White skates got him noticed, but reinvention made Blues’ David Perron an NHL all-star
The whole thing started with some white skates.
When the St. Louis Blues drafted David Perron in 2007, he was their third pick of the first round. The rebuilding team added some extra picks, so when the selection that otherwise would have belonged to San Jose rolled around, they decided to gamble on an over-ager with an abundance of skill but questions about his ability to think through the game on an elite level.
Further questions were raised when Perron showed up to camp that first year, white skates in tow. All expectations were that he would return to junior hockey, so when it became clear that he had the talent to play in the NHL immediately, the white skates became an issue. Conformity was expected. Compliance was mandatory.
Thirteen years later, in his third stint with the team that drafted him, Perron is standing out for all the right reasons. He was named Saturday to the Central Division’s team in the upcoming NHL All-Star Game after winning a fan vote for the team’s last spot and his first All-Star appearance.
The game will be played in St. Louis on Jan. 25, giving Perron — as well as Ryan O’Reilly, Alex Pietrangelo, and Jordan Binnington — an opportunity to shine in front of the people who voted passionately for his selection.
It seems impossible that a player could play for five teams in his career but only have signed a contract with one, but that’s true of Perron. His three-year rookie deal was followed by a two-year extension, and then a deal for another four.
After only a year of that contract, Perron was traded to Edmonton. From there, he was sent to Pittsburgh and finally Anaheim before the deal expired. A free agent in the summer of 2016, Perron signed a two-year contract to return to St. Louis. He would only last one.
In a gambit designed to secure a trade with Pittsburgh which netted the Blues Klim Kostin and Oskar Sundqvist, Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong chose to protect Ryan Reaves rather than Perron in the expansion draft which stocked the roster of the Vegas Golden Knights. For a team that was expected to struggle to score, adding a player of Perron’s talent level was a no-brainer, and so he was off to Las Vegas, where the Golden Knights would lose in the Stanley Cup Final.
Perron’s only season in the desert would bring him the best offensive season of his career to date and prove to the Blues that they should, yet again, be in the David Perron business. He signed yet another deal to return to St. Louis before the 2018-19 season, and the 2019 Stanley Cup Final would have a much better result for Perron and his teammates than the year prior.
This season he’s been reinvented yet again as an elite level sniper. His 20 goals are only three fewer than he scored all of last season, and he’s equaled his 46-point output in nine fewer games played. His eight game-winning goals lead the NHL, as do the four of those goals which have been scored in overtime. For a Blues team which has been without Vladimir Tarasenko for all but the team’s first 10 games, Perron has been as indispensable as he’s been clutch.
Certainly the goal scoring would be enough to cement adoration from Blues fans, but when it comes to Perron, the appreciation comes from some place deeper.
There’s something to be said for a player who, in an age where free agency has bred transient superstars, is apparently endlessly committed to one city. Blues fans have watched David Perron grow up, return from a severe concussion, and develop into an unlikely ambassador. In a city where an entire team couldn’t wait to leave, there’s meaning attached to a player who does everything in his power to stay.
Cardinals fans of a certain age remember the day that Willie McGee was traded to Oakland in 1990. It was the sad end of a hopeful era, and when he returned in 1996, it cemented his place in the lore of the team and the hearts of the fans. He was twice a batting champ and once an MVP, and he was a key component of a World Champion and two other teams which lost in the World Series. He was a superstar for a city, if never quite that to the broader universe.
Perron’s path has been much the same.
He may never reach the individual heights that McGee did, but McGee’s return was as an older, diminished player. The nostalgia outstripped the numbers. Perron, back yet again, is playing the best hockey of his career. He’s a driving engine for a championship team mounting a robust defense. He’s raising his own children as part of the community, a far leap from the kid who missed his flight back from Montreal after Christmas his rookie year.
Thankfully, for Perron’s sake, the third time’s a charm. The Blues seem much less eager to move on from this deal.
Still, expansion in Seattle looms. How do you say, “it won’t stop raining” en francais?
