Corey Perry, nicknamed Worm for getting under the skin of opponents, has wriggled his way into the hearts of Montreal Canadiens teammates and fans in the span of six months.
The forward's improbable journey started in late December when he was at home in London, Ontario, unsigned and wondering if he'd play in the NHL this season. He was coming off helping the Dallas Stars reach the Stanley Cup Final in his lone season with them after playing his first 14 NHL seasons with the Anaheim Ducks. When the Canadiens, the team he grew up rooting for, offered him a one-year, $750,000 contract, he jumped at the opportunity and signed Dec. 28 as an unrestricted free agent.
Since then, he has become one of the Canadiens' leaders on and off the ice heading into the Stanley Cup Semifinals against the Vegas Golden Knights. Game 1 is at Vegas on Monday (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"I didn't have anything and didn't know what was going to happen, didn't know where the future was going to go," Perry said. "Some things you just have to wait your turn and good things happen to people who wait. I was fortunate enough to get the call."
In 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games this season, the 36-year-old has scored six points (three goals, three assists) and leads the Canadiens with two power-play goals. He's come a long way from not being guaranteed a job when he joined Montreal.
"I was told right away I'd probably start on the taxi squad and work my way up," said Perry, who scored 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 49 games this season. "I said, 'No problem. I'll come in and do whatever I have to do.' It's just a matter of waiting your turn."
He made the most of the opportunity when it came.
The line of Perry, center Eric Staal (seven points; one goal, six assists) and left wing Joel Armia (seven points; four goals, three assists) has scored 20 points and relentlessly worn opponents down on the forecheck in the first two rounds. Perry also has caused havoc on the power play, planting himself on the edge of the crease and making life a nightmare for opposing goalies.
General manager Marc Bergevin suspected Perry could be an effective player but wanted to make sure before offering him a contract. He sought the opinion of Canadiens captain Shea Weber, a defenseman who won gold medals with Perry with Canada at the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympics.
"I was excited," Weber said. "I was super happy that he had that in mind and we were going to do it.
"His experience and obviously his play, that line has been one of our best lines in the playoffs. They've been so heavy and grinding and big for us."
Experience and winning pedigree were big keys for Bergevin in the decisions to sign Perry and bring in Staal, a 36-year-old who was acquired March 26 in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres for a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. Staal won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006; Perry did it with the Ducks the next season. Staal also was an Olympic teammate of Weber and Perry in 2010.
"The guys we brought in, I mean, sometimes it does work, sometimes it doesn't work," Bergevin said. "But we knew we were bringing guys with character. And like I mentioned to our team in our first meeting in Toronto before the season started, these guys who won Stanley Cups, they were not brought in here by accident, but by design. And I think it's paying off now.
"We have some young kids, but we have some strong leadership who have been through the battles of winning a Stanley Cup. … And the message I believe they told the guys, and I've lived with myself: It doesn't mean if you go to the conference finals or Stanley Cup Final that you'll automatically be back a year or two from now.
"It's a privilege to be where we are today and it takes a long time sometimes to go back, to be in the position we are today, so seize the moment and make the best of it. That's what I believe the message was, and the response so far has been very good."
So has Perry's penchant for agitating, his signature since junior hockey.
"It's Corey being Corey," Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger said with a laugh.
Pronger, who was on that Ducks championship team with Perry, said his former teammate shows the same traits he did back then.
"He's not the same player but he still knows what makes him effective," Pronger said of Perry, who was voted the Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP in 2011, when he led the NHL with 98 points (50 goals, 48 assists). "When you get older, it's not necessarily the hands that go, it's the legs. He still knows where to go, in front of the net, keeping the defensemen and the goalie preoccupied."
Pronger said Perry already had the nickname Worm when the defenseman joined Anaheim in 2006. He's not sure of the origins of it, but he knows why Perry is called that.
"It's because he's a weasel," Pronger said with a laugh. "He can really push the other team's buttons, the way he plays, the way he chirps.
"Listen, he was that way in practice. You practice the way you want to play, and he'd be relentless out there. That's why I enjoyed practicing against him. I wanted to be prepared to play against guys like that who flourish in that playoff style. And he certainly is doing that."
Mark Hunter couldn't agree more.
Hunter is the general manager of London of the Ontario Hockey League, and brother Dale Hunter is the coach. London won the Memorial Cup in 2005 during Perry's final season there, and he credits the Hunters for making him the player he is.
"It's not surprising to see what he's doing right now," Mark Hunter said. "He was always one of the most competitive guys out there, always doing what it takes to win. It's no different now. He's standing in front of the net, letting pucks bounce off his body parts into the net, and creating chaos."
The Hunters remain mentors for Perry, even this far into his career.
"They teach you a lot, they're fiery," Perry said. "Those two guys, they competed and they instilled that in you. I still see them, I still talk to them in the offseason and we're always talking hockey and always talking shop."
Like the rest of the hockey world, they're watching Perry be a difference-maker in the playoffs. Again.
"Put it this way," said Pat Morris, Perry's agent. "Three of the final four teams left this year are the same as last year: the [New York] Islanders, [Tampa Bay] Lightning and Golden Knights. The fourth team: whichever team Corey Perry is on. Last year it was Dallas; this year it's Montreal. That's the common thread.
"It's no coincidence. The guy's a winner."
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