Alex Killorn’s first season with the Ducks has been somewhat of a struggle due to injury and the veteran will be out for a while once again. The team announced that the winger will undergo arthroscopic left knee surgery next week and he is expected to miss the next four to six weeks.
The 34-year-old signed with Anaheim in free agency, inking a four-year, $25MM contract, good for the highest AAV ($6.25MM) among any forward to sign on the open market this summer. However, his start to the year was delayed due to a fractured finger sustained in the preseason, one that caused him to miss nearly a month.
Since returning in early November, Killorn has played as expected. While no one should have been anticipating another career year offensively, he was brought in to be a stabilizing presence in Anaheim’s top six and play alongside some of their younger talents. He has done just that while still contributing at a reasonable clip, notching six goals and 13 assists in 34 games while taking a regular turn on both special teams units.
With the injury just being announced, the Ducks have not yet placed Killorn on injured reserve. However, with the team carrying a full-sized roster right now, he’ll likely land on IR in the near future, freeing up a roster spot to bring someone up from AHL San Diego.
Great player but why would Verbeek overpay and give far to much term to a guy who’s way past his prime? Especially on a team in a rebuild.
Way past his prime? The last 2 seasons have been his most productive.
Yesterday’s gone. Now he’s getting paid to do nothing for the second time this year.
Killorn is past his prime no doubt, it was terrible signing the moment the ink dried, it was a cap floor signing
Insane contract at the time and it only looks worse now. Obviously you can’t foresee injuries like this but the point still remains.
It’s a bad contract for a declining player. Only good thing is the Ducks don’t need the cap space now and probably won’t for the next 3 years. Because they’re going to be awful for the foreseeable future.
Love Killorn but you are exactly right! I would have given him 2 years at 2.5 annually. Take it or leave it.