Perron played three seasons with the St. Louis Blues as a teammate of Brady Tkachuk's dad.

You know you've been in the NHL for a long time when you eventually play with one of your old teammate's sons.

That's how it is for newly signed Ottawa Senators winger David Perron. When Perron entered the NHL in 2007-08 as a 19-year-old with the St. Louis Blues, Keith Tkachuk was on the home stretch of his career as one of the finest power forwards in the league. The kid and the old man played three seasons together before Tkachuk called it a day.

Today, at 36, Perron is the old man and Keith's son, Brady, is the kid. Those two will head to battle together this fall after Perron signed a two-year, eight-million dollar deal with the Senators on Canada Day. As Perron held court with the Ottawa media by Zoom today, he said he remembered Brady when he was little, running around the locker room.

"I think Brady would have been like eight, nine and ten years old in the three years that I played with Big Walt (Keith's nickname). And that's exactly (the age) my son is now. I remember) some of the moments I had with Brady and Matthew, whether it was in the locker room after games or going to their house. Walt would invite me over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner."

"(Keith) is someone who's always pushed to help me in my career. And I'm thankful for a lot of the lessons that he's taught me as a young guy because, quite honestly, I needed to learn a lot, and he was right there for me."

Perron came to the Senators this week from the Detroit Red Wings, who developed a pretty decent rivalry with Ottawa over the past couple of seasons. And Perron and the younger Tkachuk were right in the middle of it.

In February of 2023, Tkachuk stared down the Red Wings bench, challenging anyone to fight and yelling, "Who wants it? 

Perron also contributed to stoking the rivalry last season, cross-checking Sens defenceman Artem Zub in the head and receiving a six-game suspension. Perron was seeking revenge for what he thought was a dirty hit on his teammate, Dylan Larkin. The only trouble was that it wasn't a dirty play. Oh, and he got the wrong guy to boot. Larkin had actually collided with Mathieu Joseph.

Perron said today he owes Zub a couple of dinners for that one.

But now Perron and Tkachuk are on the same side, which will make life a little more miserable for Atlantic Division opponents. Perron chuckled at the notion of playing with his old teammate's son.

"It's going to be hilarious. And kind of a full circle thing,"