entire league (he went one ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews at the time.) With that goal coming in his 17th game, he also tied the record for the fewest games in a season to score 14 goals in a Jets uniform, matching Teemu Selanne’s output in 1992-93 (yes, that was Selanne’s 76-goal rookie season.)
Connor, who has 24 points through 22 games, has looked exceptionally dangerous nearly every time he touches the puck. Although had a five-game goalless streak to end the month, he had 18 shots in those five games, so it’s not as though he suddenly isn’t getting opportunities.
In fact, is a marvel to watch how quickly and from how many different locations the 26-year-old can generate a first-rate chance, even when there seems to be no time or space to do anything.
“That’s what the best goal scorers can do,” Jets defenseman Nate Schmidt told the Winnipeg Free Press recently. “They don’t have to be in A spot to get a goal.” (From ‘Smart, skilled, speedy, and dangerous,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Nov. 15, 2023.)
It’s pretty obvious Connor has left his low-by-his-standards 31-goal 2022-23 season — where he suffered through some uncharacteristic slumps — behind: he is on pace for 51.66 goals which would make him the first 50-goal scorer in Jets 2.0 history.
While Connor perhaps may forever remain underrated league-wide, his skills don’t go unnoticed by his teammates.
“Where he’s able to score his goals, he’s so quick twitch and he’s so deceptive with his release that he can get his shot off in such little time and such little space,” captain Adam Lowry told the Free Press. “That’s where his goal scoring is so good, because he can create these chances out of ordinary plays.”
