I hope everyone had a good, healthy, happy Thanksgiving. The Blackhawks did practice on Thursday, and Corey Perry was still missing. After the skate, head coach Luke Richardson told the media that he isn’t going to have anything additional to say about his absence other than it being an organizational decision. That lac🅠k of further comment led to a few people complaining that t🅺he Blackhawks weren’t giving us the full story immediately – because, somehow, some believe we’re entitled to know everything all the time.
There are dozens of reasons that Perry could be away from the team right now. Hopefully it’s something that isn’t bad. The Blackhawks could have a trade in the works involving him that got close enough to the finish line late on Wednesday that they didn’t want to risk injury. Alex Pietrangelo was away from his team for a while last year and we came to find out later –꧂ after similar ridiculous speculation on the interwebs – that he was dealing with a family situation.
Elliot♊te Friedman led off his column with a comment on the Perry situa🌱tion:
“Don’t want to guess about Corey Perry. He definitely was supposed to play Wednesday in Columbus. Nikita Zaitsev got the morning bag skate, so he wasn’t scheduled to dress. He ended up playing, instead. Perry didn’t practice Thursday, and the Blackhawks weren’t revealing anything. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious.”
We don’t know what’s up with Perry right now.♕ Would be like to know? Sure. At some point, should we know more? Yes. Are we entitled to that immediately? I’m of the belief that we are not. And I’m not going to say this is bad form by the organization, player or coaches to not be compelled to tell us anything they don’t feel is appropriate yet.
Richardson is speaking with the media again at 10:30 AM on Friday. We’ll see if there’s an update then.
How about some other stuff?
Educated dart-throwing: some of the teams he likes (or like him) aren’t perfect fits. Dallas would be an example, with the Stars believed to be prioritizing defence. Kane did talk to Toronto, but again, the Maple Leafs’ priority is on the blue line. Another concern is West travel. We just saw a situation where Klingberg’s problems were exacerbated by a flight from Toronto to Stockholm; there’s no question the Eastern schedule is less taxing. I’ve discussed Florida’s aggressiveness s🌠everal times, and it seems like an excellent fit. The question here comes down to what contract and lifestyle choices Kane prefers. He is believed to want a multi-year contract (he does not qualify as an over-35 because his birthday came after June 30) at what he considers a fair number. As it stands, the Panthers can’t do that. Buffalo can. So can Detroit.
I don’t think it’ꦛs impossible Kane goes the one-year path, but multiple sources indicated at the start of this process that was not his preference. Buffalo would be major coup for the organization, and 🎉Kane’s put a lot of thought into the Red Wings.
