David Perron missed the last 11 games to be with his family for the birth of their daughter.
Although he has been skating with the team for the better part of the last two weeks, Travis Green announced this afternoon that David Perron was back with the team on a full-time basis and would be travelling with his teammates for Saturday's game in Carolina.
The veteran forward had missed the last 11 games to be with his family for the birth of their daughter, Elizabeth, on October 27th. Elizabeth developed health complications during pregnancy. Perron told the media this morning that some scans performed in the middle of August caught a congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM). This malformation is caused by a mass of abnormal fetal lung tissue formed during pregnancy.
"The baby had a mass on the right lung," Perron explained. "It's not genetic or anything. They're still doing some tests. It seems like it's good to go. There were a couple of scary moments where you think they have to take the whole lung out. You don't know.
"You start wondering what's the life going to be like. In August, especially when we found out we had to go to emergency in Toronto. The mass was pushing so much on the left side of the chest that (you're worried) the heart was going to have a heart attack or something inside. Anyway, not to get too crazy into it, but this was something we had to deal with and then try to manage our other three kids at the same time and move to a new city. We were in the hotel for most of training camp and it's been crazy two months for me. But, glad it's over with or almost over with, and we're trending in the right direction."
Perron credited the hockey world for the support he and his family have received.
"Obviously, the personal side everyone understood, "Perron said. "They were very supportive.
"The organization, from Michael (Andlauer), the owner, and then Steve (Staios), to everyone, really has been incredible. Only support from them, and yeah, so I'm fortunate. Even around the hockey world the fans, general managers, teammates, ex-teammates from all over hockey have been reaching out, so it's great."
Even with that support, it is incredible that Perron had the focus and resolve to play at all. His family had to be in Toronto from late August until a week before training camp. The mental toll that would create is unenviable, but it also adversely impacted his physical preparations for camp.
To his credit, in the games he played, he was effective. Although he was held pointless in his five games, Perron led the Senators in several important five-on-five rate stats like individual expected goals per 60 and individual shots per 60. When Perron was on the ice, the Senators spent a disproportionate amount of time in the offensive zone creating chances.
Irrespective of whether Perron returns against Carolina or rejoins the lineup during the team's big homestand next week, the timing of his return could not be better. The Senators' first and second lines have clicked since Travis Green swapped Josh Norris and Tim Stützle. The Senators' fourth line keeps buzzing and producing goals. The coaching staff probably will not tinker with those lines, but it is impossible not to notice that Noah Gregor's game has tapered off since the beginning of the season.
Being one of the team's fastest skaters makes Gregor easy to notice and provides value to the penalty kill. His problem is that if he's not creating successful zone exits and entries with his skating, he does not make enough effectual plays with the puck to create much value.
This lack of value is reflected by his isolated offensive and defensive impacts on HockeyViz.
Benching Gregor, who just so happened to miss today's practice with a maintenance day, and replacing him with Perron makes too much sense. It affords an ineffective player time to heal while Perron gets to return to the line he began the year with alongside Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio. Before Perron's departure, they were arguably the team's most effective line.
Beyond returning to that line, it was transparent how much a return to normalcy means to Perron. Just wearing a suit to the rink for today's practice and knowing he'd go on the road and travel with his teammates excited him. He was embracing those small subtleties of the NHL experience.
"Obviously, I want to get back and feel the way the guys are," Perron said. " But, I'm going to trust what Greener has in store for me and the plan that he's got. The guys have been playing really good hockey.
"I just want to be one of the guys in the room, come on the ice, start building my game and make a difference. I know I can make a difference, and now that this situation is more resolved, it feels like the cloud that has been hanging over me since August isn't there as much."
Perron's desire to get on the ice and contribute has grown commensurately as that cloud dissipates.
"I'll play this game tomorrow, if not, next week and then get into an even longer trip to get to know the guys, make my presence known and establish myself a little bit more on this team and on the ice."
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