Corey Perry has been on his fair share of teams over the past six seasons. The 2010-11 Hart Trophy winner signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Kings when free agency opened on July 1, marking his sixth team since the start of the 2019-20 season.

The veteran played the past two seasons with the Edmonton Oilers and eliminated the Kings en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, where they fell to the Florida Panthers both times.

Perry said it was tough to leave a back-to-back finalist but is excited for another chapter in his storied career.

"[Signing with the Kings] came about pretty quickly. It was tough leaving Edmonton,” Perry said on TSN Radio. ”We had a good thing set up there with a great group of guys. But it's a new chapter and I look forward to it.”

The 40-year-old winger will return for a 21st NHL season in search of a second Stanley Cup after hoisting one with the Anaheim Ducks in 2006-07. Perry has come agonizingly close, having lost in the Stanley Cup Final in five of the past six seasons with the Oilers (2023-2025), Tampa Bay Lightning (2022-23), Montreal Canadiens (2020-21), and Dallas Stars (2019-20).

Perry says this past season was his best physically of all his recent Cup runs, adding that the numerous Finals losses are a big part of his motivation to keep playing.

"These playoffs have probably been the best I've felt in the past five or six years. I still have that drive and competitiveness, and that will to go to the rink every day,” Perry said. "That's a big part of what's keeping me going. It drives you and gives you more hunger. It's what I want to do: lift it one more time. My kid sees what’s going on. To do it for him would be pretty special."

Perry matched a playoff career high with 10 goals in the Oilers' most recent postseason run, trailing only Leon Draisaitl for the team lead.

Perry was drafted 28th overall by the Ducks in the 2003 NHL Draft and is one of three active players remaining from that class, joining defencemen Brent Burns and Ryan Suter. After spending the first 14 years of his career with the Ducks, Perry says it will be strange to go back into Anaheim with another division rival.

"Anaheim was a big part of my career. I call it home. It didn't work out the way everyone wanted it to. We moved on. I look back now and it's a different team. There's different management, and I don't really know anyone there,” said Perry. “At the same time, it's going to be weird going in there with a Kings uniform on. But it's a business and I'm here to help L.A."

Perry has recorded 448 goals and 487 assists for 935 points over his 1,392-game NHL career with the Ducks, Stars, Canadiens, Lightning, Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks. The Peterborough, Ont., native has represented Canada twice at the Olympics, winning gold in 2010 and 2014.