Roope Hintz was ready to get back into the groove of things. The Dallas Stars center hadn't played an NHL game since Feb. 4 after missing the rest of the month playing for Team Finland in the Winter Olympics, then missing the team's first four games back from the break because of illness.
Hintz made his March debut Friday in Dallas' 5-4 shootout loss over the Colorado Avalanche. The loss dropped the Stars within four points of the Central-leading - and NHL-leading - Avs, 93 points to 86, and snapped Dallas' 10-game winning streak.
Hintz left the game late in the second period with a lower-body injury after being tangled up with Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon along the boards. Hintz's left leg gnarled underneath him as MacKinnon broke out from the Stars' center's pin. Hintz was caught on just one leg and fell to the ice after it appeared his knee twisted out from under him. He had difficulty getting up from the ice and left for the locker room after the ugly scene. The Stars did not announce a timetable for his return.
Roope Hintz (lower body) will not return to tonight’s game.
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) March 7, 2026
There was no malice in the play. In fact, it brought back memories of the injury Tyler Seguin suffered in December against the New York Rangers. Seguin was battling Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov along the boards when Gavrikov fell backward on Seguin's right leg. Seguin's knee, too, twisted, and he hasn't played since. The team announced last week that he would miss the rest of the regular season.
That means, as of Friday night, the Stars were without three of their top six forwards, their long-time checking center: Hintz, Seguin, Mikko Rantanen, and Radek Faksa. Coach Glen Gultuzan has since played Adam Erne, Oscar Back, Colin Blackwell, and Nathan Bastian more often than not in their stead. At least two of those players were expected to spend a bulk of the season as healthy scratches. Now, the Stars ostensibly have a top line, a middle-six line, and two checking lines.
Erne, Blackwell, and Bastian have played rather well, thrust into more minutes than expected. But 15-minute-a-night guys, they should not be. Michael Bunting, acquired from the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline this week, should immediately slot into one of the top two lines, given all the injuries, and his presence will be sorely appreciated.
Yet Dallas is still the second-best team in the NHL and, despite the loss, the hottest. They looked superior to the No. 1 team on Friday, save a couple of late-period Avs goals in a game that lived up to all the hype. And if the Stars' stars return healthy by April, Dallas will be even more battle-tested, fresher, and better as they hope to break through to the Stanley Cup finally.