Even among the palm trees and sandy beaches of sun-splashed Orange Country, the magnetic pull from southern Ontario could be felt.

There were emails and tweets, phone calls and text messages, all wanting to know what was up with his contract, all hoping to find out if he was coming home.

They came from family and friends in Peterborough, his home town, and from London, where he played his junior hockey for the Knights.

Imagine the possibilities.

Sign with the Maple Leafs as a free agent next season and you could be just an hour away from your parents up in Kawartha Country. Join the Red Wings under similar circumstances and you would be just a 90-minute drive from London, where you still own a residence.

“I’m not going to lie to you. All those things weighed on my mind,” Corey Perry, 27, said from Anaheim during a phone interview on Tuesday.

“They weighed on my mind a lot.”