Edmonton Oilers fail to revive Brendan Perlini’s NHL career
The Edmonton Oilers’ 2021 pre-season feel-good story won’t have a happy ending. At least, not for the time being. Just a few months after stealing performances in exhibition games, Brendan Perlini was assigned to the American Hockey League’s Bakersfield Condors team. Perlini is exempted on Tuesday (December 7) and unclaimed.
It was a disappointing – if not surprising – development for the winger, who, in a very short space of time, had gone from being the talk of town to being the man being ignored. oblivion. The 25-year-old went largely unnoticed, playing just 13 of Edmonton’s first 24 games and averaging 7:33 less kick time. He didn’t score a single point, hit six shots on goal, and got four points deducted.
Perlini’s insignificant impact is a far cry from pre-season when he led the Oilers to six goals, all in equal measure. He also leads the team in terms of plus/minus points (plus 6) and second only to the captain Connor McDavid calculated by points (5) and points (15). Playing with a lot of energy and a sense of confidence, Perlini looks like a man rediscovering his passion for the game, sparking hope that he will be able to revive a promising career. my appointment in Edmonton.
Easy to root for Perlini
Oilers fans took their hats off to Perlini. Why don’t they do? As a former lottery player who was dropped from the tournament at the age of 24 and is now ready to start over with no guarantees, it’s easy to pull him off.
He was an explosive forward for the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League and was drafted 12order overall by the Arizona Coyotes in 2014. He made his NHL debut against the Coyotes in 2016-17, scoring 14 goals in 57 games. He also had 17 goals in 74 goals the following season and a total of 14 goals in 68 games during the 2018-19 season when he was transferred to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Related Links: Kerosene: 4 things you didn’t know about Brendan Perlini
But he had to look for work after a difficult 2019-20 season when he scored once in 40 games between the Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. He then hit the restart button, signing for National League HC Ambri-Piotta in Switzerland, where he spent the 2020-21 season, scoring a total of nine goals and eight assists. created in 21 games.
After the smog settled into the frantic opening days of the NHL free agency, Perlini signed with Oilers on August 7th – a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $750,000. The nature of the deal says a lot: he’s taking the league’s minimum wage without guaranteeing a spot in the NHL. It was a risk-free signing for the Oilers that spurred him to prove his worth in the world’s top league.
Perlini ah Pre-season feeling
Prove to yourself that he did. The product of Guildford, England scored in Edmonton’s first game of the season, a 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames. He continued that with a two-goal performance against the Seattle Kraken in the next game. In his third appearance, he scored the Oilers’ only goal in a 2-1 extra-time loss to Seattle, and in their pre-season final, 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, he was named the first star of the game after scoring a great goal.
That’s the closing argument of Perlini’s slam-dunk case to start the regular season in Edmonton. Hard to imagine just a few months ago, it was a surprise to see him in tonight’s opening lineup.
The Perlini addition had almost giddy fans. His humble journey back to the NHL is not only a pleasant story come true, but he is also a legitimate attacking talent at a bargain price who can provide much-needed depth. designed after Leon Draisaitl and McDavid.
Perlini Never Got Rolling
Producing in pre-season is one thing, but as Edmonton and Perlini quickly discovered, making an impact given the number of games is quite another. Ranked fourth for the Oilers, he played an average of less than seven minutes a game in his first four games. He was subsequently scratched well, beginning a trend that increasingly found him in the Rogers Place press box rather than on the Oilers bench.
While he appeared in 11 of the first 15 games, he was unproductive and unpopular. Fast. He was fit only once after November 23, recording a mere 6:29 frost time while posting ratings minus one and no shots in Edmonton’s 4-3 loss to Seattle on Friday last week (December 3). As of his last appearance, the Oilers were 7-6 with him in the lineup and 8-0 when he was unclothed – now they are 8-2 without him.
Expected move of oil
The writing was on the wall, and on Tuesday, the Oilers abandoned Perlini to make way for Devin Shore, who was activated from the wounded reserve. Perlini spent 24 hours getting an exemption when among 31 other NHL teams could have claimed him. They did not.
He now reports to Bakersfield, where he will join a team of Condors that can use some offensive help; they have scored 41 goals, the second least in the AHL. His AHL resume is limited but impressive. He scored 14 goals in just 17 games with the Tucson Roadrunners during the 2016-17 season.
Perlini may not have had a fair chance in Edmonton. He went in and out of the squad and played sporadically in the games where he was on the roster. But life in hockey isn’t always fair. In fact, he is primarily known for putting the ball in the net, and he has scored an NHL goal in 53 final-season games since over two calendar years. While the fairy tale of his redemption has been injected with a dose of reality, the book doesn’t end in Perlini; this may just be his next chapter.
Brian is a writer and sports broadcaster based in Edmonton. His experience includes working as a sports reporter for the Edmonton Sun, where he covered the Edmonton Oil Kings 2013-14 Memorial Cup championship season.
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