Corey Perry Swatch Card

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Let me preface this by saying that Corey Perry's production this season with the Montréal Canadiens has exceeded expectations for a banged-up 35-year-old, for a player signed to $750K for a single season and for a player who had to go through waivers to be put on the taxi squad to start the season, as a healthy scratch for the opening game. Just like Michael Frolik.

He's had games where he's been a game-breaker, but he's also had games where he's been largely invisible, tired.

After stepping in to help a struggling powerplay under former head coach Claude Julien, Perry pretty much just stayed on despite the team middling in 21st position in that regard, an accepted fact like Daylight Savings Time. What should have happened before the Habs blew their allocated post-trade deadline call-up limits was alternating him and Frolik so whoever slotted in would give it their all knowing they didn't have to keep any energy for the next game.

Interim head coach Dominique Ducharme is on a tight leash: he doesn't have a contract for next season, but he also doesn't owe his veterans anything. He should have the leeway to make bold moves and think outside the box, unlike Julien, who has historically preferred benching and punishing his rookies and sophomores for every minor mistake they made while giving older guys the benefit of the doubt, usually with disappointing results.

And yet there are Perry, Jonathan Drouin, Shea Weber, Carey Price, Eric Staal et al., getting their regular shifts in despite younger players outperforming them, in the hopes that they'll turn their season around at some point.

Considering the team was the last one invited to last season's post-season play-in and had missed out on the playoffs the previous three seasons, it's a trend you would have hoped would have been bucked with a new coach, a fresh face, a new message. So either Ducharme's been told directly by GM Marc Bergevin to toe the company line or he feels it's his best bet for an extension; either way, it's short-sighted, and he's not showcasing anything special for any of the other 30 (soon to be 31) teams to keep him in mind for their future vacant coaching jobs.

And I mean all of that specifically out of respect for the former Hart and Rocket Richard Trophy winner, as attested from this card commemorating his heyday:

That's card #1 from the Banner Season sub-set of Panini's 2011-12 Limited collection, featuring a two-colour stitch from a game-worn jersey swatch.

Perry has won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks, played in a Final with the Dallas Stars last season, and has two Olympic gold medals with Team Canada (2010 and 2014), World Championship gold (2016, as captain), a Canada Cup (2016), World Juniors gold (2005) and a Memorial Cup (2004-05).

Corey Perry Jersey Card

Inevitably, the Anaheim Ducks lost a Game 7 after winning their division; as was the case when he was with the Washington Capitals, head coach Bruce Boudreau was soon dismissed. Goal-less sniper Corey Perry (who I dropped in my keeper pool along with Ryan Getzlaf in favor of Henrik Lundqvist and Jakub Voracek) shouldered the blame, but it was still on the coach to devise a strategy to beat his adversaries and to have the know-how to prepare his team for the ultimate game.

Boudreau. Who is 1-7 in Game 7s. And whose teams - always the highest seed and, thus, playing at home - inevitably fall behind in the decisive game.

Perry can cry that his four assists in seven games are a disappointment, but Boudreau never provided him with an environment in which he could get better match-ups against the Nashville Predators' best defensemen, nor with a game plan that would use his strengths against the opponents' weaknesses.

Perry's won the Stanley Cup and three gold medals with Team Canada (at the 2005 World Juniors as well as the 2010 and 2014 Olympics); he can play under pressure, he can play a disciplined game (apart from not giving cheap shots, which come just after goal scoring as his main contributions to the game), he's experienced enough to let the opportunities come to him and not force a play that will lead to an awful mistake. He's a safe player to have on the ice. He shouldn't take the blame by himself.

Here is the 2010-11 Hart and Maurice Richard winner wearing the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim's purple (away) uniform from Fleer's 2005-06 Fleer Ultra collection and Scoring Kings sub-set, manufactured by Upper Deck:

It features a white swatch from a jersey that was worn in a rookie photo shoot.

Corey Perry & Devante Smith-Pelly Dual Swatch Card

So the trade deadline came and went, and a few teams made some nifty moves, but the team who made the best ones, I think, was the Anaheim Ducks, who acquired All-Star defenseman Stéphane Robidas for a fourth-round pick and picked up draft picks for players they didn't need (Viktor Fasth and Dustin Penner), in addition to getting point-per-game AHL winger Andre Petersson  for offensive defenseman Alex Grant.

And so, in their honour (and because they just lost to the Montréal Canadiens), I present you this card:

Don't let the scan fool you, the top-left corner is pristine, that's just the penny sleeve bending because the card is so thick

It's from Panini's 2011-12 Prime set (card #5 of the Prime Combos - Dual sub-set, numbered 206/225) of Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry and young gun Devante Smith-Pelly. Ironically, the card shows Perry wearing the Ducks' dark (home) uniform while Smith-Pelly is sporting the white (away) one, but the swatches are actually the opposite.

As I mentioned, Perry has a Hart and a Rocket Richard on his resume (both from 2010-11), a Stanley Cup (2007), three All-Star Game nods and a 50-goal season. He's also a golden boy, both at the World Juniors (2005) and Olympics (2010 and 2014). His number was retired by his Junior team, the London Knights, as he was the OHL's (and Memorial Cup's) best player in 2004-05. And to think he was chosen 28th in total at the 2003 draft...

Smith-Pelly, on the other hand, was chosen 42nd overall in 2010. He's currently in his third season with the Ducks and has 20 goals and 35 points in 44 games so far this year. He had 7 goals and 13 points in his first 56 NHL games spread over two seasons...