It appears as if Joe Pavelski won’t be the only veteran heading to Dallas. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that winger Corey Perry will sign a one-year deal with the Stars. The deal will carry a $1.5MM base salary and will also contain up to $1.75MM in potential performance bonuses.
The 34-year-old is coming off the toughest season of his lengthy NHL career. A knee injury cost him 51 games and when he was in Anaheim’s lineup, he struggled considerably. He wound up with just six goals and four assists in 31 games with the Ducks and was having difficulties keeping up at times. As a result, they decided to buy out the final two years of his contract earlier this month.
The one bright side to the injuries is that it enabled Dallas to put incentives in his contract. Normally, that’s restricted until a player turns 35 but because Perry spent at least 100 days on IR and has more than 400 career games under his belt, that made him eligible as long as he signed a one-year deal.
While Perry is coming off of a tough season, it’s certainly a reasonable gamble for the Stars to make. Secondary scoring was an issue for them in 2018-19 and at a $1.5MM base salary, they don’t need him to be a huge producer to justify that price tag. If he can settle in and play somewhere in their middle six, he should be able to provide decent value on this contract as long as he can stay healthy.
Stars have quickly become a dangerous team.