David Perron has never done things the easy way.

Eligible for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at 15, Perron wavered about playing in the NCAA. Teams passed him over.

One year later, amid rumors of being tough to handle and uncoachable, and with the prospect of going to the NCAA still hanging over his head, Perron again slipped past 18 QMJHL teams and their scouts.

When he was 18, the Lewiston Maineiacs took a chance, drafting Perron in the sixth round of the league’s entry draft, capping his meteoric rise from Bantam ‘AA’ to Major Junior.

The young sniper more than earned his keep in a Maineiacs’ uniform last season, and he again defied the odds when he went in the first round of the National Hockey League’s entry draft – one year late, as a 19-year-old – to the St. Louis Blues at No. 26.

Now, Perron is again turning heads. He’s played in seven games with the Blues and has scored two goals and added three assists. This Friday, after he plays in his ninth game with the NHL club, executives there will have to decide whether to keep him, burn the first year of Perron’s contract and expedite his path to free agency by a year, or send him back to Lewiston for one more year of junior hockey.

Singing the Blues

Perron never came to the Lewiston Maineiacs’ training camp this fall. He played for Team Canada in the Canada-Russia Super Series, and went straight to the Blues’ preseason camp.

He impressed coaches and upper management with his skill set, but he was still a bit soft. he was, after all, just 19 years old.

“He’s playing against men, and David is just turning into a man,” Maineiacs’ head coach Ed Harding said. “If you see him with his shirt off, he’s not the biggest kid in the world, but he’s a feisty little kid. His biggest thing is his skating, him being strong on his skates.”

Perron endeared himself to the Maineiacs’ staff last season with his strong work ethic.

“He wants to be a player,” Harding said. “Virtually the first one on, and he was most of the time the last one off. He’d fool around with his stick-handling. He knows he has some liabilities, and he knows he has to work on them.”

Things haven’t changed much in St. Louis, either.

“He’s first on the ice every day and he’s the last one off,” Blues’ president John Davidson said. “He knows he wants to stay here, any young man would, and he’s working very hard to try and do that.”

What often drives Perron is his desire to prove the critics wrong.

“I don’t think many people in Lewiston or back home thought I’d make the NHL at 19, and now it’s not a question to make it or not,” Perron said. “I think they’re very, very impressed with how hard I’m working on and off the ice and in the gym. I’m not one of the strongest guys on the team. I’m probably one of the weakest, but they’ve been impressed by how hard I’ve worked.”

Game action

Perron was a healthy scratch for several of the Blues’ early regular-season games. His friends, family – and Maineiacs’ fans – wondered why he wasn’t playing. There were cries to send him back to Lewiston, where he could get more ice time.

“I told them, now that I am here it’s just I have to be patient,” Perron said. “I’m here, I’m making an NHL salary, I have an NHL staff to work with, and I’m always on the ice, and I get the whole day to do whatever I want on the ice with an NHL rink and everything. For me, it’s not about playing or not. I knew if I kept my focus I’d get my chance.”

“We want to take a look at David as a player who will help us and our organization now, and it’s also more about what’s best for him as a person and as a hockey player,” Davidson said.

Perron worked hard, ate right and kept skating in practice. Eventually, the game time came his way.

“They wanted to bring me slowly into the lineup to see how I would play with all these guys, so I didn’t get to play much at first, but I played the last (six) games,” Perron said.

In seven games, Perron has a pair of goals and three helpers. He’s playing on a line with veterans Doug Weight and Martin Rucinsky, which is where he’ll play if he stays with the Blues all season.

The big question

Perron’s status is still officially up in the air. Harding said the Blues told the Maineiacs the prospect of Perron’s return is “50-50.”

According to Davidson, the salary and free agency issue isn’t as big a deal as some people are making it out to be. If Perron plays with the Blues past his ninth game, the Blues lose him one year earlier as a potential free agent, and the first year of his entry-level deal kicks in.

“That doesn’t weigh into our decision a whole lot,” Davidson said. “If David plays the rest of the season here, we’ll have eight players on the roster who are 24 years old and under, and even more coming in next year, so we’re going to be young for a while anyway.”

Of course, his return to Lewiston would also help the Maineiacs’ offense, which hasn’t been stellar this season.

“I’ve been involved in junior hockey, too,” Davidson said. “I know how much he means to the Maineiacs if he’s on the club, but ultimately, it’s about what’s best for him.”

“If (I don’t stay with the Blues), I’ll work with my coaches and my teammates to win another President’s Cup, and hopefully a Memorial Cup this time,” Perron said. “It’s whatever the Blues want for me now.”

That, too, still appears to be a question, though the answer may be drawing near.

“He’s got a long way to go,” Davidson said. “As far as the NHL goes, he’s still a baby. But he’s got a great willingness to learn. That’s going to make him a better player, and we’re going to give him the chance to be a better player.”