Edmonton— Very few surprises Corey Perry these days.
The 39-year-old Edmonton Oilers forward has seen almost it all, professionally and personally, during a career that has spanned 19 seasons.
Certainly, facing a 2-0 hole in the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers is not a major cause for concern.
Perry, who is expected to return to the lineup for Game 3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC) after being healthy for Game 2, has faced longer odds this season alone.
“A lot of different things happened this year, a lot of ups and downs,” Perry said before Game 1 of the finals last week. “It’s not the easiest thing to go through as a person. There were some dark times during the year, but now we’re on the other side of that and I’m excited to be here.”
Perry began the season with the Chicago Blackhawks after they acquired him from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft on June 29, 2023. One of his duties was to serve as a mentor to the rookie . Connor Bedardwhom the Blackhawks selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft a month earlier.
Perry scored nine points (four goals, five assists) in his first 16 games with Chicago, but on November 28, the Blackhawks announced that his contract had been terminated due to what the team called “unacceptable conduct,” making him a free agent. .
Two days later, Perry announced that he was seeking treatment for mental health issues and alcohol problems.
At that time, he had no idea what the future held. His health was the only priority, his hockey legacy was left in limbo.
“Those were tough times, you don’t know what’s next,” Perry said.
I hoped there were good things on the horizon. He stayed in shape and prepared himself physically and mentally to play NHL hockey again.
The Oilers, believing they had a team ready to compete for the Stanley Cup, rewarded his perseverance and signed him to a one-year contract on January 22.
The Oilers wanted a player who had been through the playoff wars, one who could provide some sandpaper when things were no longer easy in the postseason.
“A lot of leadership, I guess is an important term,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said when asked about Perry’s value to the team. “I think a lot of guys have a lot of respect for him just because of his resume and everything he’s accomplished in his career. I know throughout the season he talked about things that needed to be addressed with our team and how we’ve been playing and righting the ship. many times.
“I think the intangibles of his game go way beyond that.”
Perry knew the gaudy numbers of his youth, which included winning the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player and the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the League’s leading scorer with 50 in 2010-11, and no longer had a role outstanding. possible. He just wanted a chance to shine on a stage he’s familiar with.
This is the fifth time Perry has reached the Cup final, each time with a different team. He is the only player in NHL history to do that. He has played in 210 NHL postseason games, which is the most among active players and 15th in League history.
“This is what I want to do,” he said. “You want to play in June. You want to play for the Stanley Cup and I’ve had that opportunity the last few years. You don’t have many opportunities. That’s why you play this game. That’s why we grew up playing.”
Perry won the Stanley Cup in 2007 when he was 22 years old in his second season in the NHL. The Anaheim Ducks were on the rise and Perry, selected by Anaheim with the 28th pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, had the world on his skates, until he didn’t.
Anaheim never returned to the Stanley Cup Final, never regained the magic of 2007.
“When you win your second year in the league and you get a chance to feel what it feels like, you think it’s going to happen all the time,” Perry said. “You think the same team is coming back, you think everything is going to be the same, but that’s not how it works in professional sports. People change, new people arrive.
“Nothing is taken for granted. It took me 12 years to come back. The years start to add up, they start to add up and you start to think that maybe you will never come back.”
Perry reached the conference finals two more times with the Ducks, the last time in 2017, when they lost to the Nashville Predators. Perry played two more seasons with the Ducks, but he missed most of the 2018-19 season after undergoing surgery to repair the medial collateral ligament and meniscus in his right knee. On June 19, 2019, the Ducks purchased the final two seasons of the eight-year contract he signed with them on March 18, 2013.
Thus began his life as a hockey bum, each season ending with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, a combination of the power of good luck and the value of hard work.
In the 2019-20 season, as a member of the Dallas Stars, they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The following season, with the Montreal Canadiens, he lost again to the Lightning. In 2022, he thought he had cheated the system by joining the Lightning, only to see Tampa Bay’s bid for a third title sink at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche.
When Perry was traded to the rebuilding Blackhawks before the start of the 2023-24 season, he thought his chances of winning the Stanley Cup for a second time were over.
Now they are not. They are alive and he refuses to take any of this for granted.
He does what is asked of him. He plays minutes on the fourth line, speaks when necessary, pays the price physically and has even played the role of good soldier when he has been eliminated during this playoff run, as he was in the second game of the final, something that is new in your experience.
“You definitely think of him as a goal scorer, but I mean, how hard he plays is something we see on a day-to-day basis,” the Edmonton forward said. Ryan Nugent Hopkins saying. “How hard he works. He is a great leader for us and it is much easier to have him on your team than to play against your team.”
That’s music to Perry’s ears. He wasn’t sure he would help a team again at the most important moment.
So, you’re ready to do whatever it takes.
“It’s still hockey,” says Perry, who has played 1,311 NHL regular-season games. “You still have to go out there and outplay, fight and beat the other team or the guy that’s (in front) of you. Experience here or experience there, yes, but it’s still hockey. You have to do everything right.”