During David Perron’s first stint in St. Louis, I was never shy from voicing my opinions regarding his flaws and his play on the ice. His offensive zone penalties were continually scrutinized by Blues fans and deservedly so. Unfortunately, all of his slick moves and contributions to the team’s offense were diluted by the inconsistencies and the aforementioned penalties.
So far in 2016-17, Perron hasn’t recorded a point through five games. Some fans have already been quick to judge one of the team’s biggest summer acquisitions, but he has been better than his numbers indicate. Perron hasn’t assisted directly, but he has assisted in keeping plays alive in the offensive zone through some dangles and dekes where the puck would have exited the zone. Those plays haven’t amounted to anything tangible in his stat line, but they eventually will lead to assists and goals.
Perron has threatened, but hasn’t converted. That’s OK because it’s still early. If he wasn’t threatening, or if he looked overwhelmed or was making defensive mistakes, then there might be some room for concern.
Perron needs to start shooting more and capitalizing on the open space that he has found on the ice. In his career, Perron has averaged just over two shots per game. So far, and it’s really early, he’s under that average and as a result some of his other counting stats are off to a slow start too.
Five games is an extremely small sample. Perron’s offensive numbers aren’t there yet, but he would pass the eye test at this stage of the year. His positive plays have outnumbered his negative plays If Perron is still sitting at zeroes after 10 games, then that’s a different conversation, but for now fans should refrain from judging too harshly or quickly.
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