Valeri Nichushkin Out 4 Months: What Now?

The Dallas Stars announced Saturday night that forward Valeri Nichushkin is set to have hip surgery that will sideline him for the next four months.

Nichushkin has been bothered by hip/groin soreness since his first day back on the ice in September at training camp. Nichushkin was limited at training camp due to it and it followed him through the preseason and into the regular season. Nichushkin has yet to claim a point this season and has a -3 rating through four games.

Valeri Nichushkin played with the Stars in their first two matchups of the regular season. After that, the hip acted up again and he sat out for the Stars’ next nine games. He came back for the game against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, November 4 for another two games. After the game against the Nashville Predators two days later, he once again expressed pain and sat out for another duration of time. After four games missed including today’s against the Minnesota Wild, the announcement was finally made.

“We had it diagnosed, and decided surgery is the best thing,” Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill said. “It’s very similar to what Klingberg had, and we expect it to have similar results.”

John Klingberg had a double hip surgery this past summer and was ready in time to play a few preseason games with the Stars. He is now one of the Stars six defensemen and is making a big impact, so all is well.

“I didn’t want to do it, I wanted to work on building strength in the summer,” Klingberg said. “But now I feel much better and I am glad I did it.”

But, now with Nichushkin out, the question on everyone’s mind is what does it mean to the Dallas Stars and what will they do?

They will get along as they have been for the majority of the season. If this were a sudden injury, that would be a different story. But Valeri Nichushkin has missed over three-fourths of the year so far, and the Dallas Stars, though not prettily, have managed along. The Stars originally answered the problem at the beginning of the year by using Patrick Eaves, who they picked up in the past offseason and designated as the healthy scratch at the beginning of the season. Once Nichushkin came back and quickly left again, Curtis McKenzie filled the void as Cody Eakin sat out as well. Now the Stars have 12 players, all of who played today, on their roster. Patrick Eaves makes thirteen, but he is sidelined for “a little bit” after taking a puck to the foot against the Los Angeles Kings this past Thursday.

But the Dallas Stars have an ace in the hole.

Since the beginning of the season, Lindy Ruff has enjoyed having a healthy scratch in each game, someone who practices with the team and give him flexibility. With Valeri Nichushkin now out, it looked like he had lost his opportunity with the other injuries the Stars are facing. The Stars would rather not call up another player from the Texas Stars, but they do not have to anymore.

It almost seems as though Jim Nill was expecting the worst for Valeri Nichushkin, and therefore he acted with a trade on Tuesday with the Montreal Canadiens. The Dallas Stars parted ways with veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar and picked up forward Travis Moen. Moen has eleven years in the NHL and has accumulated 125 points through 690 games played. Though not a superstar, Moen is a checking forward and plays well on the penalty kill. After dealing with immigration and finally making it to a skate with Dallas on Friday, Ruff wants to give him a chance to get acquainted with the team, then get him in a game. We could see Moen as early as Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

But now with Nichushkin out, the Stars still have all their bases covered, with a full lineup and an extra man waiting.

Nichushkin’s injury will sideline him for four months, and that would get him back on the ice around mid-March, just in time to get back into his groove and get ready for the playoffs. We wish him a quick and safe recovery.

Leave your comments and questions below, and as always, thanks for reading!