David Perron

[Judge Smails 4]

great, new article on David in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch - link http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...7E?OpenDocument

St. Louis Blues' Andy Murray, David Perron are bridging gap

BY DAN O'NEILL

POST-DISPATCH GOLF COLUMNIST

11/17/2009

At times, it seems as if David Perron is the family dog and Andy Murray is the neighborhood mailman. Neither is crazy about the other.

Yet, there are plenty of streets where dogs and mailmen get along just fine. They have come to an understanding, learned to respect each other, live with each other. Perhaps the 1400 block of Clark Street, where the Scottrade Center is situated, is that kind of street.

Murray takes exception to the suggestion he doesn't care for Perron. Rather, he points out the two share the most important element to their relationship — a love of hockey.

"I love his passion," the Blues coach said. "David has a lot of his passion; he just needs to channel it in the right way."

Perhaps nothing illustrates the volatile chemistry of Perron's place with the Blues more than a recent evening against the Vancouver Canucks, a game in which he collected his first NHL hat trick, a game in which he also sat for a couple of shifts for play the coaching staff found less productive.

Perron has style, Murray wants substance. Somewhere in the middle, there is a consistency, a happy medium where both will live in peace and harmony, where the Blues will flourish. This place is one both believe they are approaching, slowly but surely.

"For me, I have my style of play and I have built some other stuff around that," Perron said. "Hopefully that has made me a better player and hopefully I am going to keep building around that. I know, like, sometimes the coaches want you to play a certain way. But we all have our own style of play. That's why we are here, and that's why we're going to stay here.

"Sometimes it's tough for people to understand that, if you change your style of play, and things aren't going your way, now you're not in the NHL anymore. Where if you play your own style and you build around that, you can get better. That's what I am trying to do."

If you took a poll in the Blues locker room, you would find sentiment on both sides of the ledger. It would suggest Murray is right not to indulge Perron. The coaching staff generally is slow to flatter any of the Blues' young players, as they push the newbies to expect the most from themselves. Be that as it is, Perron has made significant strides in recent months. Perhaps he has earned a little more slack.

In quiet time, away from spotlights or cameras, Murray is more inclined to compliment his emerging winger. "He's so much more professional than he ever was, and he's getting better at that every single day," Murray said. "Now, I see it off the ice pretty well all the time."

Then again, let's not get all mushy here. "There's still the odd things on the ice," Murray added, "where you wonder, 'David, what were you thinking there?' and you scratch your head."

Truth is, there have been numerous sources for head scratching in recent days while the Blues try to crawl out from a slow start. But if people are wondering about the credibility of the team's youth movement, Perron has offered endorsement. Now all of 21, he leads the team with seven goals and has 11 points and consistently has been among the Blues' most visible players.

At the same time, he continues to take the occasional bad penalty, make the occasional baffling play. He continues to digest what Murray preaches and tailor spontaneous instincts to a more scripted hockey discipline. Perron will not lie to you. The relationship between individuality and conformity is not always natural, not always pleasant, not always understood. But it is a relationship he is determined to make work.

A native of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Perron explains in his halting-but-engaging French accent. More than 90 percent of the population in Sherbrooke speak French as a mother language.

"Not just with the coaches but with everything, with being in the NHL, with getting used to everything, I think it's fair to say I've had maybe a tougher route than some other guys on the team, maybe less of a pass," he said. "But that's all right. I mean, I'm a young guy and that's what every young guy should get. You have to prove yourself, prove you want to be in the NHL and want to be a great player in this league."

The lay person might not fully comprehend the monumental jump Perron has made. Less than three years before he played his first NHL game he was playing at the Midget B level in his home suburb of Fleurimont.

He played just one season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey league — scoring 83 points in 70 games — before the Blues made him a No. 1 pick in the 2007 NHL draft, the 26th player taken overall. One draft earlier, in 2006, Perron was passed over entirely by all 30 teams.

The leap to making the Blues roster out of training camp in 2007 is akin to a baseball player making the Cardinals' major league roster after one season of Class AA ball. Moreover, risk-taking and head-scratching incidents always have been part of Perron's profile, along with the mad puck-handling skills.

Murray spotted the rookie's ice time during the initial 2007-08 season, playing him in 62 games overall. Perron had 13 goals and 27 points. He nearly doubled that output last season, registering 35 assists to go with 15 goals. His pace this season would net more than 30 goals and 50 points.

