Quick Shifts: Are Corey Perry and the Maple Leafs a good fit?

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Contrary to popular belief, Kevin Hayes did not talk me into writing this blog.

1. Corey Perry, Toronto Maple Leaf.

Conjures some emotions, doesn’t it? Seeing that name and that team together?

With the news that Perry has been cleared to return to the NHL, there’s been a lot of buzz around the idea of the former Chicago Blackhawk who trains in London, Ont., coming to the hockey mecca that’s a two-hour drive east.

Leading credence to the idea is the fact that Perry, an unrestricted free agent all over again, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have flirted multiple times in the past.

Former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas once chose Ontario-born Wayne Simmonds over the Ontario-born Perry to fill his “fourth-line winger with experience and character” role, and current GM Brad Treliving is known to explore all options.

What makes a 38-year-old Perry attractive to the Leafs will also make him attractive to the Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning or any other club that wants to win now: comfortable playing a fourth-line role but has enough skill to move up the lineup if injury arises; gets under opponents’ skin; acts like an extra coach on the bench, as Jon Cooper has noted; 196 games of playoff experience and another ring in the room; plus the one-time Hart Trophy winner should be extra motivated to redeem his off-ice reputation by excelling on the ice.

Moreover, Treliving has reminded us at every turn that he doesn’t have many tradable assets to spend ahead of the deadline. The only thing Perry costs is cap space, and he has accepted as little as $750,000 in the past (2020-21 with Montreal).

Perry is cleared to sign at any time, and as long as he’s under contract with a team before March 8, he’s eligible for the playoffs. (The same goes for Phil Kessel, Jaroslav Halak, or any other free agent interested in getting a foot back in the door.)

Issues with inking Perry, one of hockey’s rare villains, are less hockey-related and more about the questions that will arise after signing a player whose contract was terminated for “unacceptable” conduct.

While details surrounding the player’s “inappropriate and wrong” behaviour in Chicago remain vague, Perry’s actions never became a legal matter, and he has sought help for substance abuse.

What we’re curious about here is how the Maple Leafs players themselves would feel about acquiring Perry, considering his rather noisy role with the Lightning and Montreal Canadiens in some of Toronto’s most bitter playoff losses.

Ryan Reaves has already supplied his opinion on Perry. How would captain John Tavares feel? (We won’t guess.) How would such a large personality fit into a room that is starting to get some fourth-line traction with easygoing, easy-to-root-for guys like Bobby McMann and Noah Gregor?

Or is Perry’s affordable, win-at-all-costs edge precisely the spice the Leafs need? Would Treliving regret not making the add if Perry ends up facing his team in May, wearing a Panthers or Bruins sweater instead?

Either way, Perry’s future has added an intriguing wrinkle in the countdown to the trade deadline — and you don’t need to trade to get him.

2. Because there is always another contract negotiation around the corner for Leafs Nation to fret over, Tavares was asked if William Nylander‘s monster extension makes him consider his own next deal.

“I think everyone knows that I love to play here, and to be the captain is something really special. To play with these players and the type of group we have and [be part of] what we’re trying to achieve has been phenomenal,” replied Tavares, who is now raising three young children in Toronto.

“Obviously, I want to be here.”

No doubt, Tavares will accept a salary reduction when he turns UFA in 2025 — an extension could be signed as early as July 1 of this year — but just how much of a hometown discount will he take at age 34, when he could still be one of the most coveted centres on the market?

Consider: The only 2025 UFA pivots more productive than Tavares this season are Leon Draisaitl, Sidney Crosby and Brock Nelson.

Tavares will have banked $121.25 million from NHL contracts, and he’s savvy enough to understand that a hometown discount means more budget to round out the roster. But we’re not talking Jason Spezza/Mark Giordano bargain levels here.

Not unlike Steven Stamkos, a pending UFA this coming off-season, Tavares will still have value as a leader, power-play threat, and face-off beast. Even if he gradually transitions to the wing.

Curious to see what Stamkos signs for. That could provide a rough blueprint for the next Tavares contract.

3. Quote of the Week.

“If it takes you 15 minutes to determine if it’s offside or not, it probably doesn’t matter.” — Connor McDavid, using his powerful voice and nailing the issue with exhaustive video review.

4. Feel a tad conflicted about Bruce Boudreau revealing that someone in Vancouver pushed him to flip Quinn Hughes into a centre.

On one hand, I enjoy hearing behind-the-scenes stories that seldom leak from the vault that is hockey operations. Former players, coaches and executives can provide great value as analysts by giving Joe Couch a peek behind the curtain.

On the other hand, the Canucks are steamrolling through the league, Hughes is hunting down a Norris, and Boudreau’s replacement, Rick Tocchet, is the Jack Adams favourite.

Boudreau was done dirty toward the end of his Canucks tenure, no doubt. This feels like a little way to clap back.

(P.S. How about eight years at $12.5 million per to make Elias Pettersson a permanent Canuck. Who says no?)

5. Shame that Connor Bedard will miss the All-Star Weekend as he recovers from jaw surgery. He would’ve been a hoot to watch in the winner-take-all skills contest and probably would’ve been the only player capable of doubling his salary with the $1-million prize.

Runaway favourite McDavid missed out on the Calder Trophy (to a healthy Artemi Panarin) in his rookie season because injury limited him to 45 games played.

Bedard (33 points) has a decent lead on the likes of Minnesota’s Marco Rossi (24), Columbus’s Adam Fantilli (24), and New Jersey’s Luke Hughes (23) in the freshman scoring race. But with the phenom sidelined for up to eight weeks, one wonders how his absence might impact award voting.

