Corey Perry pushes the Oilers' salary cap penalties to over $3.5 million

In case you missed it last night, the Edmonton Oilers clinched a berth in the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars with a Game 7 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

The Oilers carried the play for most of the evening and managed to hold off a late charging Canucks team to earn a 3-2 victory. Veteran forward Corey Perry was scratched for the game by head coach Kris Knoblauch, yet still earned himself a nice $50,000 pay day. That's because Perry had a $50,000 clause in his contract if the Oilers were to advance to the Western Conference Final. With that bonus achieved, the Oilers now officially carry $3.5 million in salary cap penalties into the 2024-25 season.

From NHL salary cap resource CapFriendly:

Read below for our earlier report on Perry, published yesterday when it was clear he'd be made a healthy scratch for Game 7.

With his team's season on the line, Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch has elected to go with the horses who brought him victory in Game 6. 

Today, Knoblauch confirmed that there are no changes to his team for Game 7, he'll ice the same squad he did in Game 6. This, of course, means that goaltender Stuart Skinner gets the start and that veteran Corey Perry gets the scratch in favor of Connor Brown.

Check it out:

Personally I don't know how you can scratch Perry in a Game 7, but he hasn't really been much of a factor in this series to be honest. I'll never criticize a coach for sticking with a winning lineup.

You do have to wonder though if this is the end for Perry. He's 39 years old and he's a pending unrestricted free agent who is coming off a pretty controversial season. He was effectively kicked off the Chicago Blackhawks for inappropriate conduct and his career looked to be over. He scored a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card courtesy of Oilers GM Ken Holland, but I think he'll have a more difficult time finding a suitor in free agency this upcoming offseason.

Indeed, this may mark the end of Perry's NHL career.