This in from 91-year-old Don Cherry, Canada’s most venerable hockey commentator who was once voted the 7th greatest Canadian of all-time, his ongoing praise of Edmonton Oilers folk hero Corey Perry.
Today on his Grapevine podcast, Cherry said Perry belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Cherry started off by listing Perry’s accomplishments: “Corey Perry won a Memorial Cup, a World Junior gold medal, two Olympic gold medals, a Stanley Cup, a Hart Trophy, Rocket Richard Trophy, played over 1,300 games, has over 430 goals, has over 920 points, over 1,400 minutes in penalties, which is pretty good, over 85 fights.”
The show’s host, Cherry’s son Tim, suggested that Perry might not be the right type of player favoured by the Hall of Fame committee.
Cherry Sr. agreed: “No, he’s not. Dale Hunter, he’s a Dale Hunter-type.”
Hunter was a famously nasty and competitive forward in the 1980s and 1990s with the Quebec Nordiques and Washington Caps, who scored 1020 points in 1407 NHL regular season games. But unlike Perry, Hunter was never Team Canada quality.
Perry has 925 points in 1365 regular season games, but 441 goals, along with his stellar winning record that has seen him on one Cup winner in Anaheim, and making it to the Stanley Cup Final five times with five different teams, an astonishing accomplishment.
Don Cherry concluded his argument saying, “He should be in with the Stanley Cup, Hart Trophy, the whole thing. He should be in.”
My take
1. Perry has shut up almost all Edmonton critics this year with his timely goal-scoring and fierce aggression against opponents. He achieved folk hero status in Edmonton when he fought fire with fire, picking up and dumping Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes on his head in a scrum in retaliation for a constant stream of Vancouver crosschecks to the face and back of Oilers stars, not to mention Conor Garland’s unpenalized mugging of Connor McDavid in a game this year.
2. At age 39 this season, Perry ranks 41st overall out of 601 regular NHL players (more than 300 5-on-5 minutes) when it comes to goal scoring at 5-on-5 in 2024-25. He’s scoring 1.09 per 60 minutes, with only Leon Draisaitl ahead of him on the Oilers, 1.17 per 60, good for 26th overall.
3. On the Oilers this year, Perry has played his way up from the fourth line to the top line. He’s rebounded from a weak 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs and looks like he’ll be a positive factor in the 2005 playoffs if he can stay healthy.
4.. Should Perry be in the Hall of Fame? Yes. Any player good enough to twice win gold medals on Team Canada in the Olympics should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame – and Perry has had numerous other successful moments in his career.
At the Cult of Hockey
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