Corey Perry becomes first NHL player to reach Stanley Cup Final with five different teams

Guess who’s back…back again…Perry’s back…tell a friend.

With the Edmonton Oilers defeating the Dallas Stars on Sunday night to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final, one of their veterans has made history.

Forward Corey Perry has become the first player in National Hockey League history to make it to the Finals with five different teams.

It might sound like a strange statistic, but it is true. The Hart Trophy winner turned journeyman has been to the big dance with various groups, especially in recent history.

Perry’s first taste of success came early on in his career, when he was a tough, but talented Anaheim Ducks team that won the franchise’s first, and so far only Stanley Cup in 2007. It would be a while before the Peterborough native would make it back to the Finals. After signing with the Dallas Stars in 2020, he helped the Stars advance to the final, ultimately losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The next year, he joined the Montreal Canadiens, who went on one of the strangest Cinderella runs in history. However, once again, Perry would come short of winning the Cup, thanks to the Lightning. That led to Perry signing with Tampa in 2021, with the hopes of helping the team win an unprecedented third straight championship. However, the Lightning ended up losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 Final. Perry made history that year by become the first player to make it to the final with three different teams in three consecutive years.

The fact that Perry is even in this position is crazy, especially with how this season started. The 39-year-old’s UFA rights were traded by Tampa to the Chicago Blackhawks last June, with Perry signing with the Blackhawks to get a chance to play with first-overall draft pick Connor Bedard. However, that all came crashing down in November, when his contract was terminated following an off-ice incident.

After nearly two months away, Perry was given a second chance, signing with the Oilers for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. The move has been beneficial for Perry, who found himself on a red-hot team with aspirations of finally making this their year.

In 38 regular season games with Edmonton, Perry scored eight goals and 13 points. He has registered an assist while playing in 13 of the Oilers’ 18 playoff games thus far.