CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks say Corey Perry engaged in unacceptable conduct and they are moving toward terminating his contract in the latest twist involving the veteran winger who was sent home last week without explanation.
The Blackhawks said Tuesday in a statement that an internal investigation showed Perry acted in violation of his NHL Standard Player Contract and their club policies “intended to promote professional and safe work environments.” Chicago put Perry on unconditional waivers and said his deal will be terminated as long as he clears Wednesday.
The team has not given any indication as to what Perry did to warrant these actions.
“As this is an individual personnel matter, I will not be able to disclose any details related to the initial reporting or the findings,” GM Kyle Davidson said Tuesday.
“However, I do want to be very clear on this point. This does not involve any players or their families, and anything that suggests otherwise, or anyone that suggests otherwise, is wildly inaccurate and frankly it’s disgusting.”
Perry hasn’t played since he skated for almost 15 minutes during a 3-2 loss to Buffalo on Nov. 19. He was scratched for Chicago’s past three games before Tuesday night’s matchup with Seattle.
Perry played 19 games for the AHL Portland Pirates in 2005-06.
Agent Pat Morris did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the Blackhawks’ intent to terminate Perry’s contract. Over the weekend, he said in a statement that Perry had stepped away to attend to personal matters.
Davidson said the team learned about the accusations while it was in Columbus a week ago. The GM said he met with the players on Tuesday to inform them of the decision to cut ties with Perry.
Davidson also said he has been in contact with the NHL and NHL players’ association.
“The league was understanding of the situation, as was the players’ union,” he said. “All parties were informed, but again it was a team incident.”
The 38-year-old Perry was acquired in a June trade with Tampa Bay. He then agreed to a $4 million, one-year contract with the Blackhawks.
RED WINGS: Patrick Kane is joining the Detroit Red Wings for the rest of the season, choosing the championship-rich franchise over other suitors for the four-time All-Star’s return to the NHL from hip surgery.
He signed a contract worth a prorated $2.75 million, meaning he’ll make just over $2 million through mid-April.
Kane, who turned 35 on Nov. 19, was an unrestricted free agent rehabbing from hip resurfacing surgery in June. He has been skating since August and told The Associated Press in September that he was starting to feel like his old self again.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion with Chicago and 2016 league MVP chose Detroit over a handful of other interested teams, including his hometown Buffalo Sabres, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the reigning Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers.
Kane is attempting to become only the third player to come back to the NHL from the invasive hip operation, following defenseman Ed Jovanovski and center Nicklas Backstrom. Jovanovski played only 37 games afterward, and Backstrom recently stepped away from the Washington Capitals 47 games into his attempt amid concerns about how his artificial left hip was holding up, with a return this season unlikely.
BRUINS: Even for a goalie who’d been struggling a bit, getting yanked 6:14 into the second period is fast after allowing just two goals.
But that’s what Bruins Coach Jim Montgomery did when he pulled goalie Jeremy Swayman early in the middle period with Boston trailing 2-0 Monday night at Columbus. Swayman had 17 saves at that point. Montgomery said he was hoping to spark his team.
It didn’t work as Boston fell 5-2.
“I just thought we had no life. I wanted to see a little bit of change,” Montgomery said on NESN. “That was the reasoning behind it.”
He expanded on that in the press conference afterward.
“It was just a decision I made to try to slow the game down and let the entire team know we need to pick it up, we need to go north,” he said. “(Swayman) asked me ‘Why?’ I said, ‘We’ll discuss it tomorrow.’”
The Bruins have given up 19 goals in the past three games, but Montgomery said it would be a mistake to point fingers at Swayman or Linus Ullmark.
“I don’t pin it on the goalies,” he said. “I pin it on the lack of cohesion in front of the goalies.”
TUESDAY’S GAMES
DEVILS 5, ISLANDERS 4: Curtis Lazar scored the winning goal with 23 seconds left and Akira Schmid made 10 saves in relief as New Jersey rallied to win at home.
Lazar slid a loose puck past Ilya Sorokin for his fourth of the season to complete a three-goal comeback by the Devils in the third period.
New York led 4-2 entering the third before Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier scored to tie it. Hughes got his seventh goal at 5:08, then Hischier netted his fourth on a power play at 11:10. Hughes also had two assists.
HURRICANES 4, FLYERS 1: Michael Bunting had a goal and an assist as Carolina won at Philadelphia.
Seth Jarvis and Brendan Lemieux also scored as the Hurricanes won for the fourth time in five games. Sebastian Aho had two assists and Pyotr Kochetkov made 27 saves.
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