Knee injury to sideline Ducks’ Perry for 5 months
ANAHEIM, CALIF. — For the first time since Corey Perry broke into the National Hockey League as a feisty 20-year-old in 2005, the Anaheim Ducks will be without their goal-scoring right winger for a significant amount of time.
Perry is likely to be out for five months after significantly injuring his right knee during warm-ups for a pre-season game.
The league’s 2011 most valuable player had surgery Wednesday, Ducks general manager Bob Murray said.
Recovery time is typically at least 20 weeks, guaranteeing Perry will miss the bulk of a regular season for the first time in his career.
The 33-year-old forward tore his meniscus and injured a knee ligament during warm-ups at Honda Center on Monday night for a pre-season game against Arizona.
Perry scored 50 goals during his MVP season, and he has scored at least 25 goals in eight of his 13 seasons in a career spent entirely in Anaheim.
He has spent most of his 957 NHL games on a line with Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, his inextricable partner ever since they were drafted nine picks apart in the first round in 2003.
Although his production declined to 17 goals and 32 assists last year, Perry’s goal-scoring acumen and agitating style of play still make him an unavoidable factor in any opponent’s game plan.
He faced a challenge this season to integrate his hard-hitting, opportunistic style into Murray’s desire for the Ducks to play a speed-based game this winter, but that transition is on hold for at least a few months.
Perry also has been durable: He hasn’t missed more than 15 games in any season spent entirely in the NHL, and he has played in at least 80 games seven times.
He missed 11 games with a lower-body injury last season, but played in every game down the stretch.
Early-season injuries were a major problem last season for the Ducks, whose run of five consecutive Pacific Division titles ended.
Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Patrick Eaves, Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen all missed early games, and Anaheim never caught up to the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.