Ducks to buy out Corey Perry

The Anaheim Ducks are preparing to buy out Corey Perry, according to TSN’s Frank Seravalli.

After is was reported earlier this month by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun that the Ducks would be looking to move on from the 34-year-old, today’s news serves as the final stroke of Perry’s illustrious career in Anaheim.

The buyout structure and cap hit details according to CapFriendly are below:

The Ducks will get an instant $6 million of cap relief, which gives the Ducks a comfortable $17.6 million cushion when factoring in the likely cap increase to $82 million. However, those savings drop to just $2 million in 2020-20201, with the Ducks incurring a $2 million cap hit for an additional two years beyond his current deal which would run until 2022-2023.

This move is surprising because the Ducks rarely ever buy out their players, as the process has generally gone against the philosophies of Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli. Anaheim has only bought out four players in its history, with the most significant buyout being Todd Bertuzzi’s $4 million per year contract in 2008.

Corey Perry finishes his career in Anaheim as one of the greatest players in the 25 year history of the franchise. He currently sits at or near the top of the franchise leaderboards in several significant categories:

#1 in games played (988)

#2 in goals (372)

#3 in assists (404)

#3 in points (776)

#3 in power play goals (103)

#4 in goals per game (0.38)

#4 in points per game (0.79)

#1 in annoying fanbases per game (1)

Perry’s greatest accomplishments with the franchise include his critical scoring role in the 2007 Stanley Cup Championship and his 50 goal Hart Trophy and Rocket Richard season in 2010-2011.

Given his place amongst these leaderboards along with his numerous accolades, it’s not an uncontroversial thought to believe that the number 10 will be hoisted to the rafters after his retirement.

Perry’s effectiveness has rapidly declined in recent years playing on a partially-torn MCL and meniscus in his knee that limited him to just 42 goals over the last three seasons after averaging over 30 per season in the years before. He also missed 51 games this past seasons recovering from surgery to repair his damages knee.

The veteran power forward will now get a chance to sign with any team he wants in an effort to prove that he still has some effective hockey left in him.