The Anaheim Ducks just got some bad news on a guy they were counting on. Forward Troy Terry went under the knife earlier this month and won’t be back until deep into next season.
The team announced Thursday that Terry had surgery on June 9 for a hip impingement and a labral tear. Recovery timeline? Five to six months. That puts his return somewhere around November or December at the earliest, assuming everything goes smoothly.
Terry missed 20 games during the 2025-26 season but that wasn’t related to this hip issue. So it’s not like this was something that had been bothering him all year. It just popped up and needed fixing now.
What the Ducks are losing
Terry has been a steady piece for Anaheim since they grabbed him in the fifth round of the 2015 draft. Over 488 career regular season games he’s got 135 goals and 207 assists. That’s 342 points from a guy who wasn’t even supposed to be this kind of contributor when he came into the league.
He’s also shown up in the playoffs. In 12 career postseason games he’s put up three goals and eight assists. The Ducks finally got back to the playoffs this year after missing since 2018. They beat Edmonton in the first round before falling to Vegas in the conference semifinals. Vegas ended up winning the West.
Terry has only played 70 or more games in a season five times in his career. So durability has been a bit of a question mark already. Missing the start of next season doesn’t help that narrative.
More bad timing
This injury news comes right after the Ducks learned defenseman John Carlson plans to test free agency. So they’re potentially losing a veteran blue liner and now they won’t have one of their top forwards for a chunk of next season.
General manager Pat Verbeek has his work cut out for him. The Ducks need to show that this past season wasn’t a fluke. They made real progress. But losing a guy like Terry for months and possibly losing Carlson for good makes that a tougher sell.
The NHL Draft is coming up and the Ducks will have some decisions to make about how they replace that production. They’ve got young guys in the pipeline but asking them to step into a top-six role right away is a lot.
Anaheim said Terry has started rehab and they expect a full recovery. That’s the good news. The bad news is they’ll be waiting a while to see him back on the ice.
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