The Chicago Blackhawks have placed winger Corey Perry on waivers for the purpose of contract termination the club announced on Tuesday.
Reading a prepared statement, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson told members of the press “After an internal investigation, the Chicago Blackhawks have determined that Corey Perry has engaged in conduct that is unacceptable, and in violation of both the terms of his standard player’s contract and the Blackhawks’ internal policies intended to promote professional and safe work environments. As such, Corey Perry has been placed on unconditional waivers. In the event Mr. Perry clears waivers, we intend to terminate his contract effective immediately.”
Perry, 38, was acquired from Tampa Bay in June in exchange for a 7th round pick. He, along with fellow veterans Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall, were expected to help insulate Chicago’s young core and help them through their rebuilding process in 2023-24.
However a season ending knee injury to Hall, and now the dismissal of Perry leaves Chicago suddenly devoid of veterans as they navigate their first season without franchise icons Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The former Hart trophy winner has sat out the team’s last 3 games as the club conducted an internal investigation into the matter at hand.
This led to widespread speculation as to the nature of Perry’s absence, as he had been, up to that point, one of the more productive Blackhawks forwards, recording 9 points (4G, 5A) in 16 contests. Initially Chicago referred to his absence as a team decision, leading many to believe there was an off ice incident that took place.
However this was quickly refuted by Perry’s agent Pat Morris who labelled the absence a “personal matter”, shifting public discourse to the health and wellness of Perry’s family.
From there however, things took an ugly turn, as an internet rumour spread like wildfire over the past 24 hours claiming that Perry had engaged in an affair with the mother of Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard. With things becoming personal, and now directly affecting families of players on and off the ice, Davidson took time to clear the air at today’s press conference.
“First and foremost, I want to start off by reiterating the organization is committed to a culture of accountability and upholding our values across our employees and players, both on and off the ice. Last week, management was notified of possible misconduct by Corey Perry. We immediately pulled him from the [lineup] and conducted an internal investigation. Upon learning the findings of the investigation, we made the decision to terminate his contract.”
“However, I do want to be very clear on this one point: This does not involve any players or their families, and anything that suggests otherwise, or anyone that suggests otherwise, is wildly inaccurate, and frankly, it’s disgusting.”
While the GM deftly sidestepped revealing any details of note regarding the incident, evidently Chicago was in no mood to take any chances following the Kyle Beach incident and subsequent sanctions from the league. An anonymous source close to the Blackhawks front office revealed that the incident in question was more akin to a “hazing incident” than anything else that’s been speculated thus far, but could not provide additional details.
When asked if he wished he had provided additional context surrounding the nature of the investigation when news of Perry’s absence first broke, Davidson responded “You know what? I think we went through the process as quickly as we could in order to run a responsible investigation.”
Chicago is next in action Tuesday night at 8:30pm ET vs. the Seattle Kraken.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Hendrik Seis. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.