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David Perron lays out major goals for Red Wings

He's now the elder statesman on the team.

Red Wings Feed

The Detroit Red Wings acquired some much-needed veteran scoring on the wing with the signing of former St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup winning forward David Perron this offseason; he was one of several pieces added to the team in general manager Steve Yzerman's busy shopping spree on the free agent market. 

At 34 years of age, the veteran Perron is now the oldest player on the roster, and aims to play a key role in Detroit's rebuilding process as they look to take the next step. 

"I think for me at the stage of my career that I am at, I want to be a difference maker on the ice, still, bring some of the stuff that I was doing in St. Louis," Perron said Thursday from Center ICE Arena in Traverse City. "Team-wise is really where I want to make a difference also, leadership-wise, team identity, talking about some of the details. Kind of being an extension if you will, kind of preaching the right stuff in the room by talking and by my play. Making sure that the staples defensively and throughout our system are there consistently."

Perron has appeared in 973 games, having scored 269 goals with 396 career assists. In 104 postseason games, he's scored 24 goals with 37 assists. He contributed seven goals and nine assists during the Blues 2019 run to the Stanley Cup championship, their first in their history.

He enjoyed a successful final year with the Blues, scoring 27 goals with 30 assists before adding another nine goals in 12 playoff games, including an opening round Game 1 hat trick against the Minnesota Wild.