The LA Kings have released the following statement regarding forward Corey Perry –
The LA Kings have announced forward Corey Perry was injured during a training skate on Friday, September 12. Perry underwent successful knee surgery on Friday and will be out 6-8 weeks.
Man that’s brutal.
Reports of Perry potentially being injured during yesterday’s captain’s skate circulated yesterday afternoon. Seemed to be confirmed pretty quickly and handled pretty quickly, with Perry undergoing a successful procedure yesterday. The injury will cost Perry all of training camp and will likely cost him the first month or so of the regular season. It’s awful for Perry, who came to Los Angeles in pursuit of that elusive second Stanley Cup championship. Perry has a lot of value in the regular season, certainly, though the real reason the Kings came for him was for what he brings in the playoffs. The update today suggests that is in no doubt. For a new player, though, coming into a new team and trying to work his way in, learn new systems, establish chemistry with new teammates, he’ll lose his best opportunity to do that during training camp. And that sucks.
Hoping for the best in his recovery and that we see him back with the group sooner rather than later. Six weeks from today, which is the short-end of the timeline, brings us to October 25, nine games into the regular season. Eight weeks puts us into early-November. No sense in speculating beyond that and I’ll provide updates as they come regarding Perry’s recovery.
As for how it impacts the NHL roster, well, training camp just got a little bit more interesting up front.
If you want my best guess at how this impacts things, it certainly opens up a roster spot at the bottom of the lineup. The path for Samuel Helenius got a little bit clearer and you could easily see a fourth line of Turcotte – Helenius – Armia with Perry out. It also opens up the door for players such as Jeff Malott, Andre Lee and Akil Thomas to have a clearer path to the roster. Malott played playoff games last year and did well in a short sample size down the stretch. He’s got a path to a spot in the lineup on Opening Night with Perry out and knowing his mentality, he’ll be inclined to try and take it. There’s also Liam Greentree, who has an outside chance at making the team, and this certainly does not hurt his odds. Big weekend ahead for Greentree, beginning with rookie camp games against San Jose and Anaheim. There could also potentially now be a bigger chance the Kings open the season with eight defensemen, which benefits a player like Kyle Burroughs, a good teammate and versatile bottom-pairing option. On the roster front, there’s an open spot now for someone to claim.
Kings and Sharks rookies coming up today at 1 PM. Game preview to follow closer to today’s game.
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