Anaheim Ducks rightfully end Corey Perry era with a buyout

The Anaheim Ducks are putting an end to the Corey Perry era, but they really had no other choice in order to move the franchise forward.

After 15 seasons, Corey Perry’s time with the Anaheim Ducks has come to an end. According to Frank Seravalli, The Ducks are in the process of buying out the former Hart Trophy winner Perry, making the 34 year old an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

The report was later confirmed by the organization, officially buying out the final two seasons of Perry’s contract.

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Perry was drafted by the Ducks 28th overall in 2003, and won the Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007 as well as the Hart and Rocket Richard trophies in 2011. Throughout his 15 year career with the Ducks, Perry played in 988 games ranked second all time in team goals with 372, as well as third in points with 776 points.

Perry was the Ducks highest paid player on the salary cap, with two years remaining on an eight year contract worth $8.625M per season. The buyout will last for four season, saving the Ducks $6M in year one, $2M in year two, and costing them $2M against the salary cap in years three and four.

Perry missed the first five months of last season due to meniscus and MCL injuries, and played in just 31 games scoring six goals and four assists for a career worst season.

The Ducks surely tried to trade Perry before circling back to the decision to buy him out, but they had next to no options considering Perry only gave them 4-6 teams to work with as per his NMC. There was likely no way they could find a trade partner without giving up a significant asset in return, so a buyout was the only option.

It couldn’t have been easy to buyout a player like Perry who had been with the team and been successful for so long. Ducks GM Bob Murray called the decision to buyout Perry “one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in my 44 years in the NHL.”

It is a sad day for the Ducks organization, but there should be no regret about the decision. The Ducks need cap space, and they need to get younger. There was no benefit to keeping an aging and banged up Perry on the roster when they have several prospects ready to make the NHL jump, not to mention the space that it clears to add another top six winger through trade or free agency.

So with Corey Perry done in Anaheim, his career is surely not over yet, so where could he possibly end up now that he is an unrestricted free agent? Perhaps a change of scenery will ignite a revitalization in Perry. There would certainly be teams willing to take a risk on his health and sign him to a cheaper contract in order to find a way to get goal scoring. Perry will likely never return to his 50-60 point seasons, but it could be a reasonable bet for 30 points and maybe to hover around 15-20 goals. Perhaps a two year deal at between $2M-$3M could be what his next contract could look like.

A fit for Perry would rely on a team having cap space to burn, and in serious need of goal scoring. A team that could fit that mold could be a team like the Arizona Coyotes, New Jersey Devils, or New York Islanders. Regardless, Perry will have several teams willing to take a shot on him, and he’ll have his second chance to revitalize his career.