Not Even The Corey Perry Curse Was Strong Enough To Keep Connor McDavid From Winning His First Conn Smythe Trophy
It's been an insane 5 seasons for Corey Perry after he left the Anaheim Ducks in free agency back in the summer of 2019. First up he signed a 1-year deal with the Dallas Stars, who ended up losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final. He signed another 1-year deal after that, this time with the Montreal Canadiens in December of 2020. They, too, ended up losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. He got tired of losing to the Lightning in the Cup Final, so he decided to join them in the summer of 2021. In his first season with the Bolts, they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. After his 2nd year with Tampa ended early against Toronto, it seemed as if Corey Perry was done chasing one more Cup. He was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks and signed a 1-year deal with the team to help develop a budding generational talent in Connor Bedard. But after an off-ice incident led to his contract being terminated, he figured he'd go from one generational Connor to another by signing up to play with Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Once is by chance, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern, and the 4th is a stone cold bonafide curse.
Now in the previous 3 Finals losses, Corey Perry's team left the arena without any hardware. Last night, however, there was a little changeup thrown into the mix. Because while the Corey Perry curse may have been strong enough to keep Connor McDavid from winning his first Stanley Cup, it couldn't contain the best player in the world from winning his first Conn Smythe Trophy. Becoming just the 2nd skater and 6th player ever to win the award in a losing effort.
The 4th most points in a single Stanley Cup Playoffs of all-time. The most assists in a single Stanley Cup Playoffs ever. Sure, games 6 and 7 may have been a little quiet for 97. But he single-handedly willed the Oilers back to life after going down 3-0 in the series. He had the double overtime winner in game 1 of the WCF. He had his signature moment of these playoffs with this assist to Corey Perry.
It was quite literally a historical playoff performance out of the best player on the planet. The best playoff performance we've ever seen out of a guy not named Gretzky or Lemieux. I'd say that South Florida fans should be ashamed of themselves for booing McDavid winning the Conn Smythe, but most of them didn't even realize that hockey existed before a couple months ago.
Brutal break for Corey Perry, but I'm glad the Hockey Gods at least did the right thing and made sure the Conn Smythe eventually made its way into the hands of the best player on the ice. At least I'm assuming he picked it up at some point last night, but maybe not.
Only 1 Conn Smythe behind Gretzky now. A few more Cups to go, though.