Perron looks to provide veteran leadership, scoring touch to Senators

A sign you’ve been around the NHL for a while: You find yourself on the same roster as the child of an ex-teammate. 

Actually, David Perron was playing hockey games with Brady Tkachuk when Brady was 8 years old – it’s just that those games were with mini-sticks in the basement of Keith Tkachuk’s house in St. Louis. 

From 2007-2009, Perron and big ‘Walt’ Tkachuk were teammates on the St. Louis Blues. 

As of this week, with Perron, 36, signing as a free agent addition in Ottawa, Perron and Brady Tkachuk are now teammates with the Senators. 

And that boy who played a fierce game of mini-sticks back in the day? He happens to be the Senators captain. 

“Really, it’s going to be special,” Perron said, on a Zoom call with Ottawa media on Friday. “I ran into Brady a couple of times last year – one in Sweden when both teams (Detroit and Ottawa) were over there in November and then at the All-Star break. 

“I was thinking the other day, Brady would have been 8, 9, 10 years old when I played those three years with big Walt ... and that’s exactly where my son is now, he’s going to turn nine in a couple of weeks here. I was remembering some of the moments I had with Brady and (brother) Matthew, whether in the locker room after games or going to their house for Thanksgiving or Christmas. 

“It’s going to be hilarious, it’s kind of gone full circle.”

The veteran Keith Tkachuk, in the late stages of his fine career, had a large influence on him as a person and a player, Perron says. 

When Senators management made a point at the end of the season of wanting to add veteran leadership to Ottawa’s young core, they must have had Perron in mind. 

The pesky winger with a scoring touch has been a leader and point producer for six different NHL organizations, including the Detroit Red Wings over the past couple of seasons. Needless to say, some of those Red Wings games against the Sens were nasty. 

Ottawa fans won’t forget Perron attacking Senators defenceman Artem Zub with a stick to the head after Wings captain Dylan Larkin went down in a heap.

There were a couple of problems with that scene. 

One. You don’t crosscheck players’ heads. But...

Two. Perron had the wrong guy. Zub was an innocent bystander. It was Parker Kelly who had hit Larkin, rather innocuously, but Larkin lost consciousness for several seconds and that was what caused Perron to lose his mind. 

Perron joked that he might have to buy Zub a dinner or two to make up for his mistake (one that resulted in a six-game suspension).

Prior to these past two seasons in Detroit, Perron was in St. Louis where he won a Stanley Cup alongside the likes of Ryan O’Reilly, now with the Nashville Predators. 

Perron says he was fortunate in his second go-around in St. Louis to be O’Reilly’s winger for the better part of four seasons. 

“He’s one of my favourite teammates, linemates ever,” Perron said of O’Reilly. “I was fortunate enough to be able to click with a guy, have that kind of chemistry on and off the ice.”

Perron had seven goals and 16 playoff points during the Blues' Cup run. 

O’Reilly led by example and Perron plans to do likewise in Ottawa, helping out veterans like Claude Giroux and newly acquired Nick Jensen from the Washington Capitals. 

In joining the young Senators, Perron feels the role is very similar to the one he had in Detroit the past two years.

“I mean, the two teams are kind of on a similar path, going upwards and trying to be a consistent team and making the playoffs every year,” Perron said. “Number one, I think that was the most appealing, from some of the conversations (general manager) Steve Staois had with my agent. What can I bring to the team? What do you need?”

Perron believes he can help instill a winning culture and attitude with the Senators and he will do that in part by being enthusiastic every day at the rink, even at the ripe age of 36. Perron signed with Ottawa for two years at $4 million per season. 

He’s been a productive scorer, averaging 22 goals and 55 points over the past five seasons.

Perron did dip slightly last season with 17 goals and 47 points.

For the first 30 or 40 games, Perron says, he had to adapt to a lesser role and ice time than usual. On opening night, he played 16 minutes. And for much of the first half of the season, even less. By April, his TOI was closer to 20 minutes and sometimes over. April was his best month, with 10 points. 

“I want to be consistent every year,” Perron said. “It’s one thing to be a leader and do all the right things and everything, but you also have to perform, you have to produce to your abilities – your ice time, whatever role you’re given you have to do it and hopefully a little bit more.”

Ottawa feels like a bit of a homecoming. Seventeen years in the NHL, now on his 7th team, and this is the closest he has been to his native Sherbrooke, Que. 

Look for Perron to offer a gift to young teammate Shane Pinto as an offering for Perron’s traditional jersey No. 57. Pinto might not mind switching to 22 or 12.