Perreault hits 600-game mark

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This article was published 19/11/2019 (2119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NASHVILLE — Mathieu Perreault calls it the defining moment of his decade-long NHL career.

Signing a free-agent contract with the Winnipeg Jets in June 2014 offered him the closest thing he’d had to permanence in an NHL lineup and financial security for what would later become a growing family.

On Tuesday night, Perreault played his 372nd game in a Winnipeg jersey and the 600th of his NHL career. Not a bad milestone for a guy deemed too small by NHL scouts, ignored until late in the 2006 draft despite tearing up the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for two seasons, and stuck as a Washington Capitals farmhand for parts of three seasons.

“I worked extremely hard for everything I have. I was a sixth-rounder, so nothing’s given. I had to earn every single shift I’ve ever gotten in this league. I got healthy-scratched a lot early in my career, and I just stuck with it, worked as hard as I could and it paid off,” Perreault said Tuesday, prior to the Jets’ tilt with the Nashville Predators.

“Once I got to Winnipeg it’s where I stopped being a healthy scratch, I was a regular in the (Washington) lineup. But I had to battle for four or five years to just stick in the league.”

After three seasons with Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks and posted a highly productive season with head coach Bruce Boudreau, his former bench boss in Washington and with the club’s AHL team in Hershey, Pa. But his assignment near Disneyland was brief.

Perreault wasn’t looking to leave southern California but the decision was out of his hands. The Ducks acquired centres Ryan Kesler and Nate Thompson during the off-season and did not offer the restricted free agent a qualifying offer, despite the fact he put up 18 goals and 25 assists in only 69 games.

“The Winnipeg Jets were the best option for me and we jumped on it, and it ended up being the best decision I’ve ever made for my career,” the 5-10, 180-pound forward said. “Literally, all the good money I’ve made in this league came from this organization, so I could never be thankful enough for what (head coach) Paul (Maurice) and the entire organization have done for me.”

In five-plus regular seasons in Winnipeg, Perreault has scored 77 goals and 204 points (prior to Tuesday night) primarily as a winger, while adding a goal and four helpers in 17 playoff games.

Perreault, who turns 32 in January, has been up and down the lineup during his Jets tenure, afforded some time on the top-six forward group and spot duty on the power play because of his skill but bouncing down to the third and fourth lines for his energy and forechecking skills.

Right now, he’s found a fit with centre Adam Lowry and Andrew Copp on a grinding third line that often matches up against other teams’ most lethal trios. He has five goals and two assists in 21 games.

“I feel like every time I get asked by Paul to move up the lineup through injuries or whatever it is, I’ve always taken the opportunity and run with it. You always want to play as many minutes as you can, so any time I get that chance, I’ve thrown it all out there trying to stay there,” Perreault said.

The product of Drummondville, Que., inked a four-year, US$16.5-million contract extension in 2016 — carrying an annual cap hit of US$4.5 million — that expires in the summer of 2021. It’s a pricey deal on the surface for a player who averages about 16 goals and 40 points a season, however, at that time, Winnipeg was preparing for an influx of young forwards and believed having a veteran jack of all trades in the group was important.

While Perreault has slowed some, his value to the organization isn’t in question, his longtime coach said.

“He’s able to play all different styles of game. He’s kind of with our checking group now on his off side (right wing) and looks good doing it. They look good together and he’s scoring some goals. He’s really developed into an all-around player that’s a utility guy,” Maurice said.

Perreault, who scored on a nifty deflection Saturday as the Jets clipped the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3, played his 500th NHL game in October 2018 — also in Nashville. Indeed, some of Perreault’s most enduring memories were created in Smashville.

“When I think of Game 7 in the playoffs two years ago, that’s for sure one of the highlights of my career,” he said. The Jets defeated Nashville on May 10, 2018 to win the post-season series 4-3 and move on to the Western Conference final.

But no memory compares to his league debut during the 2009-10 season when the Capitals called him up from the Hershey Bears for a game in New Jersey. He didn’t keep a low profile that night, either.

“I was playing on the fourth line that night and fortunately my second or third shift I got an assist. Tyler Sloan got a goal on (goalie) Martin Brodeur. And then we tied the game late — we pulled the goalie and I got an assist on (Alexander) Semin’s goal,” he said. “I ended up with two assists in my first game. It was surreal, so it’s gonna stick out in my mind for the rest of my life.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell