Anyone who has followed the Tampa Bay Lightning over the past decade knows that General Manager and Vice President of Hockey Operations Julien BriseBois will push the proverbial chips to the center of the table when he believes in his team.
BriseBois did so on Friday before this season’s 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline, bringing back forward Corey Perry from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Tampa Bay’s second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.
Perry, 40, helped the Lightning reach the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and scored 65 points with the Lightning across two seasons as a Bolt. His 237 career playoff games are third-most in NHL history.
Los Angeles retained 50% of Perry’s contract, a $2 million pact that expires at the end of this season.
“I’m not usually a fan of paying a price at the deadline to acquire a player on an expiring contract, but in this case there's significantly less risk because we know Corey, we have a relationship with him,” BriseBois said Friday. "We know he's gonna fit in great into the locker room and with our team on the ice. In talking with Coop (Coach Jon Cooper) after the trade, he'd already talked to a few of our leaders, and they were really pumped to have Corey back, as we are."
Friday’s acquisition was about Tampa Bay adding not only a quality player but also another leader to their roster. On a trade deadline day that might have seemed slower than others across the league, the Lightning believe their team is better than it was yesterday.
"Corey is a winner with a proven track record in the playoffs. He makes our team better,” BriseBois said.
“He will bring snarl to our group. He will bring additional scoring ability to our bottom six, so I’m really excited to bring him in. And with Corey Perry, it’s not all about production. It's also about the leadership he brings to our group and the influence he has on other players. He has this ability to bring guys into the fight. He knows when and how to raise the temperature on the ice. He knows when to calm things down, when that's what's needed, and that's priceless if you want to go on a long playoff run.”
The Lightning did so while only expending one draft pick two years from now. The Lightning didn’t empty their future assets on deadline day and still got better.
“At the end of the day, I feel like we've improved our team without giving up any of our prospects, without subtracting any of our regulars off of our roster,” BriseBois said, “and we still retain all of our premium draft picks going forward that we had coming into this deadline.”
The forward has scored 11 goals and 17 assists for 28 points in 50 games this season in Los Angeles. He was tied for fifth on the Kings in scoring, and his 59 penalty minutes led the team. He has 11 power-play points this season, third-most on Los Angeles.
Perry, sometimes referred to as “The Worm” or “Scorey Perry”, has continued to be a productive player late into his career. He scored 19 goals in 2024-25 for the Edmonton Oilers, helping them reach the Stanley Cup Final.
The veteran right wing has collected 459 goals and 963 points across 1,442 career games during his 21-season NHL career. BriseBois on Friday credited Perry’s ability to keep producing late into his career to his passion for the sport.
“I don't know that any player is as passionate as Corey Perry about hockey. He loves the game, he loves to compete,” the Lightning GM said. "He loves to muck it up. He loves the challenge of doing the hard things and the rewards that come with that. So I would say it's not so much a skillset as a mindset. That's what separates him from the other players. That's why he's still playing at a really high level at this age.”
