If you cannot beat them. Join them.
That seems to be the approach for veteran forward Corey Perry who signed a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. The contract will pay him $1 million per season.
Perry spent the past two seasons in Dallas and Montreal, reaching the Stanley Cup Final each season only to be on the losing end each time to the Lightning.
Now he has an opportunity to help the Lightning in their quest for a three-peat.
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His regular season numbers and role have clearly taken a hit the past three years with Anaheim, Dallas, and Montreal, scoring at a 12-goal pace per 82 games, but he has proven to be a very valuable addition come playoff time for the Stars and Canadiens. He had nine goals and 12 assists in 49 regular season games for the Canadiens before adding four goals and six assists in the Canadiens’ 22 playoff games.
The Lightning have lost a lot of depth this offseason with Tyler Johnson (salary dump trade to Chicago), Yanni Gourde (Seattle expansion draft), Barclay Goodrow (traded free agent rights to New York Rangers), and Blake Coleman (free agency to Calgary Flames) all leaving the roster. They have now added Perry and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the early part of the offseason.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.
