Former discard Peverley boosts Thrashers, earns big payday
When Rich Peverley signed the first seven-figure deal of his career a few weeks back, he could have been excused for splurging on something to celebrate.
A new car, maybe a high-end entertainment system -- you know, something special to serve as a reminder of the day he had finally arrived in the NHL would have been nice. And besides, Peverley had earned it.
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| Peverley has proven to be a scorer who also provides key help on Atlanta's special teams. (US Presswire) |
He put up points.
Ten of them in nine games since signing the deal, in fact, a total that includes three goals (and a shootout winner) and gives Peverley 17 points for the season. That's enough to lead the Thrashers and, more important, provide immediate dividends from the deal for Atlanta.
Good thing, too, because the Thrashers have been without superstar captain Ilya Kovalchuk for the past six of those games. Atlanta has managed to split them and keep its head above water in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and possibly prove to Kovalchuk, an unrestricted free agent after the season, that the team is finally headed in the right direction.
If it is, Peverley's impact since Atlanta plucked him off the waiver wire from Nashville last January is a big reason.
"We got him because we needed a second-line guy to put some points on the board, and he filled that role right away," Atlanta coach John Anderson said. "He makes our team better."
The numbers say as much. Atlanta has been above .500 only twice in its first nine seasons but has gone 28-22-6 with Peverley. He scored 35 points in 39 games to help the Thrashers make a second-half run at a playoff spot last season, and he has been among the league's top 20 scorers through most of this one, even while playing with a variety of wingers.
"We have a lot of guys now who can create things so you play on any line on this team and you have a chance to score goals," Peverley said. "But it's been nice to have a chance to put up some offense."
Peverley didn't really get that chance much with Nashville, which is odd because his former team is desperate for scoring these days. The money-conscious Predators are barely getting two goals a game, and Peverley, who was with them for brief stints in two seasons after the lockout and at the start of the last one, was a minimum wager on a two-way contract.
But Peverley spent much of his time with the Predators in energy roles, getting fourth-line minutes and being asked to focus more on defense than offense. "My first year in Nashville, they were one of the highest scoring teams in league with [Paul] Kariya and [Peter] Forsberg and those guys, so I was kind of looked to be a depth player," Peverley said. "The next couple of years I was put in different roles and it was kind of tough.
"But at the same time they had their money guys that were being paid to be producers. That's the way it goes in the business now, and I wasn't in that category."
That made Peverley the odd man out when Steve Sullivan returned to Nashville after a two-year recovery from back surgery. A roster spot was needed, so Nashville waived Peverley in an effort to send him back to the minors. Peverley said he wasn't caught entirely off guard by the move because he realized his production had been underwhelming.
Still, as someone who was bypassed by major junior teams and then forced to start professionally in the ECHL -- a Double-A league where most players are more happy being able to avoid real jobs than have real NHL aspirations -- and who didn't become a part of an NHL organization until he was 24, Peverley couldn't help but wonder if the door to the bigs was being shut for good. "Yeah, you kind of think that the window of opportunity is only so big, and at the time I thought that maybe I had kind of lost mine," Peverley said. "You think about a lot of things, and you hope someone will pick up, but if not, I was committed to going back to the minors and working at getting another chance."
The happy ending is that Atlanta gave it to him within 24 hours, and neither party has looked back since. Throughout his career, Peverley has stayed around the point-per-game mark whenever he has played regularly, starting with his NCAA days at St. Lawrence University through the ECHL and AHL and now with the Thrashers.
"Even if he's not on our top line, he kills penalties, plays power play and a regular shift so his minutes give him the opportunities to score," Anderson said. "And as a player, you want to prove people wrong and that there were 30 teams wrong by not drafting him. Having that chip helps him at game time."
And it keeps Peverley grounded when it's over.
"When you play in the ECHL and the minors, you really have to appreciate the financial part of the game," Peverley said. "It's nice to have some security, but you always have to think about your future and realize you have to keep pushing because you're always playing for your next contract."