6. I take no issue with Brendan Smith’s hit on Bedard and appreciate Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson recognizing it as clean. Can’t let an offensive threat, even a teenage one, drive through middle ice to the net. Bedard will learn from this.

Must also tip the cap to Nick Foligno for dropping the gloves.

Foligno was signed for his character and is still chasing a Cup. Time is not on his side.

Chicago had already paid half his $4 million salary in signing bonuses. If the team had eaten more salary to facilitate a deadline-rental trade, you gotta believe Foligno would’ve helped a contender in a depth role.

Instead, the Blackhawks gave the 36-year-old a raise this week — to his highest salary since 2021 — for his age 37 and age 38 seasons. A two-year, $9-million extension.

That speaks volumes of what the Blackhawks think about Foligno — and his importance to Bedard.

Foligno’s frontloaded extension makes a rental trade in 2026 easy if he wants one last shot at a championship. But at 38 and with his injury history, it’ll be a challenge to be a meaningful contributor at that point.

7. Surprise! Justin Bieber is expected to co-captain one of the four all-star squads alongside Matthews.

This opens up an opportunity for the long-awaited Jordan Binnington–Bieber breakaway challenge to take place.

“10 breakaways me vs you. You score one on me I’ll dye my hair platinum blonde,” Binnington challenged the pop star way back in 2020.

The Biebs accepted the dare, sharing a screenshot of Binnington’s comment on Instagram, with this response: “How bout 10 thousand dollars to charity I score and you donate to a charity of my choice and we film it.”

8. Simply a remarkable turnaround for the Seattle Kraken, who looked dead in the water a couple months ago.

The franchise began Season 3 by promptly dropping four in a row, then 12 of its first 17. That’s a recipe that usually cooks a team by American Thanksgiving.

Perhaps the NHL’s youngest team felt pressure to pick up from its surprising 2023-24, when the prudent Kraken dressed a Calder champ, got coached by a Jack Adams finalist and came one win short of reaching the Western Conference final — way ahead of schedule.

“I believe that’s part of it,” coach Dave Hakstol conceded. “But I’ll be honest with you, it hasn’t been a crushing pressure. That’s not something that I believe weighs our dressing room down. We came out of the gates, and we had a slow start in the first three, four games. And the reality of that is, it takes you a long time to make up a couple of games from early in the year.”

A remarkable mid-December turnaround has Seattle right back in the wild-card race. Gone are the rumours of a trade-deadline sale.

Tightening up defensively and buying into a simple, safe, balanced offensive attack, Seattle has now won eight straight and has a 12-game point streak rolling. In all eight of those wins, the team has allowed two goals or fewer.

Hakstol believes instead of continuing to lean on the identity of last winter’s team, this version of the group has had to discover its own persona.

“Our formula, it’s a fairly simple formula. But it’s one that needs everybody pulling their weight night in and night out,” Hakstol says.

“When you’re talking about being connected, it’s not only five guys within one shift, it’s being connected throughout a 60-minute hockey game. And just understanding how each play affects that shift and each shift affects what’s coming next. And that’s, I believe, something that our group understands.”

9. The Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks completed a stunner of a blockbuster with the Cutter Gauthier–Jamie Drysdale trade. My top-six draft pick for yours, plus Anaheim added a second-round pick.

How often do 21-year-old, right-shot, playmaking defencemen get moved? (Drysdale already has two points in his first two games in Philadelphia.)

How often do skilled, 19-year-old power forwards get moved? (Gauthier gets to play for an organization he wants.)

This is one of those deals worth looking back on in five years and 10 years to see who got the edge.

Understanding the Flyers still owned Gauthier’s rights and could’ve slow-played this in hopes of an even greater return, this was a tidy piece of work by Keith Jones and Danny Briere to silently build a bidding war and move on so swiftly from a player that didn’t want to sign.

Shows how much respect the new regime in Philadelphia has leaguewide that whispers of a trade this significant didn’t leak.

10. When the NHL dropped its midweek tease of the all-star voting race, it was hard not to notice that six of the top seven and 10 of the top 15 players ranked by fan vote (plus the leader in goaltender votes) belonged to Canadian teams.

Sure, that speaks to the fine campaigns taking place in Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto.

But it’s also a reminder of where hockey matters most, where the business can and should be grown. Voters are engaged viewers. Engaged viewers tend to spend money on merchandise and tickets.

Whether it’s Quebec City or a second Toronto-area franchise, the NHL should be leaning geographically into its passionate fans next time it decides to expand or needs to relocate.

(Having said that, I’m not holding my breath that will be the case.)

11. Speaking of expansion … let’s not.

It is impossible to watch the 2023-24 San Jose Sharks play hockey and think: Yeah, you know what this league needs? Another team. We should expand our reach and invite 23 more players, except they’re slightly worse.

Plenty of franchises go through a rebuilding cycle, we get it.

But the Sharks — losers of 12 straight in regulation before Thursday’s win over rebuilding Montreal — look rudderless and uninspired.

They have surrendered a league-worst 173 goals against and have compiled a dreadful minus-89 goal differential through 42 games. The NHL’s second-worst team, injury-ravaged Chicago at minus-59, looks respectable by comparison.

The truly bad teams have become so unwatchable, they are building a case for relegation.

12. Max Pacioretty‘s short, sweet post-game speech to his Washington Capitals teammates after registering his first NHL point in 362 days is a beautiful thing:

More from Sportsnet

Corey Perry gets path back to NHL after meeting with Gary Bettman

Making sense of what went wrong between Cutter Gauthier and the Flyers

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