Corey Perry sidelined by the Blackhawks: the decision comes from the team (not the player)

Last summer, the Chicago Blackhawks acquired Corey Perry for one simple reason: to overpay him to the tune of a $4M annual salary, bring veteran presence and leadership to surround young Connor Bedard.

For a team with no salary cap problems, it was no big deal to sign Perry (after acquiring his rights in return for a seventh-round pick) at a high price, especially for the impact he could have in the dressing room.

The problem, however, is that Perry has been missing from the Blackhawks’ entourage for several days, having not played since last Saturday. The club remains very nebulous on the subject, but has stated that Perry “is away from the team”.

Luke Richardson and Nick Foligno had the obnoxious task of answering questions on the subject this week.

And today, team GM Kyle Davidson took questions from the media. Once again, he was vague, stating that he had no update on the forward, but that the latter would be out for a while.

Obviously, this is worrying in that we don’t really know what’s going on with him. We don’t know if he’s all right and if he’s safe, which is the most important thing in the whole story.

Everyone is very cautious when it comes to commenting on the case, which doesn’t bode well.

However, Davidson did provide a bit of an answer when reporters asked him another question on the subject: the decision to keep Perry away from the Blackhawks was made by the team, not the player.

And this is even more worrying. Last year, for example, Alex Pietrangelo was sidelined from the Golden Knights for several weeks, but the decision was his own. His little girl was seriously ill and the team allowed him to go be with her family, and the little girl recovered.

We have to be very careful before speculating on the subject, but the fact that the team saw fit to keep him away from the rest of the group shows that the situation is very serious. At the same time, the Blackhawks’ lack of transparency has already been criticized since the Kyle Beach story, so some people are afraid to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, we hope that Perry will be okay under the circumstances and that he’ll be safe, because right now, that’s the most important thing.

Let’s hope it’s all for the right reasons and that we can learn a bit more soon.

In bursts

– Great reading.

– Hard blow for the Islanders.

– I agree.