Corey Perry Will Not Be An Ottawa Senator, Re-signs In Anaheim

Well, the dream of having a top line featuring Jason Spezza and Corey Perry in Ottawa is over before it really had a chance.

The former MVP has re-signed in Anaheim, with an 8 year, $69M deal that will keep him riding shotgun with Ryan Getzlaf.  While the dream of Perry coming to Ottawa made sense, the Ducks did what they had to do to keep him and kudos to the player for showing some loyalty to the franchise with which he won a Stanley Cup in 2007.

Feb 24, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Anaheim Ducks right wing Corey Perry (10) celebrates after shooting the puck past Colorado Avalanche goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere (35) for a goal in the second period at the Honda Center. The Ducks defeated the Avalanche 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There were a lot of  reasons to think that he might have wanted to come to the Senators, but in the end the Ducks had to open the wallet and make sure they kept their best player in the fold and to avoid the distraction of trade rumors that were certain to pop up and get louder as the trade deadline approached and he remained ticketed to become an unrestricted free agent.

For the fans of the Senators, it is disappointing because they like to think about what could have been. Now, where does that attention turn?  Perry was the one target that seemed too good to be true, with a situation that led one to think there were better than average odds that a superstar would choose to play here.  I don’t know if that set of circumstances that I wrote about a couple of months ago exists elsewhere.