At the trade deadline, the Detroit Red Wings looked to make a couple of moves that could help keep them in the playoff picture, headlined by the addition of offensive defenseman Justin Faulk, along with a smaller pickup that saw them give up a conditional fourth-round pick to bring back veteran forward David Perron.
The now 38-year-old arrived with the idea of being a steady veteran presence who could slot into Detroit’s bottom six and provide the kind of depth scoring the roster needed. That didn’t materialize the way the team hoped.
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The near 20-year NHL veteran battled injuries down the stretch, appearing in just 16 games with Detroit and finishing with three goals, no assists and a minus-nine rating, a noticeable cooldown after posting 10 goals and 25 points in 49 games with Ottawa earlier in the season.
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Perron is now a free agent, and with training camp fast approaching, he still doesn’t have a team lined up. The Sherbrooke, Quebec native has said he intends to keep playing, but his options appear to be narrowing as he gets deeper into his 30s.
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Detroit itself was reportedly still in talks with Perron about a new deal as free agency opened, but nothing came together, and the Red Wings don’t currently appear to be circling back for another season.
It’s the kind of quiet ending that plenty of longtime NHL veterans eventually face. Perron could still look for opportunities in the AHL, as a depth option elsewhere, or overseas, but it’s fair to wonder whether it might be time for the 2019 Stanley Cup champion to call it a career.
He leaves the game, if this is indeed the end, with an underrated résumé: 332 goals and 480 assists for 812 points in 1,239 career games, a run that started with the St. Louis Blues, who drafted him 26th overall in 2007, and carried him through stops with the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights, Ottawa Senators and two stints in Detroit.
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