Jets’ Cole Perfetti ahead of schedule with injury rehab

Reinforcements could be arriving sooner than expected for the Winnipeg Jets.

Forward Cole Perfetti is ahead of schedule in his injury rehab and is targeting a mid-November return, head coach Scott Arniel said on Monday, per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Meanwhile, captain Adam Lowry is trending toward a return around the end of October or early November. The timeline for defenceman Dylan Samberg is still being determined, Arniel said.

Perfetti, 23, suffered an ankle injury during the team’s pre-season finale earlier in October and was ruled out on a week-to-week basis.

He is entering his fifth season with the club after being selected 10th overall in the 2020 draft. Over 222 career games, Perfetti owns 125 points (47 goals, 78 assists).

Lowry, 32, had hip surgery in May just 10 days after Winnipeg was eliminated from the playoffs.

He played in all 13 of Winnipeg’s playoff games and scored the biggest goal of the Jets’ season when he fired home the double-OT winner during Game 7 of the team’s first-round series against the St. Louis Blues.

A career-long Jet since being drafted in the third round (67th overall) in 2011, Lowry posted 16 goals and 18 assists in 73 regular-season games last season before adding four more tallies in the playoffs.

Samberg, 26, broke his wrist during the pre-season and was given a six-to-eight week timeline as of late September.

Despite the key absences, Winnipeg has begun its Presidents’ Trophy defence strongly with a 4-1-0 record through five games.

The Jets return to action Monday with a road game against the Calgary Flames.

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