Did you honestly suggest that Perlini scored his goals by "playing with more talented players" despite scoring 31 goals in his first two years in Arizona between 2016 and 2018? Statistically speaking, those Arizona teams were worse than the Red Wings, and Perlini was playing third line minutes. Do you remember what the third line looked like for Detroit in those seasons? Perlini wasn't playing with anything close to Datsyuk or Zetterberg to inflate his production, and to suggest that he was paints an extremely unfair picture.
If you are SY and the Red Wings, you probably aren't so let down by the deal. You made the move as a educated gamble and hoping he caught hold and had some success, but if not, oh well. On the other hand, if you are Perlini, you're probably pretty pissed. You request a trade, essentially to save your career, and come in to a team with a clear lack of depth at the top; a team who needs offense, and since joining, you've never been given an opportunity to be on a line with some of the talent at the top. They bring in another player in a deal similar to the one where they acquired you, and that player on his first night and starts recording more ice time than you. He's given an immediate spot on the top powerplay unit, in the top 6, playing with actual NHL talent. You are now in a constant state of flux between third and fourth line minutes, playing with players like Nielsen, Hirose, Ehn, and you see the big power forward playing the top line and having major success this year go down to an injury, and with a clear need of offensive fire power in the next game, you find yourself....skating 10 minutes on the fourth line.
He very well may never end up being a player for the Wings, but at the very least they could do the minimum due diligence to see if there's any spark when surrounded by actual talent.[/QUOT