If forward Scorey- pardon, Corey Perry has taught us anything over the 101 regular season and playoff games the Edmonton Oilers have played so far in the 2024–25 season, it’s that age is just a number. We’ve learned that, and the fact that hockey IQ is one of the last things a player loses from their skill set.
Perry had a strong regular season at age 39, nearly reaching the 20-goal mark and finishing with 30 points on the year. He has only gotten better in the playoffs, knocking at the door of double-digits in goals and being in second-place in that category behind only Leon Draisaitl. He’s also continued to be the Worm that he’s become known as, notably getting into the head of Lian Bichsel in Game one of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.
No matter how the Stanley Cup Final ends, there’s several reasons Corey Perry should return for a third Oilers season in 2025–26.
His hands and hockey sense are both still elite
Perry has defined his role this season as being a premier net-front presence, someone who can take away the goalie’s line of sight, cause havoc allowing for another forward to get a mid-range scoring chance, or even knock the puck in himself in-tight. This has generally been Zach Hyman’s role in recent years, but with Hyman out for the season (and having been more of a heavy-hitter in these playoffs anyway), Perry has commanded that role with authority.
Regular season and playoffs combined (with Perry having played exactly 100 of those 101 games), he has cashed in 28 times. Nine of those, of course, have come in the last 19 games that constitute the Oilers’ playoff run to date. Both the regularseason and playoff heat maps for Perry, provided by MoneyPuck, back up how effective he’s been in his new role:
Perry has continued to be a top offensive talent because of his ability to adapt to this new role. He’s also still got the hands to keep up with the elite hockey IQ, too, as demonstrated below with both a goal (from Game one against the Vegas Golden Knights) and an assist (Game 1 against the Florida Panthers):
Fancy stats have loved certain lines he’s played on
It’s one thing to be a great individual player. As Oilers fans have learned, though, it’s another to have chemistry with your teammates. Too many players have come and gone in Edmonton thanks to a lack of cohesion with the linemates they’re put with on a given night.
Perry has been able to generate chemistry with several of his peers, which has helped his case to appear in all but one game in 2024–25. The line he has worked best with, undeniably, has been the “Hart Trophy” line of him and Draisaitl flanking Connor McDavid. All three, on the same line together, have shown what having an all-MVP trio can do for a team:
Perry has seamlessly slid into the Hyman role these playoffs, working well with McDavid and either Draisaitl or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Hyman and Evander Kane both have produced some better expected goals percentages on the top lines, but fourth-best of the 13 playoff line combinations for the Oilers is still very solid.
To demonstrate further, here are all 41 line combos from the regular season with positive xG% shares:
Perry, on a line with Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin, produced the second-best xG% at 89.5 percent, with nearly twice the minutes played as the only “perfect” trio of Jeff Skinner, Mattias Janmark, and Kasperi Kapanen. In fact, Perry appears with Podkolzin four times on that list, with Draisaitl, Janmark, Kapanen, and Derek Ryan as centre options. Overall, Perry appears on 12 of the 41 options, nearly a full third of all of them.
*All stats via MoneyPuck.com
Corey Perry can still agitate with the best of ’em
The Oilers have made a point of it in the Jeff Jackson era to become a more irritating team to play against. Knowing that established Oilers like Draisaitl, Evander Kane, and Darnell Nurse couldn’t do it alone, Perry was an early Jackson move, occurring with Ken Holland still in the GM chair, to bolster the intimidation factor. Not only has he delivered in this aspect of the game, he’s become one of the best agitators on the entire roster.
As noted earlier, his most famous “worm” moment these playoffs came at the end of Game 1, with his ire directed towards Stars defenceman Lian Bichsel:
The rest of the series seemed to tilt in the Oilers favour, and while several factors go into that, you can’t say that an ageless veteran doing this to a young talent like Bichsel didn’t stick with him the rest of the way.
Worth noting, Perry also did this towards Panthers forward Jonah Gadjovich at the end of the first period in Game 3:
The end result wasn’t desirable for the team as a whole, but Perry would score just a short time into the second period to briefly pull the Oilers to within a goal. When Perry talks the talk, he walks the walk, too.
On a one-year deal, give Perry whatever he wants
The bottom line is that Corey Perry, despite having recently turned 40 years old, is still playing like it’s the mid-2010’s . He’s producing in top-line situations, meshing well with teammates, and still being a generational pest in the NHL. Especially with Hyman done for the season, the Oilers won’t win the Stanley Cup if Perry isn’t performing at this calibre.
Now in his forties, it’s unlikely Perry gets any contract longer than one year at a time, but if the Oilers want to lock him into an extension for next season, he’s earned every bit of that prospective extension, even if he commands a decent raise. The Oilers need his talent and guile to continue having the kind of success they’ve enjoyed these past two seasons.
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