The Winnipeg Jets are now down to one unsigned restricted free agent: Dylan Samberg. After the Jets signed Gabe Vilardi, Morgan Barron and several players to the Manitoba Moose, the Jets still have around $10.5 million in cap space. Samberg’s contract projects to be in the $5-6 million a year range, so after that move is complete the Jets will probably be done with signings unless they add some more depth prior to training camp.

The talk around Samberg had me thinking about how last season he was the player who most Jets fans had as the candidate for their “breakout” player for the 2024-25 season. Despite missing 22 games, Samberg still took a bit of a step forward, earning his upcoming contract. The player I believe will be the Jets top breakout candidate for the 2025-26 season, who will coincidentally also be playing for his next contract in the upcoming season is Cole Perfetti.

Going back to last season, Perfetti was the other name (besides Samberg) who fans were hoping would take the biggest step forward in the 2024-25 season. Perfetti might be the Jets most recent example of a 1st round pick meeting his expectations, as the 10th overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft secured a spot on the Jets 2nd line for the full length of the season. I know most of the leagues’ candidates for breakout players are usually entering their 2nd or 3rd NHL seasons, but there’s other players in their early 20s like Perfetti that fit the description of a possible breakout player too.

After his entry level contract, Perfetti signed a 2 year, $6.5 million deal weeks prior to the 2024-25 season opener. Coming off a strong 38 point season in 71 games in 2023-24, the expectation for Perfetti was to take the leap into a full time top six role. The 2023-24 playoffs left fans a little unsure about Perfetti, as he wasn’t yet seen as a player that had a spot on the team come playoff time after a weaker 2nd half. The inconsistency in the 2nd half of the season resulted in only 1 playoff game appearance for Perfetti, the 1st of his career.

Fast forward to the 2024-25 season, and Cole Perfetti was tasked with a 2nd line role on the wing (previously in his junior career he was a centre) with linemates Nikolaj Ehlers and Vladislav Namestnikov. The trio surpassed expectations, working together to create a 2nd forward line that could be used in a variety of situations. Consistency was key to Perfetti’s success, and he appeared in all 82 regular season games, scoring 18 goals and added 32 assists for a career high 50 points.

This time when the playoffs came around, the Jets had no doubt that Perfetti would be in the lineup for their round 1, game 1 matchup against the St. Louis Blues. Perfetti’s numbers in his 13 playoff games last season don’t exactly “jump off the page”, but his game 7 performance in round 1, which included the game tying “Manitoba Miracle” goal, will forever be remembered in Jets history. That game, along with being a noticeable player (even if he didn’t get on the scoresheet) throughout the playoffs is what makes me believe that there’s an even better version of Perfetti coming in the 2025-26 season.

It also helps that Perfetti will be playing for a longer term, higher value contract as he will be a restricted free agent following the 2025-26 season. A fair season prediction for Cole Perfetti’s 2025-26 season is a year with 20-25 goals and 35-40 assists for a 55-65 point campaign. The Jets top line is already set with Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Gabe Vilardi, but Perfetti could see some time on the Jets top powerplay unit at certain times, allowing him to showcase his offensive abilities on the man advantage. With the departure of Nikolaj Ehlers to Carolina and the arrival of Johnathan Toews, it remains a question mark who else will play with Perfetti on the Jets 2nd line. Regardless of his linemates, be ready for a true breakout season from the 23-year old Canadian forward.