Is A Gamble On Corey Perry Worth It For The Edmonton Oilers?

Corey Perry is now available to sign with a new team now that his contract with the Chicago Blackhawks has been officially terminated and he has met with Gary Bettman and has been cleared to become a UFA.

With the news of him being available fresh in mind would he be a good fit with the Edmonton Oilers? At this time it is a very loaded question. He is a good player, but he obviously did something to get his contract terminated and it must have been enough for him to not fight the termination. There are lots of rumours about what happened, but nothing has yet to come out.

There is no doubt in my mind that a team will sign him and they will likely be able to sign him to league minimum. Which will be a steal of a deal for the team that eventually signs him. For the Oilers though they would need to balance out the off-ice issues with the on-ice performance.

This is a similar scenario to the Evander Kane signing the Oilers made. He had off-ice issues that may have made him an issue but look at him now. If anything his off-ice is positive in the way he helps out around the community now.

Hopefully, this will be the case for Perry wherever he ends up. If I am the Oilers though I am going to give him a call and see if he wants to sign in Edmonton. In his 16 games played with Chicago this season Perry had 4 goals and 5 assists. That is a decent number of points, points that would look good in the Oilers bottom 6.

Do The Edmonton Oilers Need A Player Like Corey Perry?

Earlier this season I wrote an article about players the Oilers could use from the Blackhawks. It was apparent that the Blackhawks would be sellers at the deadline as they are in a rebuilding mode right now. One of the players I had on that list was Corey Perry.

The main reason I think the Edmonton Oilers could benefit from having Corey Perry on their team is his extensive playoff resume. He has played 196 playoff games and has won the Stanley Cup once. His experience in the playoffs could prove to be helpful as the Oilers' current roster has zero Stanley Cup winners on it.

As I mentioned above, I see no harm in the Edmonton Oilers at least giving Perry's camp a call. He would add a lot of value both on and off the ice. The one thing they need to do before they sign him to a deal is to make sure the reason for him getting let go from Chicago isn't a major issue that can carry over to the Oilers organization.