BREAKING: Anaheim Ducks Ready to Move on From Corey Perry

There is only 1 thing undefeated in the NHL and that’s Father Time. Corey Perry has been fighting hard to keep him at bay but he may have caught up to the all-time Anaheim Ducks great and it might lead to the end of an era for Anaheim fans.

Corey Perry is one of the Anaheim Ducks 2 longest tenured players (with his twin Ryan Getzlaf), a fixture of the team for the majority of the past 16 years since he was drafted in 2003. Today it’s reported that those days might be coming to an end. Pierre Lebrun (@PierreVLebrun) noted on TSN TV as well in his notebook series for The Athletic that Bob Murray is exploring all options for Corey Perry which could result in him being traded or if a buyer is not found, then he could be a buy-out for the Ducks. According to his article, Lebrun says that Bob Murray has been keeping both Corey Perry and his agent in the loop during these times and they are aware of his intentions.

Perry is a veteran of 14 NHL seasons that has seen him suit up in 988 games all for the Ducks to this point, during that time he’s done pretty much everything there is to do, won a Stanley Cup, won a Gold Medal in the Olympics, won a Hart Trophy as the league MVP, Perry is one of the best Ducks of all time and it’s unfortunate that his time with the Ducks might be coming to an end unceremoniously but the NHL is a business, and the Ducks as a re-tooling team are realistically better off moving on from the 34-year-old who carries a cap hit of 8.65 million.

Perry likely doesn’t carry much value in the trade market at this point, we’ve seen in the past that aging veterans who are on a downward trend aren’t untradeable, but the deals aren’t usually visually appealing off the bat. The Ducks will likely need to retain salary and/or include a prospect or pick in order to get another team to want to take Perry, and the return will likely not be something that gets fans excited. Something like a mid-round pick, an underperforming player, a bad (but less bad) contract or a floundering prospect as the return. One last point regarding a trade is that Corey Perry has a full no-movement-clause which means he would have to agree to any move made by the Ducks.

If the Ducks were unable to find a trade partner the other option would be a buy-out which wouldn’t yield an asset back but would open up a roster spot and not require giving up an asset to move on from him.

A buyout for Perry would save the Ducks money over the next two years and then cost them a bit for the following 2 years. For those unfamiliar, the formula for a buyout is that the team pays 2/3rds of the remaining value of the contract over 2x the remaining length of the contract. It would look as follows.

2019-20- Cap hit- $2,625,000 (From $8.625,000 savings of $6,000,000)

2020-21- Cap hit- $6,625,000 (From $8,625,000 savings of $2,000,000)

2021-22- Cap hit- $2,000,000 (From $0 savings of -$2,000,000)

2022-23- Cap hit- $2,000,000 (From $0 savings of -$2,000,000)

Overall it is a sobering experience to come to the realization that it’s very rare for players to ride off into the sunset playing for one team their entire career. Corey Perry has played 988 games in a Ducks uniform and it’s possible that he will reach the 1,000 game milestone in a jersey he’s only worn for 12 games. One thing I feel extremely confident in saying is that even if Perry doesn’t retire in a Ducks uniform, his #10 will be hanging from the rafters one day where it will hang for a long long time.

What do you think? Do you see this as the end of Perry’s time on the Ducks?

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