The Detroit Red Wings signed winger David Perron to a two-year, $9.5-million contract on the opening day of free agency, the team announced Wednesday.
Perron had spent the past four seasons with the St. Louis Blues after signing a four-year, $16-million deal in 2018 to mark his third stint with the franchise. This is the first time in Perron's 15-year NHL career that he has signed a contract with a team other than the Blues.
The 34-year-old scored 27 goals in 67 games this past season and played a key role up front during St. Louis’s Stanley Cup championship run in 2019.
The Sherbrooke, Que., native was the Blues' first-round pick, 26th overall, in the 2007 draft. Since then, he has scored 269 goals and added 396 assists for 665 points in 973 regular-season games split between the Blues, Oilers, Penguins, Ducks and Golden Knights.
St. Louis, which signed Robert Thomas to an eight-year extension Wednesday, had limited salary cap space with which to work.
Detroit, meanwhile, had plenty of room to maneuver. In fact, Perron was Detroit’s fourth notable signing of the day.
The team’s general manager, Steve Yzerman, also added forwards Andrew Copp and Dominik Kubalik plus defenceman Ben Chiarot earlier in the day.
Detroit finished sixth in the Atlantic Division with a 32-40-10 record in 2021-22 and failed to qualify for the playoffs for a sixth consecutive year.
