A Second Fresh Start for Jacob Perreault

After a rough showing in Anaheim’s system, Montreal’s acquisition of Jacob Perreault at the trade deadline gave the winger a fresh start although his struggles continued.  But now with a new head coach behind the bench and a full training camp coming, Perreault will get a second chance at a first impression.

Perreault was a late first-round pick in 2020, going 27th to Anaheim.  With the OHL not playing the following season due to COVID, he was able to make the jump to the pros right away.  All things considered, it was a pretty good first impression (even in what was a bit of a watered-down league that year) as he had 17 points in 27 games.  For an underager, that’s a solid showing.

Allowed to remain in the minors the following season, Perreault had a similar performance in twice as many games, notching 14 goals and 23 assists in 55 games.  Those numbers don’t jump off the page but again, he was a junior-aged player.  He also made his NHL debut with the Ducks.  Considering he hadn’t started his entry-level contract yet (this was the second season the deal slid), things were looking up.

However, things started going the wrong way after that.  Following the second coaching change in as many years, Perreault struggled under long-time AHL bench boss Roy Sommer in 2022-23 with his point total basically being cut in half despite playing in only seven fewer games.  Pretty much the whole team struggled though which resulted in yet another coaching change (seriously, four head coaches in four years) for last season where things weren’t any better.

Perreault had 18 points in 31 games which was at least a step in the right direction compared to the year before but he was getting dropped down the depth chart anyway, resulting in the swap for Jan Mysak (another player from that same draft class who wasn’t seeing much ice time).  The first impression in Laval wasn’t great as he struggled, dropped down the depth chart, and then got injured.

The good news for Perreault is that he has a new head coach in Pascal Vincent which should help give him another opportunity to start fresh.  It also helps that Daniel Jacob (who was an assistant in San Diego when he had his best season in 2021-22) has joined the coaching staff for the Rocket this summer for his second stint with the franchise.

The bad news is that they’ve brought in several new prospects and other players on minor-league deals that will give them a surplus of players to start.  This is a ‘problem’ that tends to work itself out quickly due to injuries and attrition but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Perreault not be in the priority group when it comes to ice time.  He might have to bide his time and wait for consistent playing time to come around so in the early going, it might be his practice habits that make or break his value with the new coaching staff.

Next season is a big one for Perreault.  This is the fifth year of his three-year entry-level deal (thanks to two slide seasons) so he’s set to be a restricted free agent for the first time next summer.  At this point, it seems fair to suggest that he hasn’t done enough in his limited time in Montreal’s system to warrant a qualifying offer.  There’s time to change that but he’s going to need to take advantage of this second chance at a fresh start with the Rocket.  If he doesn’t, there’s a good chance he’ll be heading for another fresh start with a new organization next summer.