For quite some time now, the Edmonton Oilers have been the hottest club in the NHL. They have won 13 straight games, and after that appalling 2-9-1 start, they have gone 24-6-0, which translates to a 131-point pace for the whole season. In less than ten weeks, they’ve pushed themselves from the Motel For Men, where the Sharks resided during October, to a tie for one of the Pacific’s automatic playoff berths. They currently have the best player in the world, possibly the best second line in the league, a power play to take on Galactus, and goalkeeper Stuart Skinner, who has a.931 save percentage over the last two months, making them seem like the favorites in the Western Conference. Everything fits together.
What else does the Oilers require to win now? They need Corey Perry, a fourth-line winger who is three days older than water and was fired by the Hawks a few months ago for getting too close to a female teammate and becoming either handsy, screamy, or both, according to general manager Ken Holland. Greetings from HOCKEY THINKING!
Even if all three teams lost the Stanley Cup Final and two of those teams were the space oddity of the Bubble playoffs or the Covid season, Perry is still getting a ton of mileage out of his role as a fourth-line winger for three consecutive Stanley Cup finalists. Despite the fact that the Tampa Bay power play has been self-aware for almost six seasons, he was still able to put together a number of power-play goals for the Lightning. This is because, as long as a player in front of the net is able to stay conscious, players like Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, or Victor Hedman will be able to ping enough pucks off of them to score goals (the Nuno Gomes corollary).
None of this is necessary for the Oilers. First, Zach Hyman, who has nine goals on the power play and ranks sixth in the league in goals scored, takes the position in front of the net when the team has the man advantage. Since the Oilers don’t actually deploy a second power play unit, they also don’t need net presence on their second unit. McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, Hyman, and Nugent-Hopkins constitute the starting lineup, averaging over three minutes of power play time each game. If not, only Evander Kane averages over a minute. The Oilers utilize PP1 as often as possible because they are aware that it is a doomsday device.
Second, Perry could only slot on the fourth line, where the Oilers don’t need his assistance. Sam Gagner and Connor Brown have performed admirably in those roles, and if the Oilers believe they require seasoned wisdom, Gagner and Perry are both 700 years old. He can still skate, though. Additionally, he is less likely to suffer an absurdly foolish and self-centered punishment, unlike Perry, provided he can still get close enough to people to irritate them to the point of provocation.
Regarding the “veteran presence,” which still serves as a metaphor for every NHL general manager, the Oilers are not a mischievous bunch of youths who merely laugh at everything before letting loose in the locker room. Now that they are both in their late 20s and have been around for a very long time, McDavid is solely focused on finishing his CV with the one thing that he is still missing that is almost frightening. It’s not as though the Oilers lack focus or resolve, since they have won every postseason game in the last two years. Their defense was insufficiently strong or their goalies were awful, which is why they lost. Perry doesn’t assist with the latter, even though it might still be a problem.
However, NHL general managers—particularly Ken Holland, who gave confirmed asshat Evander Kane a massive contract—are powerless to stop themselves. Perry’s history of being a douche canoe off the ice isn’t too long (though it is very much so on it), but given his age and usage at the moment, he’s definitely not a lock for the second chance that no front office is willing to give him. He’s amassed tens of millions of dollars in earnings over his career, won a ring and an MVP award, and he wouldn’t truly be “missing” anything if his actions in Chicago caused his career to stop. He is precisely the kind of player the league can cut when they break regulations at work, but he is still in Northern Alberta.
This begs the question of whether Holland did it merely out of self-interest, to demonstrate his kindness or to claim some type of forgiveness, or even just to give Perry a favor he most definitely didn’t need. Other than McDavid and others having to endure some uncomfortable questions for a week or two—assuming the baying hockey press can even be persuaded to ask them—it’s unlikely to cost the Oilers anything. However, it doesn’t really benefit them either, which begs the question, what’s the point?
