Ranking The Top 31 Prospects in The 2020 NHL Draft: 13. Jacob Perreault

Boasting one of the more exciting toolkits in the draft, Jacob Perreault has all the talent

Jacob Perreault (RW), Sarnia (OHL)

H: 5’11” W: 198 lbs

Despite being such an exhilarating prospect to watch, Perrault has been a bit under-the-radar during the whole draft process, usually in the 20s by most scouting services.

Perreault also has deep family bloodlines as his father Yanic played over 800 games in the NHL. Ottawa has shown an affinity for selecting players with deep family backgrounds in professional hockey and prospects who have first-hand experience on how to be in a professional environment.

Immediately when Perreault stepped into the OHL he produced, scoring 30 goals in his rookie season in 2018-19, he has a knack for the back of the net, he’s been a top goal scorer throughout his career so far at every level.

2019-20 Recap

GP: 57 G: 39 A: 31 P: 70 +/-: -34

Coming into the season on scouts radars because of his stellar rookie season, Perreault didn’t disappoint and kept himself solidly in the first-round conversation.

Surprisingly enough Perreault was left off of the Team Canada roster for the 2019 Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, looking back at his stellar season the year before it seemed to be a questionable decision by Canada. Often highly sought after prospects are left off of those national rosters for whatever reason, similar to Alex Newhook the year prior and that didn’t deter him from being selected high.

For Jacob Perreault, important for him to look at Alex Newhook, who many were surprised did not make the Hlinka team after a solid camp. Didn't negatively impact his season or draft stock. Was still the 16th overall pick in June. Use it as motivation.
— Brock Otten (@BrockOtten) July 31, 2019

Perrault would seem to use it as motivation as he would have a very strong year for Sarnia, collecting 39 goals and 70 points in 57 games for a struggling team, hence his -34 rating. The talented winger enjoyed a strong finish to the season with 11 goals in his final 12 games, the pandemic took away what could have been an even stronger finish to the season for Perreault.

Strengths

Skating

An electric skater, Perreault is a threat whenever the puck is on his stick with his exceptional speed. Perreault consistently wheels with the puck and usually has the ability to go end to end and create a chance on net:

It doesn’t always have to result in a goal either, his sheer speed is intimidating for defenders and causes them to back up, making zone entries easy for Perreault on the powerplay. It doesn’t take Perreault very long to get to top speed either, he has great acceleration and one of the most explosive strides in the whole class.

In CHL skills testing Perreault dominated in the forward skating portion with/without the puck:

Truly an elite skater and his metrics are proven to match up with the elite’s of the class.

Shot

An elite goal scorer at every level he’s played at, all Perreault does is score goals. He can also score from every place on the ice, he boasts a quick release and a sizzling one-timer proven to beat goalies clean.

The goal-scoring winger is a magician at beating goalies from sharp angles, most of the time picking the seemingly covered top corner of the net and leaving everyone amazed.

While it can’t be relied upon to carry the bulk of his goals it makes goalies having to be ready at all times with the puck on Perreault’s stick.

It’s a big advantage having a player who can score goals from distance, Perreault can walk in over the blue line and pose a threat to the other team. This is why Perreault is a true “goal scorer” he has the power and accuracy to score from basically any spot inside the opponent’s zone and that ability should still carry him in the NHL.

Dobber Prospects evaluates Perreault’s game similarily, he can indeed score from multiple different positions on the ice, especially at even strength:

"we can see that the young Sting forward shoots from high and medium danger areas at a high rate and has the ability to score from just about anywhere in the offensive zone. We see that on the powerplay, Perreault largely generates shots from his half-wall position in and around the left faceoff circle. At even-strength, the shooting is much more diverse and spread out over the medium and high-danger areas."

A sniper from just about an any place in the offensive zone, it’s a surprise more scouting services aren’t putting significant value on Perreault’s immense skill.

Weaknesses

Compete

Moreso based on a game by game basis, Perreault shows inconsistent effort at times on the ice and needs to be more committed to playing on the defensive side of the puck.

Can Perreault Fall to Ottawa?

It’s quite possible that Perrault could fall to the end of the first-round and creep into Ottawa’s lap. With the Islanders pick looking to be 28th or 29th overall, Perrault could definitely be available at that stage of the draft.

While the Senators have shown hesitancy to take a “risk” on players like Perreault, with 7 picks in the first two rounds, the organization would be very smart to target players similar to Perreault. Ottawa needs an influx of goal-scoring talent upfront and adding a player with Perreault’s skillset would add a player with the speed/skill that Ottawa doesn’t currently boast at forward.