As the third-oldest player in the NHL, Edmonton Oilers right winger Corey Perry is playing on borrowed time. He just turned 40 years old – only Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns and St. Louis Blues defenseman Ryan Suter are older – and Perry has said he wants to play until he’s 45. But like any player who’s played 20 seasons in hockey’s top league, Perry will eventually have to come to terms with the fact his NHL days are just about done.
However, if Perry is playing in his final NHL season, what a way to go out. His Oilers are back in the Stanley Cup final for the second consecutive season, and Perry is contributing meaningfully, posting seven goals (including one game-winner) and 10 points in 16 playoff games. And in the regular season, he generated 19 goals (his best output since 2021-22 with Tampa Bay) and 30 points in 81 games.
For a player who had been looking like he may never play a full season again – from 2017-18 to 2020-21, he appeared in only 208 regular-season games – Perry’s revitalization has been something to behold. And now, with Edmonton looking like world-beaters, Perry has the chance to go out on a high note, the way few NHLers get to do.
From this writer’s perspective, Perry is a surefire Hall of Famer, even if the Oilers fail to win the Cup this year. He’s got 1,392 regular-season games under his belt, and he’s put up 448 goals and 935 points in that span. He’s also appeared in 231 playoff games – only six players in NHL history have more, and Perry is likely to pass at least three of them before this post-season is over – and he’s posted 61 playoff goals and 137 playoff points.
And of course, Perry is a member of the Triple Gold Club, with a Cup, an IIHF World Championship and an Olympic gold medal to his credit, as well as a Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP and a Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer. If that’s not a Hall of Famer, we don’t know what is.
Adding a second Cup to his resume would underscore Perry’s brilliance, but let’s be honest – he’s already done more than enough to get into the Hall of Fame. That said, a storybook ending with a Cup this season would be the icing on the cake for him, and it would prove you needn’t be a spring chicken to be a difference-maker at the highest level.
Perry has earned his share of enemies over the years, but that’s more a result of him being an elite performer than it is about his style of play. There are plenty of nice-guy NHLers who couldn’t be part of even one championship team, let alone two, as well as so many Cup finals. Perry doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, but hoisting a Cup this year would give him the chance to ride into the sunset in glory. And that’s a comment on the legendary competitor that he is.
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