Terry's Hip Surgery Leaves a Hole the Ducks Haven't Filled Yet

Troy Terry had 33 assists last season — more than anyone else on the roster — and he won't be in the lineup when training camp opens. The hip impingement and labral tear he had repaired in mid-June carries a five-to-six-month recovery window, which puts his return somewhere around late November at the earliest. That's a significant chunk of the schedule to play without the guy who quarterbacked your second line and connected the offense around Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier.

The timing compounds an already thin forward group. Mason McTavish was traded to St. Louis in June, so Anaheim is essentially replacing two forwards simultaneously. The moves made since — signing AJ Greer, acquiring Sean Farrell from the AHL, inking first-round pick Nikita Klepov to an entry-level deal — are organizational depth additions, not like-for-like replacements for what Terry brought at even strength. Beckett Sennecke is the natural candidate to absorb more right-wing responsibility, and he showed enough last season to warrant that trust. But Terry's playmaking at 46 points in 48 games isn't something you just redistribute.

What this really does is narrow the margin for Carlsson and Gauthier. Both are capable of carrying more — Gauthier led the team in goals, Carlsson in overall production — but last season's late collapse showed what happens when the supporting cast thins out. The Ducks scored half a goal less per game in their final 10 than they had in the 20 before it, and that was with Terry in the lineup. The math gets harder without him.