from Sonny Sachdeva of Sportsnet,

No one’s had a better look at Cole Perfetti over the past two years than his head coach in Saginaw, Chris Lazary. To say Lazary believes in his prized winger after seeing his impact in Saginaw would be a massive understatement — the Spirit’s bench boss doesn’t simply see a successful jump to the pro leagues in Perfetti’s future, he sees bona fide greatness.

“I think his ceiling’s limitless. I think he could be one of the players out of this draft that goes on and plays 15 years, and has a lot of career accomplishments,” Lazary says. His vision of what Perfetti could be at his peak makes clear the scope of that first statement.

“To me, his player comparable is Nikita Kucherov,” says the coach, citing the Russian winger who, two seasons ago, posted the NHL’s highest single-season point total of the past two decades. “Kucherov played in the CHL, he’s not overly lightning-quick with his skating, but man, his playmaking, his creativeness, his ability to manipulate defenders, his change of direction, his deception. All those things make Kucherov one of the best players in the National Hockey League.

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