David Perron signs 1-year deal with Dallas Stars

The news broke Thursday night, and it came from the guy who usually breaks it.

Elliotte Friedman

@FriedgeHNIC

Hearing David Perron is going to join the Dalllas Stars This will be his 20th NHL season. Pretty impressive stuff

20 seasons. Perron came into the league as a kid with the Blues and has been showing up on new rosters ever since: St. Louis, Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Vegas, Detroit, Ottawa. He has 812 points in 1,239 regular-season games, and he still put up 28 points in 65 games split between the Senators and the Red Wings last year. He'd been a free agent since July 1. That's a long time to wait by the phone at 38, and the phone finally rang from Texas. Within the hour the numbers were out.

PuckPedia

@PuckPedia

The #TexasHockey signed 38 y/o F David Perron to a one year 1-way $850K cap hit contract Rep'd by Allan Walsh @walsha 1st on signing @FriedgeHNIC, 1st on AAV @frank_seravalli t.co/h33WtzkYv2

$850K, 1-way, and prorated, so Dallas only pays for the days he's actually on the roster. It's a cheap bet, and the Stars needed one. Matt Duchene is out about 3 months after core muscle surgery, the offense has been sputtering, and a team built to contend in the West can't run a thin bottom 6 through October and hope it works out.

Friday morning the deal was made official, and the reason for the timing got clearer. Dallas put Bäck on IR retroactive to Oct. 14. He left in the 1st period of Wednesday's 3-2 shootout win over Colorado and never came back, and Glen Gulutzan said Friday it's a broken finger and 4-6 weeks. Gulutzan also explained exactly what he's paying the veteran to do.

Heavy, hard on pucks, high hockey IQ. That's a bottom-6 job description, and it fits Perron, who's made a career of being a pain in the ass to play against. Nobody is expecting the 30-goal guy from his St. Louis and Vegas runs. They're expecting a guy who wins battles along the wall and doesn't hurt you when he's on the ice.

He won't be in the lineup right away, though. The Stars practiced in Chicago on Friday ahead of Saturday's game against the Blackhawks, and they did it on the Hawks' own practice rink.

Perron wasn't on that ice. Gulutzan said he isn't joining the team until Sunday and won't play Saturday. Wyatt Johnston, who has missed the last 2 games with an illness, stayed back in Dallas, but the coach left the door open for him to fly in and play against Chicago. So Saturday the Stars are still a little short up front, and the real test comes after that: Perron's debut, Johnston back healthy and Bäck in street clothes until around Thanksgiving. If a 38-year-old on a prorated minimum-type deal can be the depth piece that holds things together until Duchene gets back, Dallas just got its best bargain of the fall.