Chicago Blackhawks winger Corey Perry will remain away from the club for the foreseeable future, as the club remains mum on the nature of his absence.
“No update” said Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson regarding his absence from the team’s last two contests. Perry signed a 1 year contract with Chicago following an offseason trade that saw him join the rebuilding franchise from Tampa Bay in exchange for a 7th round draft pick.
Across 16 games, the 38 year old has registered 9pts (4G, 5A) while providing veteran leadership to a young Chicago roster. Over the course of his 1,273 game NHL career the former Hart Trophy winner has accumulated 892 points, and earned 4 All-Star selections along the way.
The only information that has become publicly available regarding his absence from the lineup is that it is a team decision, and not one from Perry’s camp. Whether this is a minor “difference of opinion” on an internal matter, or something that will lead to additional discipline from the league remains to be seen.
The former Stanley Cup champion’s absence seemed to come as a surprise to his teammates as well. Nick Foligno recently told reporters “We haven’t really gotten any details on what’s going on with Corey Perry…We’ve got a lot of young guys, so it’s kind of a shock at first. But it’s being a pro. We talk about it and this is an opportunity to do that. It’s the outside noise that you have to push away, whether it’s this or anything else that’s going on in your life.”
The Blackhawks can ill afford any prolonged absences as they sit dead last in the Central Division with a 6-12 record through the first 18 games of the season. Their 12pts place them 2nd from last in the overall league standings, beating out only the lowly San Jose Sharks who were off to an historically poor start to the year.
Chicago is next in action Sunday afternoon vs. the St. Louis Blues in a 2pm ET showdown.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Пресс-служба Президента России. Kremlin.ru. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.