Blackhawks’ GM Kyle Davidson: Corey Perry will be away from team for ‘foreseeable future’

Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson held a media availability on Saturday morning to address Corey Perry’s status as questions continue to swirl around his mysterious absence.

“There’s no update on that end,” Davidson said. “He’s away from the team and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I’m unable to provide any further update on that front.”

Davidson said he “understands” there’s speculation out there as to what’s going on, but respectfully didn’t want to get into details. He did, however, provide some sort of clarity on one front.

“It’s been a team decision so far to hold him out and that’s all I’m able to provide,” Davidson said. “It is coming from the organization’s end, yes.”

Davidson did not want to get into specifics as far as whether it could be trade-related or any other reason.

“I think it’s, to start ruling anything out is irresponsible,” Davidson said. “So I’m just going to not comment on any possible outcome of this.”

Perry was an unexpected healthy scratch in Columbus on Wednesday, with the team calling it an “organizational decision.” He did not practice on Thursday and was scratched for a second straight game on Friday.

Perry, 38, was tied for third on the Blackhawks in goals (four) and points (nine) prior to his absence. He’s been a key part of the team and is part of the leadership group.

With Perry’s absence and Taylor Hall expected to be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, Davidson wasn’t ruling out the possibility of adding to the roster to help stabilize the forward group. But he acknowledged it would be difficult to do at this moment.

“We’ll see,” Davidson said. “It’s not an easy thing to do just to add on the fly, especially this early in the season. There are probably other teams that would be far more aggressive than us in trying to add talent if we were to look at that. It’s not something I’m looking at right now.”

Click here to follow the Blackhawks Talk Podcast.