There have been plenty of questions when it comes to Corey Perry’s situation in Chicago. He has missed the last two games due to what head coach Luke Richardson termed an organizational decision although he declined to provide more information than that. Today, GM Kyle Davidson met with reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago and said that the veteran would be away from the team for the foreseeable future.
While Davidson failed to provide more specifics than that regarding the nature of Perry’s absence, the GM reiterated that this is a team decision, not Perry’s to be away from the team. When pressed about possible reasons by reporters, he stated that it would be irresponsible to rule anything out so he wouldn’t comment on any scenarios.
However, following the press conference, Perry’s agent Pat Morris of Newport released the following statement to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link):
Corey Perry has stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks to attend to personal matters. Corey and his family appreciate privacy at this time.
Chicago acquired Perry’s negotiating rights back at the draft from Tampa Bay and quickly signed him to a one-year, $4MM deal. While that’s not a typical move for a rebuilding team to make, the Blackhawks clearly identified that they wanted some quality veterans on a young roster, one that added Connor Bedard with the top pick back in June.
While Perry has been more of a supporting cast type of player in recent years with Tampa Bay and Montreal, the 38-year-old has logged a little under 15 minutes a night so far this season and has been relatively productive, collecting four goals and five assists in his first 16 games. With nine points, he sits fourth on the team in scoring.
With the team already missing Taylor Hall – whose ACL surgery is set for Monday – and Perry, that’s a decent chunk of their scoring depth on a team that’s the third-lowest-scoring group in the league. However, Davidson indicated that going and adding a replacement is not something he is looking into right now, suggesting that there are other teams that are far more aggressive in trying to add to their rosters at the moment. At this point, getting into any sort of bidding war for one of those players wouldn’t make sense for the Blackhawks who are still clearly in a rebuilding situation but now will be without another key veteran in Perry for a while yet at least.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
What do we think nice guy Perry did?
Acted like a Hanson.
clearly perry injured hall and now feels bad.
only thing that meets all the criteria
It sounds like one of 2 things. Since Perry was at practice the day before and everything seemed OK it kinda pushes that he had a big blowout with Richardson on the back burner. It seems more like maybe his wife and family weren’t all that happy he chose Chicago and their situation to play in. They’re really the only 2 things that make a lick of sense right now. If he had been in trouble with the police it’d be all over the news by now.
I would guess if it was something do to with a teammate or the coaching staff it would also get out by now (someone would talk anonymously). Typically though, family matters are kept pretty close to the vest by all in the know.
Team decision so yea likly he had a major falling out with a top player maybe physical, major falling out with coach or top management. Could be that the team feel his wife/family are suffering for whatever reason and Perry worked thru it but the team helped him out. Lastly and very unlikely he has some sort of addiction or mental health issue and the team is leaving it to him to address. Id vote a family issue personally but who really know i could be way off.
Bedard should demand to be traded; mcDavid’s present success is Bedard’s future under this regime…
Remember this is team who covered up the Beach/Aldrich abuse for years. They are very good at keeping secrets.
Yeah but those secrets always get out and the longer it takes the worse they become. I would think the Hawks know that better than anyone. This is Perry’s personal problem is a way more likely scenario.
UMike: That’s an irresponsible implication. “They” are not the same people today that “they” were then, aside from Davidson’s peripheral seat as something of an observer back then.
No the ” Irresponsible” Implication is that it has anything to do at all with Kyle Beach or anything pertaining to it.
Weird, Perry’s agent says “Corey has stepped away” and the GM states it’s a team decision not Perry’s. Beyond weird. Guessing Corey chirped one of the coaches or management. And no way you can move that contract if that’s the thinking, thought it was an overpay from day 1.
For the secrecy around this, I doubt it was a ‘chirp’ that occurred, if it was really a organization related issue, something that would demand the type of actions occurring would likely be a physical altercation, and again stuff like that has a habit of leaking out from someone. Im sure there are also clauses in the NHL that forbid one team from trying to hide any ‘personnel issues’ especially if you are trying to move a player involved in such things in an org.
why can’t he comment? he made the decision and knows why.
The story just keeps getting weirder and weirder by the minute as the Hawks say his removal is their decision and ten minutes later Perry’s agent puts out a statement that Perry walked away for personal reasons. So this is what happens when everybody says nothing and then everybody speculates. One thing is for sure, That when it’s over I doubt everyone is happy and some feelings are going to be bruised.
Yeah, becoming a bit weird at this point. To be fair, the way it was put was it was an organizational decision to hold him out. Now, was it for the removal of him from the team due to some sort of rift with the club, or an org decision to hold him out to allow him to go away from the team to take care of something that personal?
Both sides could be speaking the truth here.
If things are this tight lipped, it usually involves alcohol. It’s the only thing where everyone keeps their mouths shut. He showed up drunk, maybe more than once and they said, you need to get yourself straighten out. If it was just a management dispute, his buddies would be talking.
Probably crack!
Probably heroin!
Probably Adderall!
(I’m being sarcastic.)
Probably bagging someone’s mom
Nailed it.
It wasn’t his mom he was trying to bag. Sounds like it was a staff membe.