The Kings’ Corey Perry era has gotten off on the wrong foot, as Perry underwent knee surgery and will miss six to eight weeks, the team announced Saturday.
Perry sustained the injury Friday while skating at the Kings’ practice facility in El Segundo. John Hoven was the first to report the injury and indicated that Perry required a wheelchair when departing the Toyota Sports Performance Center.
The timeline provided by the team would push Perry’s Kings debut back to early to mid-November.
Earlier in the week, Perry threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Dodgers game, an early effort to ingratiate himself with a fanbase that loathed him across three decades.
At age 40, Perry had been a reviled foe of the Kings in various stops in his career, most notably with the Ducks from 2005-19. Perry won the Stanley Cup and the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player as a Duck. More recently, he has participated in five of the past six Stanley Cup Final series, losing all five. That included consecutive runs with the Edmonton Oilers, the Kings’ preeminent rival of this era that has bounced them from the first round four times in a row.
Perry, who potted 19 goals last season and another 10 in the playoffs for Edmonton, was brought in on a bonus-laden deal to bolster a seldom-used fourth line while being able to play higher in the lineup, contribute on the power play and reach the most disputed areas of the ice.
Now, the Kings will begin the campaign without Perry. That should open the door for both second-year center Samuel Helenius and 2019 lottery pick turned renovation project Alex Turcotte to start the season in the lineup alongside Joel Armia, another Kings’ free-agent signing. It could also crack a window for prospect Liam Greentree, scrappy Andre Lee or newly acquired Logan Brown.
Perry, Armia and new backup goalie Anton Forsberg were part of a busy July 1 for new Kings general manager Ken Holland. Holland had guided the Oilers from 2019-24, signing Perry there, as well as defenseman Cody Ceci. Ceci and former Duck Brian Dumoulin were added to the Kings’ blue line after they soured on Jordan Spence and fumbled once-promising negotiations with Vladislav Gavrikov.
Holland’s group will take the ice for the first time in the season opener against the Colorado Avalanche at home on Oct. 7.