NEWS! Corey Perry Out 3-4 Weeks, Ilya Bryzgalov Signed

First and foremost.  Corey Perry will miss 3-4 weeks with a left knee sprain per the team, after suffering a low but not entirely dirty hip check from Keith Ballard Friday night in Minnesota.  Of course, missing your leading goal scorer for upwards of a month is never a good thing, but this certainly could have been worse news.

Also, something to consider is that Patrick Maroon was injured on a similar (but more clumsy) play with a similar timeline early in the season against Buffalo and ended up missing only eight games in 16 days.  However, Perry is a slightly more valuable asset, to put it lightly, and since the Ducks are currently atop the league standings, there is really no reason to rush him back into the lineup before he's 100% fit.

In other, more positive news, the team announced that it has signed Ilya Bryzgalov to a one year contract, reportedly worth $2.88 million.  That's a nice chunk of change, when you realize that he is now the highest paid goaltender in the Ducks' system... AND that's before he gets the $1.63 million in buyout money from Philadelphia (for the next 12 years, by the way).  Not only that, but $2.88 is more than Andersen, Gibson and Jason LaBarbera make combined.  While that is a lot, also in comparison to Martin Brodeur's $700,000 contract in St. Louis, that salacious detail really goes to show how insanely cheap the three incumbents are.  Also, for reference now the top four Ducks goalies now make just slightly more combined than what Jonas Hiller (who hasn't played in nearly two weeks) pulls down in Calgary.

That high price tag, for someone who was an unrestricted free agent in December, may lend credence to the rumors of John Gibson returning to Norfolk for some more seasoning once he recovers from his groin injury.  Speaking of which... Gibson was on the ice at Honda Center practicing with the team (as were Frederik Andersen and Igor Bobkov) but per Lance Pugmire of the LA Times, Bryz is expected to be ready to play before Gibson.  Furthermore to that point, Bryz is in Norfok now on a conditioning stint and per Eric Stephens of the OC Register is expected to play for the Admirals tomorrow night against the Charlotte Checkers.

Also of some note on the injury front, Ben Lovejoy and Dany Heatley continued to skate with the team today on their recoveries from a broken hand and groin pull, respectively.