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Colaiacovo: Mutual interest between Leafs and Perry

I would get him and pressbox him so he can?t be used against us. No way anyone in a Leafs jersey will be able to do what Perry normally does without getting tossed.
 
From what I?ve pieced together from various reports, he got drunk and did/said something stupid to/in front of some higher ups in the organization. He may struggle with his relationship with alcohol, too. Not something you want when you massively overpay a guy to be a veteran leader and a positive influence on your young players - but, if that?s what it was, that?s not something the Leafs need to worry about.
 
Bertuzzi and Perry would be the Maple Leafs version of the gruesome twosome. But it may work out ok for the team come playoff time. Who knows
 
Peter D. said:
I'd sign him in a heartbeat.  Definitely has some of what the Leafs are missing and need.
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Yeah why not, if he can bring some of that playoffs mojo where he gets away with everything I say bring him, I've only waited about 50 years or so what's one jerk on the team?
 
Zee said:
Peter D. said:
I'd sign him in a heartbeat.  Definitely has some of what the Leafs are missing and need.
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Yeah why not, if he can bring some of that playoffs mojo where he gets away with everything I say bring him, I've only waited about 50 years or so what's one jerk on the team?
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Two.
 
bustaheims said:
From what I?ve pieced together from various reports, he got drunk and did/said something stupid to/in front of some higher ups in the organization. He may struggle with his relationship with alcohol, too. Not something you want when you massively overpay a guy to be a veteran leader and a positive influence on your young players - but, if that?s what it was, that?s not something the Leafs need to worry about.
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Surely not the only time a player said something stupid while drunk. I wonder what was said specifically.
 
Bender said:
bustaheims said:
From what I?ve pieced together from various reports, he got drunk and did/said something stupid to/in front of some higher ups in the organization. He may struggle with his relationship with alcohol, too. Not something you want when you massively overpay a guy to be a veteran leader and a positive influence on your young players - but, if that?s what it was, that?s not something the Leafs need to worry about.
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Surely not the only time a player said something stupid while drunk. I wonder what was said specifically.
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Surely not, but it also might not be a case of what but to/in front of whom? Saying something stupid around the coach/gm/etc. is quite different from going around the owners/board members/etc.
 
No thanks can't stand the twit and you can question the Tavares injury in the playoffs few years back. Him and Marchand are 2 slime balls that play on that edge and are dirty and for some reason get away with it. Always said if Marchand became a Leaf I'd probably stop cheering for the team. That's how much distaste I have in the guy and Perry is right behind him. Reaves should have KO'd him when he had the chance earlier in the year. Pass.
 
He's won everything he could as a team member. OHL, Memorial Cup, WJC, Canada/Wold Cup, World Championship, Olympic Gold, Stanley Cup. He was too good for the AHL. And he's won a Hart & Rocket Trophy along with multiple NHL All Star selections and a bundle of Junior awards. He's been to the Cup finals with four different teams. That's very likely to be a Hockey Hall of Fame resume if this incident in Chicago doesn't get in the way.

However, he's turning 39 in May (during the playoffs) - one of the oldest players in the league. If the Leafs won a Cup with Perry this spring, Perry would be the second oldest player in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup (according to one source - not sure if that is accurate but it is not far off) - which should give you a sense of how unlikely it is he'd be able to help.
He's a forward - they don't age as well in 2024 because they need to be able to skate with some speed.
NHL Edge shows his skating speed has really fallen off in the last two seasons.
His points have also been in decline.

Anaheim bought him out.
Dallas walked away after a year at $1.5 mil.
Montreal walked away after a year at $750k
Tampa walked away after 2 years at $1 mil in part because he was -28 on Tampa last season when the second worst was -9. That has to be a red flag.
He was a minus player all those seasons but one. Same for playoffs.
He did have a good six games against the Leafs in the playoffs last year. He seemed to perform better in the playoffs than the regular season.

Pavelski is the only 39 year old forward still performing well. His points production hasn't dipped much like Perry's has. His skating speed hasn't fallen as much. Pavelski is still performing as  2nd liner vs Perry being a 4th liner since 2018-19.

Perry has this dark cloud over him
?I have started working with experts in the mental health and substance abuse fields to discuss my struggles with alcohol, and I will take whatever steps necessary to ensure this never happens again,? Perry after Chicago incident in Dec 2023
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He was never suspended by the league. The NHLPA may grieve his contract termination because they feel it fell short of historical justification to terminate. So whatever happened, it wasn't super serious.

He's a strong personality and they'd have to assess how he would fit into the room.

I've only seen Perry play the Leafs a few times in the last few years. Not enough to be very sure. I wouldn't say never at this point because of my ignorance - haven't seen him enough. A bunch of due diligence would have to get done.

Great career but I'm left with a bunch of trepidation for this season.
 
cw said:
Montreal walked away after a year at $750k
Tampa walked away after 2 years at $1 mil
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This feels a little presumptuous to say. I imagine both teams would have liked Perry back after those contracts and if anything it was Perry who walked away from them. He left the Habs for a multi-year deal, a raise, and a chance to play for the team that just won the Stanley Cup and was expected to contend for it again (which they of course did). He left Tampa because they were capped out with all their new extensions kicking in and ended up getting an offer he simply couldn't refuse from Chicago once free agency opened. I would not be surprised at all if Tampa was the first team to reach out to him and his agent after the dust settled on his contract termination to get him back (and at a very quick glance online it seems like that would be a move that the majority of Lightning fans support).
 
CarltonTheBear said:
cw said:
Montreal walked away after a year at $750k
Tampa walked away after 2 years at $1 mil
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This feels a little presumptuous to say. I imagine both teams would have liked Perry back after those contracts and if anything it was Perry who walked away from them. He left the Habs for a multi-year deal, a raise, and a chance to play for the team that just won the Stanley Cup and was expected to contend for it again (which they of course did).
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Perry said he wanted to return to Montreal. Bergevin offered 1 year.
Perry took the 2 year deal Bergevin didn't want to offer.
Montreal did not want Perry to return in any big way.
They took a pass on a 2 year deal for a mil/yr.
So I'll change 'Montreal walked away' from Perry to Montreal didn't want to keep him very badly.

CarltonTheBear said:
He left Tampa because they were capped out with all their new extensions kicking in and ended up getting an offer he simply couldn't refuse from Chicago once free agency opened. I would not be surprised at all if Tampa was the first team to reach out to him and his agent after the dust settled on his contract termination to get him back (and at a very quick glance online it seems like that would be a move that the majority of Lightning fans support).
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Tampa traded his negotiating rights away for a 7th round pick before free agency began. Before Chicago's silly money offer to get to the cap floor was in the picture.
Tampa was done with him.
7th round pick for Chicago is nothing because they have so many picks & prospects, they'll never be able to sign them all.

At $1 mil/yr, he wasn't a big cap hit for Tampa to retain. They probably could have re-signed him for league minimum after his poor regular season.
As a first round loser, Tampa wanted to get younger and faster and not as defensively unreliable as his dramatically team worst -28.
I don't think it is unreasonable to change from "Tampa walked away" to describe it as: Tampa dumped him for a 7th round pick to a weak team looking to hit the salary cap floor.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230629100127/https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/blackhawks
(as of June 29/23)
 
I don't wanna see this (*@#&% anywhere near my beloved Leafs....but I do like Herman's idea of signing him (el cheapo!) and press boxing him for the duration.
 
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