Could David Perron be the Next Kovalev?

2/11/2010 – Adam Steevens

Although the Blues are currently sitting outside of the playoff picture, the future is bright in St. Louis. Through the lean years of floundering in the Western Conference basement, they developed a cavalcade of young talent. The Blues Assistant General Manager, Jarmo Kekalainen, took a defense first approach with their draft picks, electing to build from the blueline up. In 2006, they selected Erik Johnson first overall in the draft, skipping over solid future NHLers, such as Jonathan Toews, Jordan Staal and Phil Kessel.

St. Louis has focused on building their defensive core, but surprisingly, their left-winger David Perron is the prospect that’s turning the most heads.

The twenty one year-old Quebec native broke the fifty point mark in 2008-2009, and sixty games into this season, he’s already matched his career-high goal output. Perron’s fifteen goals places him second only to Blues center Andy Mcdonald, and four of those tallies have come on the powerplay. Even more surprisingly, among all 2007 draftees, Perron is third in all-time career points, behind Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner. Over 202 games, he’s accumulated 108 total points – it’s not quite a point-per-game pace, but as young as Perron is, he has the time and potential to develop into a legitimate scoring threat every night. Even though he’s a slender and lanky forward (6’0 – 200lbs), Perron isn’t injury prone like most danglers; in fact, he played in 81 games last season for St. Louis.

The connections between David Perron and Alexi Kovalev are striking - in Kovalev’s rookie year, he notched 38 points over 65 games, while Perron recorded 27 points over 62 contests. Perron’s sophomore year, he amassed 15 goals and 35 assists, for a total of 50 points over 81 games, but in 1994 (Kovalev’s second year in the league), Alexi complied 56 points over 76 games. Statistically, they nearly mirror each other – but it’s their style of play that draws the most similarities.

Much like Kovalev, he’s enigmatic and streaky at times, and the knock on Perron is that he’s not responsible enough in the defensive zone – but few young kids in the League are. What’s unique about David Perron is his ability to create chances on offense, either by beating a defenseman one-on-one, or firing a cross-ice pass to an open teammate. His hockey sense is precise and creative – and every once in a while, Perron exhibits an incredible flash of brilliance, just like he did against the Islanders earlier this year:

He’s got amazing hands, decent point production and a huge upside – it’s clear Perron has a long future in the NHL if he can manage to stay healthy. Could Perron, like Kovalev, post a 95 point season someday? The depth of his offensive talent and the longevity of his career remain to be seen, but Blues fans have a reason to be hopeful – #57 could be a legit superstar in the NHL very soon.