Corey Perry Isn’t Ready to Call it Quits Just Yet
Corey Perry #CoreyPerry
The 2011 NHL MVP made a noticeable impact in the playoffs this season, and if Perry has his way, he’ll be back in a Canadiens uniform in 2021-22. The question now is whether Montreal wants to bring him back – Cole Caufield definitely does.
The 2021 Stanley Cup final seemed like a re-awakening of sorts for Corey Perry.
Given he was playing on a one-year, $750,000 deal this season, there weren’t a ton of expectations for the 2011 NHL MVP and Triple Gold Club member. He’s 36 and far beyond his prime. His job in Montreal was to bring a veteran presence, a physical side the team was lacking and some goal-scoring along the way.
And he took that to an all-new level in the playoffs. Perry finished with four goals and 10 points in 22 games, and while that’s not that much, you couldn’t go a period without noticing him in a meaningful way. The kids looked up to him, the fans went crazy for him and it was hard not to love watching him play the way he did this late in his career.
“He’s unbelievable – he’s a guy I really look up to,” Cole Caufield said prior to Game 5. “The other day, Nick (Suzuki) and I were talking that he was our favourite player to watch growing up. It’s just kinda crazy you get to be on the same team as him.”
Even though Perry made a name for himself as one of the league’s biggest “in-your-face-at-all-times-to-the-point-you-can’t-stand-him-in-any-fashion” players in the NHL, his career resume speaks for himself. Among other accomplishments, Perry has made the league’s first all-star team twice, won Olympic gold twice, won gold at the World Championship, World Cup and World Junior Championship, led the league with 50 goals in 2011 en route to a Hart Trophy and won the Stanley Cup as a sophomore. Perry had four 70-plus-point seasons and nine 50-plus runs during a lengthy time in Anaheim.
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For someone as physically demanding as Perry, he was bound to see a crash in his overall play, and an injury-shortened 2018-19 season that saw him record just 10 points in 31 games is proof of that. He was bought out of Anaheim, the only team he played for over the first 13 years of his career, and signed in Dallas last season. He was again noticeable in the playoffs – a common theme for most of his career – but was let go after one year.
His time in Montreal was seen as a last-chance effort to keep his career alive. He did just that. Even though he had just 21 points in 49 games, the Canadiens didn’t seem set on making him an everyday player. At a certain point, they couldn’t keep him out, whether it was for his ability to rock the boat, contribute in some way or simply just act as a leader – something that wasn’t lost on the team this season.
“He’s a leader,” defenseman Ben Chiarot said on Wednesday. “One of the best players in the NHL for the last 15 years. A premier goal-scorer in the league for a long time. Team Canada player. So any time you’re around someone like that, you try and soak in as much as you can of what they do and how they go about their business.
“He just loves the game,” Chiarot said. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve taken from him is how much he enjoys being at the rink, how much he enjoys being on the ice. He loves hockey and I think that’s why he’s had so much success in his career.”
Now a UFA once again, Perry’s future remains a question. In an emotional season-ending media availability, just days after losing the Stanley Cup final for the second time in a row, Perry made it clear what his intentions are.
“I intend to play hockey next year,” Perry said Friday. “There’s still a lot of good hockey left in me, and I would love to come back to experience Montreal for what it’s like really being in Montreal.”
Perry grew up a Habs fan, but didn’t get the chance to experience the full Montreal hockey lifestyle due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But will the Canadiens make it happen? If you ask the kids, they’d say yes. But will Perry be capable of playing everyday minutes next year? If not, and there’s no taxi squad again, then what?
“This group is so close. It wasn’t a normal year, the guys really couldn’t hang out a lot, but you saw in the dressing room how guys got along. There’s no cliques in this group. You saw it on the ice.”
Perry’s future may be in question, but if the Canadiens can make it make sense from a lineup standpoint, they’ll easily have the cap space to bring him back for under a million. Even if he plays just half the season and acts as an ambassador on and off the ice, that might be the right call.
And now, we wait.