Ducks lock up Perry

ANAHEIM, Calif.—Corey Perry is following Ryan Getzlaf’s lead yet again, sticking with the Anaheim Ducks for the long term.
Perry agreed to an eight-year, $69-million contract extension with the Ducks last night, keeping the former NHL MVP with the club through the 2020-21 season.

Perry’s new deal is the same length as the extension signed by Getzlaf earlier this month—the longest contracts allowed under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement.
Just 10 days after Anaheim signed Getzlaf to a $66-million extension, Ducks’ owner Henry Samueli signed another enormous cheque for Perry—the goal-scoring beneficiary of Getzlaf’s play-making.
“It’s a huge relief,” Perry said during the second intermission of Anaheim’s 5-3 victory over San Jose.
“There were a lot of factors,” he noted. “With ‘Getzy’ signed, that’s a huge part of it.
“You look around the room,” he added. “There’s a lot of guys in that dressing room that are going to be here for a long time, and we can definitely contend every year.”
Perry and Getzlaf came into the NHL together and have played on the same line for nearly every game of their careers, winning the Stanley Cup in 2007 and earning Olympic gold medals for Canada together in 2010.
Both forwards were scheduled to be unrestricted free agents this summer, but both decided Anaheim has the ingredients to be a title contender for years to come—and the lifestyle in sunny Orange County doesn’t exactly hurt, either.
“We’ve been through a lot of things together,” Perry remarked. “We’re great friends off the ice, and on the ice he’s been there every game I’ve played.
“It’s an exciting time for both of us.”
Perry’s impending free agency could have forced Anaheim to consider trading its top goal-scorer to avoid losing him for nothing, but the Ducks now have their two cornerstones signed for the foreseeable future.
“That’s a big step in the right direction for this organization,” Getzlaf said.
“Me and ‘Perrs’ had some conversations in the last week, and the free agency thing is a route that some guys like to go,” he noted.
“But we’re in a pretty good situation here with a great ownership group, and we both showed that now.”