Corey Perry is returning to Tampa Bay, as the Los Angeles Kings shipped the veteran forward to the Lightning on Friday in exchange for a 2028 second-round draft selection.
Perry, who has 11 goals and 28 points in 50 games this season, will be reunited with his former Lightning teammates from a stint with the club from 2021 to 2023. Tampa Bay reached the Stanley Cup Final in both seasons, recording consecutive losses.
Perry won the Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks and has appeared in five of the past six Stanley Cup Finals and lost them all, including back-to-back with the Edmonton Oilers in 2024 and 2025.
He holds the record for reaching the Stanley Cup Final with five clubs in a career: Anaheim, Dallas, Montreal, Tampa Bay and Edmonton.
What makes Perry valuable in the postseason is not only his experience and skill but his peskiness and ability to disrupt the opposition. The Lightning have persevered through several key injuries this season to put themselves in a position to contend again, and Perry will add needed depth to their forward group.
Sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that Perry — who is on a one-year, $2 million deal laden with performance bonuses — just received a $250,000 bonus for appearing in 50 games this season, and the Lightning will pay him $125,000 for a first-round playoff win, $250,000 for the second round and $125,000 for a conference final win.
Los Angeles has struggled this season despite making a blockbuster trade last month for winger Artemi Panarin. The Kings lost forward Kevin Fiala to a broken leg suffered at the Olympics.
The Kings recently fired coach Jim Hiller and sit three points out of a Western Conference wild-card spot.
