David Perron doesn’t seem to have any hard feelings toward Edmonton.

Doesn’t have much reason to.

After all, when the Oilers sent him to the Penguins for blue-collar winger Rob Klinkhammer and a first-round draft choice Jan. 2, he was transplanted from perennial bottom-feeder to a team that believes it is capable of contending for a Stanley Cup this spring.

So Perron isn’t rooting for any particular misfortune to befall the Oilers, whom the Penguins will face Wednesday at Rexall Place.

Fact is, he is genuinely pleased that Edmonton has been fairly competitive in recent weeks, going 3-2 in their previous five games before visiting San Jose Monday night.

“They’ve been playing a lot better lately,” Perron said. “And it’s good to see.”

Not that their recent brush with respectability has done anything to alter the course of the season. The Oilers were 13-28-9 before facing the Sharks and are anchored in next-to-last place in the overall standings.

The only thing Edmonton reasonably can expect to accomplish by stringing victories together between now and the end of the regular season will be to hurt its draft position; 22 points separated the Oilers from the final Western Conference playoff berth going into games Monday night.

That’s the kind of predicament a team should count on being in after winning six of its first 26 games (6-15-5).

“The way they’re playing the last little while is how they need to play from the start of the year,” Perron said. “Last year, we started so bad.

“The last part of the year, we were a lot better, and everyone thinks that the next year, you’re going to come back and play the exact same way, but it’s a lot different, to get a good start and to finish strong.

“They have to learn to play that game from the start. They have some guys over there who are definitely pulling in the right direction.”

Even though forwards such as Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have the kind of talent around which a competitive team can be built, it has been years since Edmonton made a serious run at a playoff spot.

“When it starts to snowball in the other way, it’s kind of the same as when it starts to snowball in the right way for you,” Perron said. “That’s kind of what they’ve got going there.”

The Penguins are in a minor freefall lately, going 2-4-2 in their past eight games.