Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green has announced that left-wing David Perron will make his return to the lineup Saturday versus the Carolina Hurricanes. Perron has been away from the club for the past 11 games following complications after the recent birth of his newborn daughter.

“It was a dark cloud hanging over my head that you’re trying to manage and live your life normally,” Perron told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. “There’s so many people that go through this situation. Now, it seems like it’s more under control … We’re not fully out of the woods, but we’re getting there.”

Perron, 36, is skating in his first season with the Senators after signing a two-year pact with the club this past offseason that carries a $4-million annual average value, per PuckPedia. The Sherbrooke, Que., native has been limited to five appearances this season, in which he has been held pointless and holds a minus-four rating. The veteran forward is coming off a modest season with the Detroit Red Wings in which he tied for sixth in team scoring with 47 points counting 17 goals and 30 assists in 76 contests.

This season, the experienced forward looks to brings some added leadership to an Ottawa squad with playoff aspirations. Through 16 games of 2024-25, the Senators own an 8-7-1 record and sit one point shy of a playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

A first-round selection by the St. Louis Blues in the 2007 NHL Draft, the well-travelled Perron has skated for the Blues on three occasions, underscored by a Stanley Cup championship in 2019, while his other stops include stints with the Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights, Detroit, and Ottawa. Through it all, Perron has 1,136 career contests to his credit in which he has registered 310 goals and 458 assists for 768 points.