This summer, the balance of power in the Pacific Division took a seismic shift.
The San Jose Sharks just traded for Erik Karlsson, giving Pete DeBoer three legitimate Norris Trophy candidates on his blue line in Karlsson, Brent Burns and Mac Edouard-Vlasic.
The Vegas Golden Knights are going all-in on another Stanley Cup playoff run by trading for Max Pacioretty and signing UFA Paul Stastny.
The LA Kings signed sniper Ilya Kovalchuk to add more potency to their offense.
Meanwhile, the Anahein Ducks keep falling out of the lead pack of teams in the Pacific.
Today, the Ducks were dealt terrible news.
Veteran right winger Corey Perry will miss five months or more after undergoing surgery to repair the meniscus and MCL (medial collateral ligament) in his right knee.
Ducks Executive VP and GM Bob Murray broke the news on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old Perry suffered the brutal injury pregame warmups prior to an exhibition game against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night in Anaheim.
The Perry injury will no doubt throw a monkey wrench in Randy Carlyle's forward lines.
Replacing Perry's power play and even strength scoring is going to be a huge challenge. Carlyle can elevate one of Jakob Silfverberg or Ondrej Kase to replace Perry in the top six. The Ducks are thin at right wing depth. Prospect Troy Terry might get a look in Perry's role.
Or, Bob Murray may go to the trade market to find a proven scorer.
Perry is a rare breed of power forward in the NHL who can hit, score, fight, make plays, block shots and defend. His body has absorbed a lot of collissions in his 13 year NHL career. So too have the bodies of his teammates.
The aging Ducks cannot absorb another injury to a key veteran performer. Forward Patrick Eaves (34) missed 80 games. Captain Ryan Getzlaf (34) missed 28 games with an injury. Ryan Kesler (34) missed 38 games. Antoine Vermette missed 18 games. Cam Fowler missed 15 games, Hampus Lindholm missed 13 games.
The Ducks are still on the mend from serious injuries last season.
In 2017-18, the Ducks were among the NHL's top 5 teams, regarding the impact of man-games lost (by cumulative minutes of players lost).
1. Vancouver 2. Buffalo 3. Montreal 4. Anaheim 5. Boston
Perry is a 13-year veteran whose foot speed has been showing visible signs of decline in the past couple of seasons, has been a durable player. He played in 71 games last season. He played in all 82 regular season games in 2016-17 and 2015-16. He played in 67 games in 2014-15.
Last season, Perry scored 17 goals and 32 assists in 71 games, his lowest point total since the 2006-07 season (44 points).
Perry is set to earn $8,625,000 this season. losing him for five or more months will create LTIR relief for Murray.
Perry earned his 400th career NHL assist in the regular-season finale on April 7, 2018 at Arizona, and joined Teemu Selanne (182) and Paul Kariya (107) as the three players in franchise history to reach 100 PPG on February 3, 2018 at Montreal.
BREAKING: #NHLDucks Executive Vice President and General Manager Bob Murray said Corey Perry had surgery today to repair meniscus and MCL injuries.
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) September 26, 2018
His recovery timetable is set for 20 weeks, or about five months.
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Perry isn't the only NHL veteran to be injured during the 2018-19 exhibition season.
The Tampa Lightning forwards Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson have been bitten by the injury bug.
Columbus Blue Jackets D Seth Jones was injured on Tuesday night.
Arizona Coyotes forward Alex Galchenyuk was injured over the weekend.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian was banged up as well. Sabres winger Conor Sheary suffered on September 14 camp and has missed the last 13 days of training camp.
Less exhibition games, less injuries.
Is that so hard to comprehend, NHL owners?!!
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The Buffalo Sabres were forced to play the third period of Tuesday nihht’s preseason games versus the Columbus Blue Jackets with a five man defensemen rotation.
The reason was veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian suffered an injury and was forced to sit out the final period of Buffalo’s 4-2 loss in Clinton, NY.
Phil Housley said Wednesday morning that Bogosian is day-to-day after suffering a lower-body injury.
Zach Bogosian is day-to-day (lower body), Coach Housley says.
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) September 26, 2018
Look for a younger lineup tonight against Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/A5vwYLje78
Housley said Bogosian will be further examined on Wednesday afternoon.
Bogosian missed 64 games last season. He recently underwent successful hip surgery and has been cleared for contact. Last week, Housley have Bogosian a few maintenance days.
Housley said Bogosian’s latest injury isn’t related to the hip ailment.
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On the bright side, Housley said Conor Sheary is moving closer to returning to the starting lineup.
The recently required veteran left winger suffered an upper-body injury on September 14.
Sheary might return to practice on Thursday.
Conor Sheary returning to practice this week? It might happen according to Housley.
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) September 26, 2018
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Sabres GM Jason Botterill has reduced his Buffalo training camp roster to 37 players by sending five players to the Rochester Amerks.
@BuffaloSabres have assigned Jonas Johansson,Kyle Criscuolo, Andrew Oglevie, Danny O’Regan and C.J. Smith to @AmerksHockey
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) September 26, 2018
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