Dallas Stars News: Injury Updates For Andrew Cogliano, Radek Faksa

The Dallas Stars held an optional practice on Wednesday afternoon and used the day to further assess some of the injuries affecting the team. They also provided updates on certain players ahead of Thursday night’s game against Colorado.

There seems to be a revolving door of injuries currently plaguing the Dallas Stars.

For the majority of the 2018-19 season, they have struggled with staying healthy from the top of the roster to the bottom. As a result, they’ve been unable to front their strongest possible lineup for much of the year.

To make matters worse, it seems as though whenever one player returns from injury, a healthy player replaces him on the injured list. The revolving door keeps spinning, picking up and dropping off players with each twirl.

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And on Wednesday afternoon, it took another spin and affected two players. With that being said, forward Andrew Cogliano is cleared to play in Thursday night’s game against Colorado while forward Radek Faksa is doubtful. It’s the very definition of bittersweet.

On the one hand, reinserting Cogliano into the lineup should provide the Dallas Stars with a jolt. His initial injury happened last Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights when he found himself on the receiving end of a vicious hit from Ryan Reaves. Cogliano missed the remainder of the game with what was termed as an upper-body injury and ended up missing the final two games of the road trip.

And though he was back to skating and practicing with the team once they arrived back home, he was deemed doubtful and ultimately sat out during Tuesday’s 1-0 win over the Rangers.

But on Thursday night, Cogliano will be back in the lineup for the Stars as they take on the Colorado Avalanche. Stars coach Jim Montgomery made the announcement following Wednesday’s optional practice.

With Cogliano back, Dallas will add a sizable dose of speed and veteran leadership back into the lineup. In 17 games with the Stars this season (since being traded to the team on Jan. 14), Cogliano has one goal and three points while skating an average of 11:50 per game. But it’s more about the point production when it comes to Cogliano. Having an established veteran that’s been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the past six seasons should provide a boost to the final stretch, while his speed and penalty killing will be welcomed additions.

But on the other side of the revolving door, Faksa was labeled as doubtful for Thursday’s game.

This all sprouted around the midway point of the third period on Tuesday night when Faksa was run into by Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad. While Faksa was pinned against the boards, Zibanejad closed in and made contact with his head, which caused Faksa to immediately fall to the ice in pain. Zibanejad was given a game misconduct for the penalty and was ejected from the game.

Following the game, however, Montgomery mentioned that Faksa had passed the concussion protocol test and that the injury was nothing more than a tweak or strain.

“Faksa should be fine,” Montgomery said. “It was more, I think, he tweaked or strained his neck, but he passed concussion protocol. He’ll be fine.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Monty mentioned that Faksa was doubtful for the game against the Avalanche.

That takes a toll on the Dallas lineup, primarily in the defensive end and on the penalty kill. Faksa was also heating up in the offensive zone, with two goals and a +4 rating in his past five starts.

With that, it will be up to the Dallas Stars to find a way to manage like they did on Tuesday night in a close win over the Rangers.

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And with that, the Stars will prepare for the middle part of a challenging homestand as they continue their race to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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