Of what I've seen from Perreault is that he has the hockey IQ and stick and passing skills on about a level with Fox and Panarin. Fox ain't the fastest player and Panarin's a great skater but he's not really a speed demon. Neither Fox or Panarin have yet to play a game in the AHL. Neither of them are particularly physical players either. Their whole thing is guile.....being smart all over the ice and not putting themselves in vulnerable positions (or at least not very often) to get creamed by hits. Perreault game pretty much thrives on the major components of those two. He can make unreal plays all over the ice again and again. One thing also I saw several times from him last year is an ability to disappear in traffic and then reappear in a dangerous scoring area. His hockey brain is just outstanding.
If he's not strong enough for the NHL he's not strong enough for the AHL. If anything the AHL is a nastier and more physical league. There are more goons and players who will fight at the drop of a hat and there are plenty of guys running around banging bodies hoping that'll be a ticket onto an NHL 4th line somewhere. That league is all about making enough impression to get a call up look see and for most players in that league to have any hope they need to be going all out all of the time. There are a lot of angry, frustrated and bitter players in the AHL and the difference between making $80,000 in Albany or Springfield vs. making at least $750,000 for even the worst NHL team also plays into it.
