“When the time comes I’ll be at peace with it. I always said I wanted to play until 40 and see what happens after that. And here we are?”
Corey Perry holding the arms of wrestler Austin Theory along the ropes during last Friday’s WWE Smackdown at Rogers Place so Canadian Kevin Owens could wallop Theory was…uh, so Corey Perry.
Big smile on his face, sneaky, loving the moment.
“It was all fun, something different. There was a high-five (afterwards), it was pretty cool with my little guy beside me,” said the Edmonton Oilers winger, who was sitting ringside with son Griffin when he went from spectator to participant.
So it was a set-up, right? Part of the wrestling choreography?
“He said grab his arms (at the ropes), so I got out of my seat and he (Owens) hit him. When he hit him, that was real. I felt the hit come through his body and into me,” said Perry, who will put his 39-year-old body through a 20th NHL season.
Classic heel to face turn 😂#Oilers forward Corey Perry with an assist for @FightOwensFight during #SmackDown last night at @RogersPlace!
📸 @WWE pic.twitter.com/O4Xnk6EszP
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 7, 2024
Perry was signed to a one-year contract ($1.15 million with another $250,000 in performance bonuses for games played and how far the Oilers go in the playoffs) about a week after the Oilers lost Game 7 in Florida 2-1 to the Panthers—the fourth time Perry has made the finals and lost (Dallas, Montreal, Tampa, Edmonton) after winning the Stanley Cup for Anaheim in 2007.
Perry jumped on the moving Oilers train last January when he signed a free-agent deal after Chicago terminated his contract but now he’s in for the whole ride, camp and all, and the Captain’s skate session Monday at the Downtown Community Arena where Connor McDavid was skating at warp speed for most of it.
“I told him to slow down,” said Perry, with a big smile.
Speed has never been Perry’s game, of course. It’s the fire in his belly and his hockey smarts, still there with his 40th birthday coming next May, still there as one of the NHL’s oldest players along with Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Suter, 39, as well.
While Perry had eight goals (13 points) in 38 league games last season, he just had a goal and two assists in 19 playoff games, averaging 10:46. In part because Perry got little PP time and didn’t kill penalties, but also the pace of play was furiously high the deeper the post-season went along. He’s still very valuable as a leader—McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Darnell Nurse all love his game and input — but how many games he plays this season as a likely fourth-liner, well, that’s up in the air.
What will his role be?
“We’ll see how it goes. They know what kind of player I am after playing the 50 or so games I played (57 including playoffs) last season. I’m not going to change my style. I’ll still be Corey Perry and see where I fit,” said Perry, who might get some extra PP time as a net-front presence on a second unit with the free-agent additions of Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson and maybe centre Adam Henrique if head coach Kris Knoblauch wants two equal units.
But, maybe not. The Oilers power play is lethal with McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, Hyman and Bouchard at the point, usually playing about 90 seconds.
Why mess with success? Why opt for democracy with the units?
“The first one is so good. If they keep scoring, putting the puck in the net, that’s a good sign for us (as a team),” said Perry.
Losing in Game 7 stung more than any of the other finals losses.
“This time was the only time where I had a chance at winning (Game 7) without winning,” said Perry. “It was tough, down 0-3 (to Florida) and to lose by one. It never gets easier, every year trying to win gets harder. The teams are so good.”
Still, down three games and getting to Game 7? Was he thinking, ‘OK, this is pre-ordained, we’re coming all the way back?’
“No, We knew they would bring their best game (at home) and I think they probably did,” said Perry. “That’s what good teams do. Yes, you think about the things (close calls). It’s not necessarily then or a few days later. The high of playing, the low of losing, that’s tough to explain to people. As the summer goes on, there’s a lot of things sticking in your memory. That’s what hockey players do. Bouch (Evan Bouchard hits the post (third period). There’s a lot of coulda, wouldas.”
“But it didn’t happen and we’ve got to use that as a little bit of fuel,” he said. “You can use these things as teaching moments.”
Perry is just glad to be talking about teaching moments.
He never thought of retiring after the playoff loss in June.
“I had some bumps and bruises that needed to heal (before getting back in the gym), but I don’t think it gets harder (as he gets closer to 40). My son’s up early most days, and I go to the gym, do my thing and I’m done by 9:30,” he said.
“It’s harder keeping up with the younger, faster guys but I want to continue to play at a high level,” he said.
Does he take pride in still being in the NHL at his age?
“Yes, I do. People always ask me if I’m the oldest guy in the league. I always say ‘no I’m not.’ There’s a few guys older (Fleury, Suter) from the same (2003) draft,” he said. “Yes, sometimes I wake up and I feel 40 (or close to it). You’re not as limber as you used to be but that’s why I do what I do every morning, all the stretching.
Will Perry know when it’s time to quit?
“I’ll probably know in my own mind,” he said.
“But at the same time maybe somebody will have to tell me,” he said with a hearty laugh.
Or the phone won’t ring in the summer like with other free-agents?
“When the time comes I’ll be at peace with it. I always said I wanted to play until 40 and see what happens after that. And here we are?”
This ‘n that: According to the Two Mutts hockey podcast, Henrique has bought Evander Kane’s home which is about 10 minutes from Rogers Place with Kane building another one in the same neighbourhood…The Oilers will have a Play Alberta (sports betting site) logo on their home jerseys this season and a GameSense (AGLC’s responsible gambling program) log on their helmets for games at Rogers Place.
