\u201cI knew that question was going to pop up.\u201d<\/p>\n
We all did. I know it\u2019s weird. You know it\u2019s weird. Corey Perry knows it\u2019s weird too. <\/p>\n
Perry is the exact profile of player the Kings needed to target to round out their group of forwards. No forward in NHL history has played in more playoff games than Perry. HE\u2019s shown an ability to excel at this time of the year and he\u2019s been able to play various different roles throughout a lineup, especially in the postseason. If you watched Florida win the Stanley Cup, you saw what I\u2019d call a team of dogs. You can\u2019t measure a dog. You just know one when you see one.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d consider Corey Perry to be a dog. <\/p>\n
If you took everything about Corey Perry, as a player, and his name was Zach Dooley, I think just about everyone would be very happy with the addition. And not just because they\u2019d find someone better looking to replace me here on the Insider site. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s all that disputable that Perry makes the Kings better at the right time of the year. But still. It\u2019s Corey Perry. <\/p>\n
A player who the Kings fanbase has spent 20 years rooting against. And rooting against is putting it lightly. I\u2019d consider Corey Perry to be not just a villain within the Kings fanbase but perhaps the villain, from his time in Anaheim and most recently Edmonton. Five years of that is one thing. Buit for Perry, it\u2019s been 20 years. It\u2019s been two weeks since Perry signed with the Kings and it still feels a little bit weird, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Perry understands that. But he\u2019s on the Kings side now. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just going to let my play speak and go from there,\u201d Perry said. \u201cI mean, obviously I\u2019ve had some battles against LA and the fans were passionate and hard [on me] and it\u2019s exciting when you see that. Now, I\u2019ve got to get them on my side and hopefully we can do that early.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will it take one goal in a tight space at a key moment to make it less weird? Perhaps it\u2019s standing up for a teammate or agitating an opponent. Maybe it\u2019s all of the above. After all, as the saying goes, they don\u2019t hate nobodies and Perry has been an effective player in the NHL for a long, long time. Now he\u2019s aiming to bring the things that make him effective to Los Angeles. <\/p>\n
So why the Kings for Perry? I\u2019m certain he had other offers this summer but he chose to come to Los Angeles. Perry has been to the Stanley Cup Final in five of the last six seasons. He\u2019s lost all five of those appearances, including the past two seasons in Edmonton. Perry does have a Stanley Cup to his name but it was in 2007, his second go at the playoffs. Like Drew Doughty, Perry is chasing one thing at this stage in his career and that\u2019s a championship. <\/p>\n
While the Kings have not yet shown they can get over the hump in the playoffs, there was enough there to convince a player who knows a thing or two about winning playoff series. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at their roster and the way they\u2019re constructed, the way they played in the regular season, they\u2019re tight defensively, they have a lot of skill, a lot of firepower, good goalie, it all looks good,\u201d Perry said. \u201cHopefully [I can] come in and help the guys now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considering Perry\u2019s pedigree and experience in defeating the Kings in the playoffs, it does beg the question as to what he thinks the Kings have perhaps lacked that he could help bring. <\/p>\n
After all, one thing with Perry is that he knows how to get over the hump the Kings are currently facing. Personally, Perry is facing a different hump of taking the final climb but if the Kings can get to that point and try and climb that hurdle together, I think it\u2019s fair to say that a lot of things went very well for this team. Right now, though, the Kings aren\u2019t quite there. Moves made were with that in mind. Still, it was difficult for him to identify what\u2019s needed, though he\u2019s committed to coming in and helping. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to come in and help and get over that hump, you could say, or whatever you want to call it,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat are they missing? You know they have a lot of great players, they have a good goalie, they have great defense, and some star forwards. Hopefully the pieces that [Ken Holland] added, we can all come in and just add to that and move forward as a team and see where this thing can go.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing about Perry\u2019s game is that he believes that he excels in Game 83 and beyond. <\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need me to describe the way that Corey Perry plays. We\u2019ve seen it far too often as an opposing player and in watching the playoffs this year and in years past, Perry certainly got a lot of screen time. Adding a player like that for what will likely begin as a fourth-line role with power-play time, to a team that did not trust its fourth line of three rookies in last season\u2019s playoffs, felt like a priority. <\/p>\n
In adding Perry, they got a player they believe is fit to excel come the postseason. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we play the game is to first, get in the playoffs, and then you have that chance, everybody will have a chance once Game 83 happens,\u201d he said. \u201cPlaying 20 years, I think everybody knows my game by now, it\u2019s pretty simple. It\u2019s hard, go to the dirty areas, be in front of the net, control the puck from the faceoff circles down and that\u2019s my type of game. It\u2019s been who I am from when I came into this league to who I am now and that can\u2019t change because then I wouldn\u2019t be the same player and be as effective.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think the conversation around Perry is both the simplest and most difficult at the same time of the players the Kings signed. All of those things are good, right? But it\u2019s still the Kings and it\u2019s still Corey Perry. Whether it\u2019s for him or for those watching the games, Corey Perry, the LA King, is going to take some getting used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be different and it\u2019ll take getting used to, when I get my stuff here in the summer and get it on,\u201d Perry said of having the Kings logo on. \u201cBut, you know, once training camp comes around, I\u2019ll be fine and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
It might take Kings fans a little bit longer than that and that\u2019s alright. But when Perry hits the ice in October, all of the things you\u2019ve hated him for, he\u2019s now going to be doing for the Kings. And for a team in need of some players doing some of those things, I think it\u2019s pretty clear this makes the Kings better. Ultimately, that\u2019s all he can do. And, if he does, you might just see the unthinkable. A goal horn at Crypto.com Arena for a Corey Perry goal. And people will cheer. Funny game, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI knew that question was going to pop up.\u201d We all did. I know it\u2019s weird. You know…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-84309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114899229496673392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}