Okay, buckle up folks, because the Edmonton Oilers and their bandwagon have apparently snagged themselves a brand spanking new old-timer, none other than Mr. Corey Perry himself. Now, don’t pop the champagne just yet—while the Twitterverse is losing its collective mind, let’s dive into the deets.
At 2:20, the digital airwaves blasted out that Edmonton is making moves and wrapping up Perry in their team colors. I mean, TSN’s Ryan Rishaug basically shouted from the rooftops that it’s a done deal, and Chris Johnston from The Athletic threw his two cents in confirming the same. Edmonton’s gotta be popping party poppers already.
But rewind to 1:02 PM, and we had Rishaug teasing us with a “probably happening,” prophesying that Perry and the Oilers would be going Facebook official by Monday. Despite early chatter about other teams sniffing around, Rishaug’s tweets are painting a picture that could very well have Perry rocking the Oilers jersey stat.
Now, let’s throw it back to 12:30 PM, when Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was playing it cool, Mr. “nothing’s set in stone” over here saying Perry’s decision was on the horizon, but hey! Maybe the Tampa Bay Lightning or the New York Rangers could slide in and steal his heart at the last second.
And at 12:07 PM, David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period tossed his hat into the ring, all “Perry to the Oilers, film at 11” (or, you know, announcement later today). Seems legit.
Let’s stroll down memory lane for a sec—just ten days ago we were all wondering where Perry would end up after the Chicago Blackhawks gave him the boot for a slip-up they claimed crossed all the lines. Perry, who’s been in the league since the days of flip-phones, had to say ‘bye-bye’ to his one-year, $four million gig and take a timeout to sort out some personal stuff involving alcohol.
Fast forward, and Perry’s ready to join the Oilers, who, by the way, are on fire with a thirteen-game hot streak that’s got them breathing down the neck of the Vegas Golden Knights for second place in the Pacific.
In Edmonton, Perry might be eyeing Derek Ryan’s third-line right-wing chair, bringing Ryan over to the “cool kids at the back of the bus” fourth-line center spot. Hold up, though—CapFriendly is waving a red flag because Oilers’ wallet is kinda tight, so they’ll need to juggle some numbers to make room for Perry’s paycheck.
While cracking the stellar top-six of the Oilers is about as likely as people starting to like clowns, Perry might sneak his way into a power play if he can show them he’s got some gas left in the tank up in Alberta.