It’s that time of the week again.  Although the poll says otherwise, David Perron is this week’s winner.  A reminder, the polls close Tuesday night at 11:59 so I can have some time to prepare for the interview.  My apologies to all the Cam Janssen supporters, feel free to vote for him next week. 

But without further ado, I met up with David Perron Wednesday following practice.  Here’s what he had to say.

On being a late bloomer:
“To be honest with you it was when I was 15 16 years old, I liked hockey a lot but I really got the passion for it and I knew that that was the only thing I wanted to do
was be a hockey player.”

On whether or not he was disappointed over being skipped in the 2006 draft:
“Oh not at all, I wasn’t thinking about that, I was just thinking about getting better as a player.  But I didn’t expect to be drafted.”

On his feelings going into the 2007 draft:
“Well before that year no one knew who I was.  I had a pretty good year and our team did really good too, (we) went to the Memorial Cup (which is the biggest tournament in Juniors) and from there I was talking to a lot of scouts and they were telling me second, third round, and as the year was progressing they were talking even higher…I even heard some people talking either top ten or top fifteen and I was thinking oh my god I can’t believe that you’re telling me this.”  (The Blues would draft him 26th overall).

On his hands:
“When I was really young I didn’t have good hands but, I started practicing every night in my basement and I got really good at it.  I think one thing that was always there too was being tenacious on the puck and creating turnovers and stuff like that.”

Working on stickhandling:
“Over the summer, I’d say 15-20 minutes a day just on stickhandling.  And same with the shooting. This summer I took a lot of shots in my basement, and on the ice after practice, me and Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes always try to improve on each and every detail.”

On moving up each year:
“I was working really hard in the summers and I guess everything fell into the right spot.  I think playing with better players makes it easier if you want it, and everyone on my teams helped me a lot.”

On growing up in Canada:
“Well hockey, that’s all it is.  It’s like here with baseball or football and that’s all people are thinking about, that’s why it’s so great, I mean you think about it and every time you wake up you watch the sports news it’s hockey for 25 minutes and the other 5 minutes it’s football and baseball.  So it’s a lot different here, it’s fun that there’s less pressure.”

On playing the Montreal Canadians:
“It’s more exciting than tough, I mean every time I play Montréal, it’s a special game for me."

Describe your first NHL hat trick.
“It’s different than any hat trick in any other leagues…there’s a lot more hats on the ice.  It was pretty special, just scoring one goal is fun, and two is even better.  But three is unreal in the NHL.”

Best hockey moment?
“Like I said every game in the NHL is exciting, and scoring big goals for your team is fun.  One of my favorite ones was against Detroit my first year and I scored 2 goals when we were down 2-0 and we came back and won 4-3 or 4-2.”

What would you be if you weren’t a hockey player?
“That’d be a tough one, probably homeless or something…I’m just saying I guess when I turned 16 that was the only thing on my mind and I knew I could do it if I put the work in, and I didn’t think about doing anything else.  I did my high school, I got good grades and everything, just didn’t really think about that, and went for hockey and if it didn’t work, I’d think about that after.”

Fav hockey movie?
Rocket Richard, it’s a French movie about Maurice Richard…I don’t know if it’s in English, but it explains how he went through a lot of problems with English speaking people.  Sometimes that’s what happens with us as well.  Back then there was some discrimination between the French and English speaking players and it was very inspiring for French people to watch that.”

Favorite place to eat in STL:
“I’d have to say either Ruth’s Chris, Fleming’s or Morton’s, any steakhouse.”

Favorite song currently on the radio:
“I’d have to say Paparazzi, by Lady Gaga.  Every time I turn on the radio it’s on for some reason so I kinda got used to it.”

Fun fact
“I’d love to get my pilot license one day, and see if I like it, and maybe one day I’ll get my own plane.”