The Dallas Stars announced today that they have placed star forward Mikko Rantanen on injured reserve, retroactive to Feb. 20, the date of Finland’s loss to Canada in the quarterfinals of the recent Winter Olympic tournament.
Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan told the media today, including Stars Thoughts’ Robert Tiffin, that Rantanen is doubtful to play in the Stars’ first game back from the break, and is questionable beyond that point. According to Tiffin, Gulutzan “didn’t want to speculate” on Rantanen’s status beyond this week.
The team’s roster move suggests Rantanen isn’t set for an extended absence. Since his IR placement was made retroactive to Feb. 20, he will be eligible for activation as early as Feb. 27. If the team held a firm expectation that Rantanen would miss well over a week, it is less likely that they would have directly clarified the retroactive nature of his IR placement in their announcement post.
Rantanen’s injury didn’t end up costing Finland, as they cruised past Slovakia to earn a bronze medal. His injury, while seemingly minor in the grand scheme of the Stars’ season, threatens to seriously impact their odds of winning the games he’s set to miss. Rantanen is arguably Dallas’ most talented forward, currently leading the team in scoring with 69 points in 54 games.
Rantanen leads all Stars forwards in time-on-ice per game and is widely considered one of the game’s top wingers. Missing him, even for a handful of games, will hurt the Stars. With that said, Gulutzan’s comments combined with how the Stars have announced Rantanen’s IR placement suggest the star winger won’t be sidelined for too long, which is certainly good news for Dallas.
The Stars can’t be happy about this, And it all happened in a meaningless exhibition have a world away, During the season no less.
Imagine thinking the Olympics are a “meaningless exhibition”. Absolute clown comment.
You are welcome.
The Stars are firmly in the playoffs and it sounds like Mikko will be just fine. I dont think they’re gonna lose much sleep.
Also, go ahead and tell all the Olympians who participated this year that it was a meaningless exhibition. Both words are incorrect, regardless of how you personally feel about it. The players and coaches who felt honored to be selected by their countries to participate will strongly disagree with the meaningless part, and the fact that its an IIHF sanctioned tournament that goes down in the history books means it is not an Exhibition.
Are you standing, And waving a flag right now?
They are. NHL players shouldn’t be playing in the Olympics during the middle of the season.
Every player in the league would be extremely honored to represent their respective country in the Olympics if they were called upon. And as a Stars fan, Mikko isn’t arguably our best forward, he IS our best forward lol
Haha. I thought “arguably” was a strange way to put that too.