Perry wasn't going to skate in any playoff games for the Blackhawks this season. Now he is likely sitting for the remainder of the Oilers' run to end his career.
This could very well be the final season and Stanley Cup run for 39-year-old Corey Perry. He may be spending the rest of it the press box, not on the ice for the Edmonton Oilers.
Perry started the season on a one-year, $4 million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks. Now he's been a healthy scratch for two consecutive wins by the Oilers over the Vancouver Canucks as Edmonton advanced to the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.
It didn't end well between Perry and the Blackhawks. His contract was terminated and he was released on Nov. 28, 2023 after general manager Kyle Davidson announced the veteran had violated team policies. Acquired to provide leadership and mentor young players, Perry lasted just 16 games with Chicago, posting four goals and nine points.
Chicago forward Nick Foligno, the team's de facto captain last season, discussed Perry's departure in the following video.
Perry wasn't going to play any postseason games with Chicago this season, and now might not play another one after the Oilers rallied past Vancouver with him out of the lineup. He had signed with Edmonton as a free agent on Jan. 21, 2024 and skated in his first game as an Oiler six days later.
Perry has never been the fastest player, but he was effective when scoring goals and mixing it up. He had eight goals and 13 points in 38 regular-season games with star-powered Edmonton, averaging 12:51 of ice time.
Now Perry just seems like a step behind and his lack of speed is really catching up to him. He had one memorable moment in the first two playoff rounds, and that was when he held his stick up to Brock Boeser's face with a mock cross-check before being taken out of the lineup when the season was on the line for Edmonton.
Other than that, Perry has been on the ice for three goals against at 5-on-5 and zero for. He also produced no points in 10 postseason games and even played as little as 7:11 in his final game of the second round before being taken out in favor of Sam Carrick. Yes, a fringe NHLer who is 32 years old, has never played more than 64 games in a season, and has 240 total career games in the NHL.
And what do you know, it worked. However you spin it, Perry was ineffective when he was supposed to be a difference-maker in the bottom-6 come playoff time as he has been in the past when he appeared in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals and lost.
If it wasn't Carrick replacing Perry in the Oilers' lineup, it was going to be someone else as nobody could have been less impactful through 10 games. The Oilers' bottom-6 is fast, and Perry is the exact opposite. He just couldn't keep pace on rushes and there was no execution offensively to make up for it.
Perry is a former 50-goal scorer and Hart Trophy winner, back in 2010-11 with the Anaheim Ducks when he was 25. He still has a chance to go out on top as a Stanley Cup winner for a second time, but it won't be because of his play.
He won a Cup at age 21 in his second season at Anaheim in 2006-07 and could do so 17 years later. It wouldn't be how anyone envisioned the known playoff performer to go out, but being taken out of the lineup at the most important time of the year likely puts a stamp on his NHL career.
