Surgery Sidelines Laperriere

Nothing changed for the Kings over the All-Star break.

Even before they reconvened Monday afternoon at their training facility in El Segundo, another player had dropped out of their lineup.

Ian Laperriere had surgery earlier in the day to remove bone chips and scar tissue from his right knee, a 15-minute arthroscopic procedure that the Kings said will sideline the forward for four to six weeks.

Laperriere, not surprisingly, said he’ll be back much sooner.

“They say four to six weeks,” he said after reading about his injury on the Internet. “Are you kidding me? I won’t be out for four weeks.”

Maybe half that, he said.

Laperriere, 29, said his knee had been bothering him for about two weeks before he was slashed by Owen Nolan of the San Jose Sharks in a 3-0 loss Jan. 27 at Staples Center. Then it really started hurting.

“I had a hard time keeping the swelling down,” he said.

But he played against the Sharks the next night at San Jose and again Thursday night in a 3-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

“He actually played one of his best games of the year against Ottawa,” Coach Andy Murray said, but Laperriere knew something wasn’t right.

On Friday, an MRI exam revealed the damage, and Monday team physician Ronald Kvitne removed a piece of cartilage about the size of a fingernail that Laperriere said had been floating inside his knee, causing it to lock.

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Jason Allison, who sat out the last three games before the All-Star break because of a strained hip flexor, returned to practice and said he would like to play Wednesday night against the Phoenix Coyotes. “It’s getting to be do-or-die time,” he said. “My philosophy is, if I can play, I want to play.”

Murray, however, said Allison was doubtful for Wednesday.

The outlook was more promising for Brad Chartrand, who also returned to practice after sitting out five games because of a strained back.

All of the other injured Kings -- Adam Deadmarsh, Eric Belanger, Lubomir Visnovksy, Michael Cammalleri, Ken Belanger, Kip Brennan and Felix Potvin -- are at least a week away from returning, Murray said.