Dallas Stars Injuries Piling Up
The Dallas Stars have two games remaining in the 2015-16 regular season, one tomorrow night against the Colorado Avalanche and Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday against the Nashville Predators. While they’re currently in first place in the highly competitive Central Division, they could drop as low as third.
Third place in the toughest division in hockey is quite the feat, especially for a team that didn’t qualify for the postseason last year. Dallas is doing of this despite a number of injuries to key players throughout the roster.
Tyler Seguin
Half of the dynamic duo in Dallas has been injured since mid-March when a skate at the end of a 4-3 win cut his Achilles tendon over the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s been rehabbing ever since and anticipated playing in the first playoff game for the team.
Since Tyler Seguin‘s injury Dallas has managed to find their game again, working their way back to first overall in the Central Division and clinching a spot in the postseason for the second time in three years.
Seguin will undoubtedly aid in Dallas’ playoff run, which they’re hoping will be long, but his return has not been set and puck drops on the postseason in a week.
While his participation would be more than welcome for a Stars club that could use the return of one of its best players, a fully rested Seguin is worth waiting for.
Jason Demers
One of the staples of the blue line for the Stars has been out of the line-up since early March, about a week before no. 91’s injury. Jason Demers was expected to miss six weeks of action with his shoulder injury, which would be around April 20th.
While the playoffs will have already started by that point, he could still make it into a game in the first round if it were to go more than four or five games. That’s a big deal for a team that’s greatest struggles are in the defensive zone.
The current play of the Stars’ defenders, however, makes Demers’ absence more bearable. Especially the play of Stephen Johns, who has accumulated three points (1G, 2A) in a dozen games and has had a physical impact on each of the games he’s participated in.
Dallas could use an extra healthy defender come playoff time simply because of the higher intensity and greater pace of the games, so Demers’ return will certainly be welcomed.
Mattias Janmark, Brett Ritchie and Kris Russell
Other injured players include forwards Brett Ritchie and Mattias Janmark and defenseman Kris Russell. Ritchie has been nursing a lower-body injury that will keep him sidelined for at least remainder of the regular season.
Janmark suffered an upper body injury in last Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings and is expected to be out for an unspecified amount of time. It looks like it will be a while though, which is okay because the Stars have a number of talented forwards that are up for the challenge.
Russell has been sidelined with a foot injury, but is supposedly ready to play. Dallas is merely waiting for the right time to get him back into the line-up. No. 2 is working for a possible contract extension after being traded at the deadline to the Stars in exchange for Jyrki Jokipakka and a draft pick.
Moving Forward
The Stars are in a good place and are better off knowing that they can get results without players like Seguin out of the line-up. While it’s a luxury to be where they are, the return of injured players will without a doubt make the team even stronger than they already are.