Last April, Perron emerged as one of the Blues' most dynamic performers in a playoff series with Vancouver. Creating chances and antagonizing the Canucks with his grit, Perron had a goal and an assist and was a plus 3 in the four games. He demonstrated the same kind of tenacity last Tuesday against Vancouver, scoring two of his goals in front of the net.

For Perron, the line that leads to more prominence is directly connected to ice time.

"I had a lot of ice time in the playoffs; I think I had like 25 minutes in Game 4," said Perron, who has averaged 19 minutes of ice in the Blues' last three games, including 21 minutes in Saturday's loss to San Jose.

"For me, I think the more I play, I just feel better out there. Sometimes there are going to be nights where you don't feel good in the first period, but by the second and third period you work yourself into it and you're playing well and really helping the team out."

For Murray, that explanation is slightly backward. Ice time ahead of performance is the cart before the horse. He doesn't deny he expects a lot from Perron, but he insists the motive is to ensure that kind of juxtaposition doesn't happen. Anything else would be doing the player a disservice.

"I just think that you have to earn it," Murray said. "And when you earn it, you appreciate it. When it's given to you, sometimes it's a short-term thing. We're looking at the long-term development of our kids. To me, if you give something to somebody, I don't think they appreciate it as much.

"I'm a big believer in the ability to listen. When you're a good listener, when you have something to say, people are going to hear it."

For young players, self analysis can be a most difficult thing. For veteran coaches, patience and forbearance can be hard to show. Years from now, Perron and Murray will look back at this time with a different perspective.

But as the Blues search for answers, David Perron is listening better and certainly being heard from more often. And both player and coach have one goal in mind — winning.

"I want to win, most of all," said Perron. "I think our relationship is good overall. What are we going to do, anyway? We can't do anything else, we just have to deal with it. Like with anybody, you're going to have a different mentality sometimes, different personalities. We just have to deal with it. I talk to him and he talks to me. That's the most important thing."

[Chadd 916]

It's funny that Murray expects the kids to earn their ice time but the vets can stink up the joint and still see 20 minutes of ice on any given night.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

Good call... :)

It's funny that Murray expects the kids to earn their ice time but the vets can stink up the joint and still see 20 minutes of ice on any given night.

[Drewhunz 3]

FWIW- since you guys may stay in town overnight next week, you're more than welcome to come over for Thanksgiving. :)

[RadioGaGa 162]

FWIW- since you guys may stay in town overnight next week, you're more than welcome to come over for Thanksgiving. :)

You want to be more specific...are you inviting the Perron's or ALL the Blues *L*

[furlanitalia 1]

That was my first thought - I was picturing 20+ hockey players knocking on the door. That would definitely be A LOT of turkey lol!

[Drewhunz 3]

I meant the whole team. It pays to have 2 ovens and 3 fryers ;)

[furlanitalia 1]

Wow, count me in lol. Might be a great team bonding session actually....

[legiahockey 3]

FWIW- since you guys may stay in town overnight next week, you're more than welcome to come over for Thanksgiving. :)

gotta love some texas fried turkey! david better take up this offer haha

[mack 44]

Hell, I'd swing over to Drew's rather than be stuck with the in-laws in Houston.

[Drewhunz 3]

Come on over. You have the address.

[Judge Smails 4]

David with the goal of the year tonight - he had 2 goals and was the #1 star of the game

[bednarz877 0]

what a goal, unbelievable.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

Haha he just made Streit his bitch.

http://blues.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?hlg=2...23&fr=false

[MLSman 22]

David...we are all pretty happy to find out how it felt looking up at the scoreboard watching YOUR goal on the rafters....that had to feel...

Amazing

Streit's ankles must be killing him right now.

[jbyun04 7]

Haha he just made Streit his bitch.

http://blues.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?hlg=2...23&fr=false

Wow.

Also how does he feel about being the face of Blues TV? :lol:

[li7039 0]

great goal david, you could not have picked a better team to do it against too

[K9 Unit 1]

lol broke his ankles bad...same with roloson

[KryptOng 9]

Just watching CBC HNIC and they just mentioned/showed David Perron's Twitter account on him switching curves and ModSquadHockey got it's 2 seconds of airtime thanks to DP! lol

[cptjeff 0]

Perron's twitter about changing his curve just got shown on after hours, complete with MSH tag on the post. And they showed the goal.

