Dallas Stars Being Assaulted By Injury Bug At Wrong Time

14 games remain in the Dallas Stars’ regular season schedule. They won’t be easy wins, and the injuries stacking up are just adding onto the difficulty.

The 2014-2015 season was an uneventful one for the Dallas Stars organization. After a strong pursuit that ended in a playoff berth in 2013-2014 and an offseason of improving, the Stars seemed destined for greatness.

Instead, they spent the entire season in an uphill battle that they never fully countered. As a result, they were stuck seven points out of the final wild card spot once the season ended.

Many Stars fans blame the inexperienced defensive core as the main reason for the Stars unsuccessful endeavors. Others pointed out the disappointing season of goalie Kari Lehtonen and the lack of a competent backup goaltender as the prime factors.

But there are some who blame an entirely different factor: the MCL injury that sidelined Tyler Seguin from February 13th – March 7th. The Stars were ultimately one of the more successful teams from December on last season, and were in the running for a playoff spot until the very end.

Throughout March, the Dallas Stars strung together a decent run that had them close to the final wild card spot. This run very well could have started in mid-February. The Seguin injury made sure that didn’t happen.

After a three-game losing streak kicked off the second month of 2015, the Stars recovered with three straight wins. Their third win came at a cost though, as the Stars lost Tyler Seguin to an unnecessary and completely avoidable MCL injury. Seguin took a cheap shot at the knees as he entered the offensive zone and would miss the rest of what would end up being a 2-0 win for the Stars over the Florida Panthers.

The Stars would obviously miss Seguin, who was their leading goal scorer at the time. With the inconsistent defense and goaltending during the year, the offense seemed to be the only factor that kept them afloat.

Boy, was it. For the duration that #91 was absent, the Stars went 3-7-0, including a six game losing streak. This can be pinpointed as one of the prime reasons that Dallas fell short in the playoff race.

Injuries suck. Not just for the player affected by it, but the team and fan base that has to adapt to life without the player. So far this season, the Dallas Stars have been primarily successful in avoiding longterm injuries. They have lost Patrick Eaves a couple of times this season, but Eaves is not essential to the Stars’ success. Same goes for Travis Moen and Ales Hemsky.

But Dallas has avoided the injuries that relate to the Tyler Seguin one of last season: losing a key player at a critical moment. Of the Stars 18 regular starting forwards and defenders, 15 have played 60 or more of the Stars 68 games this season.

Until now at least. Though the Stars seem to have avoided the effective injury bug for the majority of this season, it has finally caught up to them and stinging them in every way possible.

Last Tuesday night, the Stars were sporting a completely healthy lineup in a game against the Nashville Predators. Unfortunately, Patrick Sharp and Jordie Benn would not make it out of the game completely healthy. Both acquired lower-body injuries and would be out at least a week.

A bit of a shot to the offense and defense, but everything was still alright for the most part. The Stars went back home Friday night and ended a losing skid with a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils. But with the loss came consequences, as John Klingberg was sidelined with a lower-body injury as well.

Ouch. Losing an offensive defenseman like Klingberg was nothing to take lightly. Still, the Stars survived without him and won against Ottawa two days later.

But it gets worse. In a game against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night, Jason Demers was taken down in an awkward fashion and went to the locker room for the remainder of the game. The news now is that Demers is out with an upper-body injury and could miss the remainder of the regular season. That combination proved to break the camel’s back, as the Stars fell 4-3 to the lowly Canadiens in OT.

This quartet of injuries is a lethal mixture in regards to the Stars’ success. Benn has been playing exceptional defense as of late, Klingberg is the Stars best blue liner on offense, defense, and special teams, Demers is an effective defenseman at certain points while on the ice, and Sharp is one of the top veterans on the Dallas offense. With all of them missing, it is clear that the Stars are slipping into a funk.

The thing is, this is probably the worst time for all of this to happen. The Stars are in the midst of a tight race for the Central Division crown and playoff positioning. They currently sit first place by one point with a game out of hand to the Blackhawks, and are three points from third place in the division and no home-ice advantage.

In other words, it’s crunch time in Dallas and the Stars are missing a lot of soldiers. Let’s not even begin to talk about the drought that Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are going through right now.

More stars: Stars Receive Reality Check: They Will Not Get A Day Off

The Dallas Stars have two big home games this coming weekend against the Blackhawks (Friday) and St. Louis Blues (Saturday). These games will play a big factor in the seeding throughout the division, and the Stars will be playing shorthanded in a big way.

If these injuries had to happen, why couldn’t they have been spread out throughout the year? That would make it too easy, I guess.

On the bright side, Patrick Sharp should be back by Friday’s game against Chicago, and Jordie Benn is a possibility. Klingberg was “still not ready” after tonight’s game, so his status remains unclear.

Next: Injuries Grow Worse As Stars Drop 4-3 In OT To Montreal

One thing is clear: the Dallas Stars are in big trouble and need to be in panic mode. Panic will hopefully bring a clear solution with it.