The Anaheim Ducks received a big blow to earlier this week when it was announced that rugged right-winger Corey Perry will miss the next five months following knee surgery.
Perry suffered an injury during warm-ups on Monday night in prior to the Ducks' exhibition game against the Arizona Coyotes.
The 33-year-old suffered damage to his meniscus and MCL after feeling a pop in his right knee.
Speaking with Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register, Ducks general manager Bob Murray gave some more insight into Perry's wonky knee, which has supposedly been ailing him for several seasons now.
“They saved his right meniscus, which was flopped over, and they also fixed his MCL that has been bad for the last three or four years, so they fixed that,” Murray said. “We talked (Tuesday) night and we, and Corey, decided it was time to get that (the damaged ligament) fixed.”
A former 50-goal scorer and Rocket Richard winner that secured the 2010-11 Hart Trophy as the regular season MVP, Perry's point production has declined over the last four seasons after scoring over a point per game in the 2013-14 season where he registered 82 points in 81 contests.
Although his PPG slightly improved last season compared to the 2016-17, he's clearly not the dominant agitating power-forward he once was.
When you factor in the fact that his MCL hasn't been up to standards in the last number of years as Murray pointed out, you can start to see why his production started to drop off.
With a unique combination of peskiness and talent, Perry became one of the top agitators in the game that was also capable of finishing at the top of the NHL's scoring leaders year in and year out.
But with his aggressive, pesky style that often tinkered on the boundaries of dirtiness, the wear and tear of 12 NHL seasons (with 10 of them including a post-season run) while playing in a tough Pacific Division seems to have caught up with the Peterborough, Ontario, product.
Already without the likes of Ryan Kesler, Patrick Eaves and Nick Ritchie to start the season, Perry's absence will open up a spot on the club's top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell.
Youngsters Ondrej Kase, Troy Terry, Kiefer Sherwood are likely to fill Perry's skates. 21-year-old Sam Steel could see some time on the Ducks powerplay given the offensive devoid.
Perry is expected to make his return to the Ducks sometime in March.
The former London Knight has three years left (including the 2018/19 season) on his eight-year, $69-million contract that pays him an annual average value of $8,625,000 per season that includes a no-movement clause.
