The Stars announced today that they’ve activated defenseman Lian Bichsel from long-term injured reserve. They opened a roster spot yesterday by placing Radek Faksa on IR, and they have ample cap space with Tyler Seguin still feeding their LTIR pool, so no corresponding moves are required.
Bichsel is expected to play tonight, along with freshly anointed Olympic silver medalist Thomas Harley, tonight against the Kraken, Robert Tiffin of D Magazine relays. Ilya Lyubushkin and Kyle Capobianco will serve as healthy scratches while Nils Lundkvist and Alexander Petrovic remain in the lineup. It will be Bichsel’s first appearance since undergoing a lower-body surgery following an injury he sustained against the Senators back on Nov. 30. All told, he missed nearly three months and 31 games.
The 21-year-old Bichsel will form the Stars’ third pairing with Petrovic. They were stapled together before the former’s injury with underwhelming results. They outscored opponents 12-8 due to some puck luck on both ends of the ice, but they only managed to control 42.1% of expected goals and 41.0% of shot attempts at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.
Nonetheless, the Stars appear pleased with Bichsel’s work as a bottom-pairing fixture. It’s now been three years since they made him the 18th overall pick in the 2022 draft, and they remain hopeful the 6’7″ Swiss rearguard can remain a long-term shutdown fixture on the left side behind Miro Heiskanen and Harley. He wasn’t scratched once this season before getting hurt, recording three points and a +6 rating in 26 outings. He’s only averaging 15:49 of ice time per game – he’s not been given much shorthanded deployment.
The Stars will continue to monitor Bichsel’s possession impacts down the stretch. Petrovic has had better underlying numbers this season when paired with Capobianco, with that duo posting a 52.4 xGF% while outscoring opponents 7-2. If Bichsel’s and Petrovic’s previous form holds up, it might be worth giving the veteran Capobianco another look in the 3LD slot.