More on what happened with Corey Perry in Chicago comes back to surface

Corey Perry is set to pursue his career with the Edmonton Oilers as he signed one-year contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $1.4 million including bonus incentives on Free Agency opening day. While his future is set for the next season, his past came back to haunt him in a mailbag by Chicago Blackhawks’ insider Mark Lazerus of the Athletic. One fan asked Lazerus if he knew more about what really happened when Perry’s contract was terminated by the Hawks in November 2023.

At the time of his removal from the Blackhawks, there were crazy rumors about Perry’s involvement with the mother of one of his teammates, rookie Connor Bedard. Those rumors were proved to be false and refuted by Perry and the Blackhawks, but neither the player nor the team would shed much light into what exactly happened. There were reports that Perry was involved in an “alcohol fuelled” incident in Columbus following a game against the Blue Jackets but there were only vague descriptions of the incident.

Lazerus added this on Tuesday:

“I’ve been asked “what really happened” by my poker buddies, my cardiologist and my own family. My response is always the same: We’ve reported what we can report. Do we know more than you do? Yes. But the bar to clear is very high when it comes to sensitive stories like this one. Until we have every detail of the story (not merely dribs and drabs), backed up and corroborated by sufficient sources, we won’t report any of them. And we may never.

"A better question, one I really want to know: How much do the Edmonton Oilers know? Just scratching the surface here. I’ll have Part 2 of the mailbag soon.”

This is a very good question. No one knows what really happened, but what if the Oilers are completely in the dark here too?

The veteran forward took part in 38 regular season games for the Oilers after signing as a free agent on Jan. 22. Perry recorded eight goals and five assists for 13 points. Making his fourth trip to the Stanley Cup Final in the past five years, the winger dressed for 19 playoff games, tallying one goal with a pair of assists. His lone post-season marker was the game-winning goal in Game 5 of the Final against the Florida Panthers, who ended up with the championship.

Through 19 NHL seasons, Perry has played in 1,311 games and recorded 429 goals to go along with 476 assists for 905 points, having won the Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks.

Despite all of his success, much focus remains on this failure with the Blackhawks, though we do not know a lot about what really happened…