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Player Name/position: Corey Perry, RW
Overall Grade: B-
Contract Status: The days of referring to Corey Perry as a "bargain" have ended. Most fans expected Corey Perry to test the waters of unrestricted free agency after his 5 year, $26,625,000 contract expired at the end of the 2013 season. However, the Ducks fanbase experienced collective shock and relief when Perry was signed to a 8 year, $69,000,000 contract extension back in March.
Regular Season Stats: 44 GP, 15 G, 21 A, 72 PIM, plus-10
Playoff Stats: 7 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 4 PIM, even rating
Offense: While he scored a respectable 36 points in 44 games regular season games, Robby wrote an excellent post about how Perry's production dropped off sharply in the second half of the 2013 season. I don't know whether Perry was snakebit after the Jason Zucker incident, or felt like he didn't need to finish his chances after receiving his big payday, but it's very curious that his SOG increased toward the end of the season as his total points decreased.
But fans were most disappointed by Perry's playoff performance. Perry played in all 7 games, and was only credited with two assists. Not great, but it wasn't for lack of trying - he put a team-high 24 shots on goal, many of them excellent chances.
Defense: Even though Perry's offensive production was spotty, he made up for it (somewhat) by being his usual pest-y self. Sometimes, the hits were sort of high (as in the case of Zucker). Perry was also a disruptive force during the playoffs, doing borderline dirty things to Jimmy Howard in the goalie's crease. But ultimately, that didn't seem to do much.
Highlight of the Season: Sure, he had some pretty goals and assists, but let's relive the moment where Perry got in Jimmy Howard's business during Game 5 of the playoffs.
Expectations for Next Year:Expectations for Corey Perry in the 2013-14 season will be as massive his contract. I expect Perry to score a similar amount of points (extrapolate for the full season) as he did in 2012-13, but with less of a "drop-off" between the first and second halves of the season. If we make the playoffs, I'd like to see him, you know, score a goal. Hindsight is 20/20, but as many hockey writers have said, a timely goal from Perry could have sent us to the second round.