Corey Perry's agent released a brief statement on Saturday regarding his client's status as questions continue to swirl around the Chicago Blackhawks forward's mysterious absence.
"Corey Perry has stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks to attend to personal matters," Pat Morris of Newport Sports Management told Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. "Corey and his family appreciate privacy at this time."
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Earlier in the day, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson held a media availability to address Perry's status and said "he's away from the team and will remain so for the foreseeable future."
Davidson said the decision to hold out Perry is "coming from the organization's end" and "that's all I'm able to provide."
Nevertheless, Perry isn't with the team right now and it's unclear when he'll be back, if at all. Davidson did not want to get into specifics as far as whether it could be trade-related or any other reason.
"I think it's, to start ruling anything out is irresponsible," Davidson said. "So I'm just going to not comment on any possible outcome of this."
Chicago Blackhawks
Perry was an unexpected healthy scratch in Columbus on Wednesday, with the team calling it an "organizational decision." He did not practice on Thursday and was scratched for a second straight game on Friday.
Perry, 38, was tied for third on the Blackhawks in goals (four) and points (nine) prior to his absence. He's been a key part of the team and is part of the leadership group.
With Perry's absence and Taylor Hall expected to be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, Davidson wasn't ruling out the possibility of adding to the roster to help stabilize the forward group. But he acknowledged it would be difficult to do at this moment.
"We'll see," Davidson said. "It's not an easy thing to do just to add on the fly, especially this early in the season. There are probably other teams that would be far more aggressive than us in trying to add talent if we were to look at that. It's not something I'm looking at right now."