BTW, David, if you're reading this, would ya mind sending me one of your old sticks if you decide to stick with the new curve?

['fitz 0]

I'd say after today the curve is doing pretty good.

[Law Goalie 147]

TSN's reaction: "It's... it's just sexy."

[malcb33 97]

Holy Jumpin!!

Perron Goal vs Isles

[legiahockey 3]

siiiiccckkkkk!!!!!!! perron just jumped to the top of my list. wow sickkk goal

[Judge Smails 4]

another nice interview with David

http://www.insidestl.com/STLBlues/tabid/14...vid-Perron.aspx

insideSTL Blues Spotlight- David Perron

By Kevin Lorenz Thursday, November 19, 2009

It’s that time of the week again. Although the poll says otherwise, David Perron is this week’s winner. A reminder, the polls close Tuesday night at 11:59 so I can have some time to prepare for the interview. My apologies to all the Cam Janssen supporters, feel free to vote for him next week.

But without further ado, I met up with David Perron Wednesday following practice. Here’s what he had to say.

On being a late bloomer:

“To be honest with you it was when I was 15 16 years old, I liked hockey a lot but I really got the passion for it and I knew that that was the only thing I wanted to do

was be a hockey player.”

On whether or not he was disappointed over being skipped in the 2006 draft:

“Oh not at all, I wasn’t thinking about that, I was just thinking about getting better as a player. But I didn’t expect to be drafted.”

On his feelings going into the 2007 draft:

“Well before that year no one knew who I was. I had a pretty good year and our team did really good too, (we) went to the Memorial Cup (which is the biggest tournament in Juniors) and from there I was talking to a lot of scouts and they were telling me second, third round, and as the year was progressing they were talking even higher…I even heard some people talking either top ten or top fifteen and I was thinking oh my god I can’t believe that you’re telling me this.” (The Blues would draft him 26th overall).

On his hands:

“When I was really young I didn’t have good hands but, I started practicing every night in my basement and I got really good at it. I think one thing that was always there too was being tenacious on the puck and creating turnovers and stuff like that.”

Working on stickhandling:

“Over the summer, I’d say 15-20 minutes a day just on stickhandling. And same with the shooting. This summer I took a lot of shots in my basement, and on the ice after practice, me and Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes always try to improve on each and every detail.”

On moving up each year:

“I was working really hard in the summers and I guess everything fell into the right spot. I think playing with better players makes it easier if you want it, and everyone on my teams helped me a lot.”

On growing up in Canada:

“Well hockey, that’s all it is. It’s like here with baseball or football and that’s all people are thinking about, that’s why it’s so great, I mean you think about it and every time you wake up you watch the sports news it’s hockey for 25 minutes and the other 5 minutes it’s football and baseball. So it’s a lot different here, it’s fun that there’s less pressure.”

On playing the Montreal Canadians:

“It’s more exciting than tough, I mean every time I play Montréal, it’s a special game for me."

Describe your first NHL hat trick.

“It’s different than any hat trick in any other leagues…there’s a lot more hats on the ice. It was pretty special, just scoring one goal is fun, and two is even better. But three is unreal in the NHL.”

Best hockey moment?

“Like I said every game in the NHL is exciting, and scoring big goals for your team is fun. One of my favorite ones was against Detroit my first year and I scored 2 goals when we were down 2-0 and we came back and won 4-3 or 4-2.”

What would you be if you weren’t a hockey player?

“That’d be a tough one, probably homeless or something…I’m just saying I guess when I turned 16 that was the only thing on my mind and I knew I could do it if I put the work in, and I didn’t think about doing anything else. I did my high school, I got good grades and everything, just didn’t really think about that, and went for hockey and if it didn’t work, I’d think about that after.”

Fav hockey movie?

Rocket Richard, it’s a French movie about Maurice Richard…I don’t know if it’s in English, but it explains how he went through a lot of problems with English speaking people. Sometimes that’s what happens with us as well. Back then there was some discrimination between the French and English speaking players and it was very inspiring for French people to watch that.”

Favorite place to eat in STL:

“I’d have to say either Ruth’s Chris, Fleming’s or Morton’s, any steakhouse.”

Favorite song currently on the radio:

“I’d have to say Paparazzi, by Lady Gaga. Every time I turn on the radio it’s on for some reason so I kinda got used to it.”

Fun fact

“I’d love to get my pilot license one day, and see if I like it, and maybe one day I’ll get my own plane