With five goals in his first 10 games, it looked St. Louis Blues forward David Perron was primed to jump a level or two during the 2010-11 season. That early upward trend was interrupted harshly when San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton caught him with a hit that earned Thornton a two-game suspension.
At the time, it almost seemed like an overreaction, at least considering the fact that it appeared largely accidental. Yet to the surprise of just about everyone, Perron never played another game during the 2010-11 season after that hit in November 2010. Since then, the Blues and Perron have been playing a post-concussion syndrome waiting game, with very few concrete details coming to the surface.
Now the question remains: will he even be back by training camp in September or at least the beginning of the 2011-12 season in October? It’s unclear at this point if that will be the case, but Perron said he would do almost anything to make that happen when he discussed his troublesome recovery process with Blues writer Lou Korac.Are you still searching for ways that can help speed up the recovery process?
There’s not much I didn’t try to do to get better and we’re still looking obviously to find if there’s stuff out there that can help or not. It’s frustrating when you watch the games and we don’t play as well as we know we can, and you want to be out there and maybe create a spark and help the team. But there’s also times when we play really well and it’s fun to watch.
I swear, I don’t care if I’m still not feeling better in September, I’ll still say the same: When I was younger, I had my back against the wall to make it to the NHL and I found a way. So I know I’ll find a way, and I don’t care what way it is ... I’ll take it.
So the frustration continues for Perron and the Blues. We’ll let you know as word surfaces about his progress, although it might take some time for the puzzlement and confusion to subside.