Red Wings forward David Perron spoke with Le Journal de Quebec’s Frederic Marcoux at a charity golf tournament in La Belle Province two days ago. Here’s a rough translation of their conversation, which was in French:
David Perron is ready to play a mentoring role in Detroit
Quebecois forward David Perron has mourned the loss of the St. Louis Blues this summer, but he is now ready to wear the Detroit Red Wings’ uniform, he explained on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at the Pro-Am Gagne-Bergeron, in Quebec.
Quebecer David Perrn has mourned the Blues after 11 seasons with St. Louis. Now he wants to play a mentoring role in Detroit.
The break-up with the Blues hurt the 34-year-old left winger.
“It was disappointing,” agreed Perron, on the sidelines of the Gagne-Bergeron Pro-Am, a few days ago. “I had been there for several years. My children grew up in St. Louis. We were used to it, we loved it. It’s difficult, I deserved a contract that would have made sense for the team and me.”
His main interest now, however, is looking forward.
“It’s time to turn the page,” he agreed. “I’m excited to go to Detroit. I had conversations with [General Manager] Steve Yzerman. The team is in the process of rebuilding. […] I am the oldest player on the team, I want to play a leadership role.”
“Not the Detroit Golden Knights”
Perron wants to put the experience of 973 games in the NHL to good use. With the Blues, he’s faced adversity, before winning the Stanley Cup in 2019. With the Golden Knights, during the organization’s first year in Las Vegas in 2017, he reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Perron believes that he has the tools to adapt quickly with the Michigan-based team.
The various signings of the Red Wings, who have notably acquired Ben Chiarot, Dominik Kubalik, and Ville Husso, will allow the team to aspire to success quickly, according to Perron.
“I want to make sure the guys come out together, and that there’s a team spirit as early in the season as possible, so we have an identity,” he said. “The year in Vegas, finding an identity was the first thing that we did. We ended up in the Stanley Cup Final. We won’t be the Detroit Golden Knights, but we have a lot of good parts in order to have a winning team.”
In St. Louis, though he didn’t have an alternate captain or captain’s letter on his jersey, Perron was one of the players in the leadership group of 5 or 6 players on the team. He expects to play a similar role with the new roster, which boasts promising youngsters like Lucas Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider, the latest Calder Trophy winner.
The Quebecer played his first game at 19 in Bettman’s league. It’s his turn to help the younger players.
“I consider myself lucky to have a long enough career that it’s allowed me to see both sides of the coin,” said Perron. “I will play an important role with the young players. When I started, Keith Tkachuk helped me. He was hard on me, but he was fair.”
