Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson held a media presentation Saturday morning to address Corey Perry’s status as questions continue to arise about his mysterious absence.
“There is no update on this,” Davidson said. “He is not in the team and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I cannot provide any further information regarding this.”
Davidson said he “understands” that there is speculation out there about what’s going on, but didn’t want to go into detail out of respect. However, it did provide clarity in one respect.
“So far it’s been a team decision to keep him out and that’s all I can offer,” Davidson said. “It comes from the end of the organization, yes.”
Davidson declined to elaborate on whether the reason could be trade-related or otherwise.
“I think it’s irresponsible to rule anything out,” Davidson said. “So I’m just not going to comment on a possible outcome.”
Perry was an unexpected healthy scratch Wednesday in Columbus, with the team calling it an “organizational decision.” He did not practice on Thursday and was ruled out for the second straight game on Friday.
Perry, 38, ranked third with the Blackhawks in goals (four) and points (nine) before his absence. He was an important part of the team and is part of the leadership group.
With Perry sidelined and Taylor Hall expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, Davidson didn’t rule out the possibility of adding to the roster to help stabilize the forward group. But he acknowledged it would be difficult to do so at this moment.
“We’ll see,” Davidson said. “It’s not easy to spontaneously recruit young people, especially so early in the season. There are probably other teams that would be far more aggressive in trying to add talent than we would be if we looked at this. “That’s not the case.” something I’m looking at right now.
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