Toronto Maple Leafs Rumour: Mutual Interest in Free Agent Corey Perry

News broke out in the Toronto Maple Leafs world Thursday morning when Carlo Colaiacovo stated on TSN's First Up that he had heard their was mutual interest between the club and unrestricted free agent Corey Perry.

Perry signed with the Chicago Black Hawks this past summer on a one-year deal worth a shocking $4 Million. However, just 16 games into his Hawks tenure something happened off-ice that that resulted in the organization terminating his contract.

After taking a leave of absence of the league to seek some help, Perry met with Commissioner Gary Bettman earlier this week and the big boss did not have issue with the player rejoining the league.

Former Toronto Maple Leafs winger and current hockey analyst Mike Johnson joined First Up on Thursday to discuss the possibility of the two sides agreeing on a contract and spoke about all the pros and cons to bringing the former Hart Trophy winner.

Toronto Maple Leafs Rumour: Mutual Interest in Free Agent Corey Perry

Johnson explained that Perry would help any team on the ice as he's comfortable playing on the fourth line and can move up the line-up and despite the recent events he has a pretty good reputation within the dressing room. The issue would be "is the juice worth the squeeze?" Would the fallout of doing it be worth the role that Corey Perry is going to play?".

Perry carries the nickname "The Rat" as he has been able to get under the skin of players and for the most part without putting his team shorthanded. The team has only had Nazem Kadri and Michael Bunting play a similar type of role, unfortunately, they both appeared to be the officials and George Parros primary targets.

The former first round pick will turn 39 years-old part way through the upcoming playoffs, but with age he also brings a wealth of experience. Perry has played in nearly 1,300 regular season games, along with 196 playoff games, wining one Stanley Cup, while appearing in the finals three consecutive years from 2020-2022.

Many fans will likely say the team should stay away from Perry because of their hatred they had to him playing against the Maple Leafs or because of the recent events that happened when he was in Chicago.

When it comes to how he played against the Maple Leafs, that is exactly the type of player the team needs going into the playoffs. As for what happened in Chicago, nobody actually knows what occurred, which did not result in a league suspension and Bettman had no issue with letting him return to hockey.

Perry is a low risk high reward signing if the team can get him near league minimum.