Welcome to our series on who wore each number best for the Penguins.
The idea is being openly borrowed from our new hockey writer, Cody Tucker, and his project at the Lansing State Journal covering all the uniform numbers worn through Michigan State football history, one that’s been well received by their readers and prompted heavy discussion and debate.
Under the organization of Taylor Haase, and following the voting of a big chunk of our staff, we’ll publish one new one each day until completion, which should be right around the start of training camp.
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Name: David Perron
Number: 39
Position: Left wing
Born: May 28, 1988, in Sherbrooke, Quebec
Seasons with Penguins: 2015-2016
Statistics with Penguins: 86 games, 16 goals, 22 assists in regular season; 5 games, zero goals, 1 assist in playoffs.
WHY PERRON?
Hey, we never said this was called "Who Wore it Greatest." Sometimes there's only a few players who wore a high number, like No. 39. Perron played 43 games in it (and 43 in No. 57) and though he failed to live up to great expectations, he still wore it longer and better than any of the eight previous guys. No offense to Mike Needham and Luca Caputi.
The Penguins acquired Perron from Edmonton on Jan. 2, 2015, in exchange for Rob Klinkhammer and their first round pick in the '15 draft.
Perron had a first-round pedigree and a lot of potential. With St. Louis and Edmonton, Perron had established himself as a solid 20-goal scorer, but he also had a substantial injury history. He played just 10 games in 2010-11 due to a concussion but he showed himself to be fairly durable since.
The hope was that Perron could develop into a 30-plus goal scorer surrounded by a strong supporting cast in Pittsburgh. And for a while it looked like that might happen.
On Jan. 3, 2015, he scored a goal in his Penguins debut, a 4-1 loss to Montreal:
Ten days later he scored a pair of goals in a win over Minnesota, starting a stretch of three straight games with one marker. That, however, proved to be the zenith of his brief career in Pittsburgh.
Perron scored 12 goals in 43 games in 2014-15. He averaged 0.51 points per game, less than the 0.58 he had in St. Louis and 0.66 he had in Edmonton. Worse, Perron had just one assist in the playoffs as the Penguins bowed out meekly against the Rangers, who won the series in Game 5 on Carl Hagelin's goal in OT.
The following season was an even greater struggle. Perron had just four goals in 43 games as his points per game averaged dipped to .37.
On Jan. 16, 2016, nearly a month after Mike Sullivan was hired as a coach and almost a year to the day after he'd been acquired, Jim Rutherford sent Perron, a pending free agent, packing again. He was flipped to the Anaheim Ducks along with Adam Clendening in exchange for Hagelin.
That spring, Hagelin -- and HBK linemates, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel -- helped the Penguins to the Stanley Cup.
Oh, remember that first-round pick the Oilers got from the Penguins in exchange for Perron? Edmonton traded it (and the 33rd overall pick) to the Islanders in exchange for ... Griffin Reinhart, who is currently plying his trade in the AHL.
With the 16th overall pick in 2015, the Islanders selected Mathew Barzal.
That's OK, with the No. 1 overall pick that year the Oilers selected some kid from Erie, Connor McDavid.
It seems to have worked out well for all parties involved. Well, except for Perron.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
This season the 30-year-old Perron returns to the St. Louis Blues, the team that drafted him 26th overall in 2007, traded him in 2013, re-signed him as a free agent in 2016 and then left him exposed in the 2017 expansion draft. The Blues are the only team that Perron has ever signed a contract with. Perron is coming off a 16-goal season with the Vegas Golden Knights, whom he helped to an unlikely berth in the Stanley Cup Final.
IT WAS SPOKEN
“It was difficult at times as far as the team, but it makes you appreciate a situation like Pittsburgh. Winning hockey games is fun. You come to the rink every day with a smile on your face. You're never grumpy. You're just happy to be a part of it. That's the thing I'm looking forward to.” - Perron, after his 2015 trade from Edmonton to the Penguins.
HONORABLE MENTION AT NO. 39:
Mike Needham
ANY DEBATE?
No. Somebody had to win.
Tomorrow: Taylor Haase has No. 40.
Yesterday: Jan Hrdina
