Central Notes: Stars, Dumba, Gustafsson, Martinez

The long-term injury to Stars center Tyler Seguin has many believing that the Stars will be very aggressive on the trade market.  However, Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek wonders if they might wait until after the 4 Nations Face-Off in February to make any big splash on the trade front.  For starters, that would allow them to bank more in-season cap space but it would also allow them to hedge their bets in case goaltender Jake Oettinger was injured in the event.  Marek adds that among the areas that GM Jim Nill will be targeting between now and the March 7th deadline is getting tougher towards the bottom end of their forward group.

More from the Central Division:

• Still with Dallas, defenseman Matt Dumba didn’t take part in practice today, per Brian Rea of Victory+ (Twitter link). Head coach Peter DeBoer indicated the blueliner will be re-assessed as a precautionary measure.  It hasn’t been a great year for the 30-year-old as he has been limited to just one assist in 19 games so far while logging 15:33 per game, his lowest ATOI since his first NHL action back in 2013-14.  That’s not a great return on a $3.75MM price tag that runs through next season.
• Jets head coach Scott Arniel told reporters including Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press (Twitter link) that center David Gustafsson is in concussion protocol. The 24-year-old was injured in a fight against Boston on Tuesday.  Gustafsson has been limited to just three games this season where he has yet to record a point.  He’ll now be waiting at least a little while to add to that games played total.
• After missing time with an upper-body injury earlier this season, Blackhawks defenseman Alec Martinez is dealing with a recurrence of that injury, causing him to leave practice early today, relays Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 37-year-old has been limited to just 15 games in his first season with Chicago and has four points while averaging a little over 20 minutes a night, an ATOI mark he last reached in 2020-21 with Vegas.