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Dallas Stars Place Matt Duchene, Adam Erne On LTIR

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Dealing with several injuries on their blue line, the Dallas Stars have opened up some cap space to recall a defenseman. The Stars announced they’ve placed forwards Matt Duchene and Adam Erne on the long-term injured reserve.

Technically speaking, Duchene is already eligible to return from his LTIR placement since it was made retroactive to October 18th. Duchene’s undisclosed injury has limited him to just four games this season, during which he has scored one goal and one assist.

It’s been an unfortunate beginning to the 2025-26 campaign after signing a four-year, $18MM contract with the Stars this offseason. The former third-overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft was a point-per-game player with Dallas last year, scoring 30 goals and 82 points in 82 games. He was expected again to be a contributing middle-six center for the Stars this season.

Fortunately, the long-term loss of Duchene has been offset by the exceptional play from Wyatt Johnston and Roope Hintz. The pair has combined for 15 goals and 37 points for the Stars this season in 33 games, with the former contributing offensively nearly every game, scoring 11 goals and 21 points in 19 contests.

Meanwhile, Erne’s eligibility for return has been pushed back a few weeks. Dallas placed Erne on the injured reserve a few days ago, and he won’t have satisfied the requirements for return from LTIR until December 5th.

Still, the Stars didn’t allude to a potential return date for Erne when they placed him on the IR, although today’s news gives additional clarification. The nine-year veteran had scored two goals and three points in 14 games for Dallas before suffering the lower-body injury.

Placing both players on LTIR allows the Stars to activate Jamie Benn, who’s very close to returning, at some point over the next few days. Additionally, Dallas will also have the flexibility to recall a defenseman — likely Vladislav Kolyachonok.

Stars’ Thomas Harley Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury

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The Dallas Stars will be without one of their top defenseman for the next few weeks. Dallas announced that Thomas Harley is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Although Harley’s most recent game came in the Stars’ lopsided win against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, there’s reason to believe that he’s been playing through the injury for some time. Given their salary cap space, it’s expected that Kyle Capobianco will fill in for Harley for the time being.

It’s safe to say that Harley will be a huge missing piece for Dallas moving forward. The former first-round pick has arguably been the Stars’ top defenseman for the last three years, scoring 32 goals and 107 points in his previous 175 games. Additionally, Harley was the highest-scoring defenseman for the Stars last postseason, adding four goals and 14 points in 18 games.

Fortunately, Dallas has built a solid lead in the standings that they can likely absorb Harley’s loss. At the time of writing, the Stars are four points up on the Utah Mammoth for second place in the Central Division standings and are five points up on the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Moving forward, it’s likely that young blueliner Lian Bichsel will get a larger look in the Stars’ top-two defensive pairings. Also drafted 18th overall like Harley, Bichsel is in his second year in the NHL. At this point, he’s scored four goals and 11 points in 56 games with 213 hits, averaging 14:46 of ice time per night.

Jamie Benn Upgraded To Day-To-Day

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The Dallas Stars are only a few days away from the return of their captain. Team radio host Bruce LeVine reported earlier that Jamie Benn has been upgraded to a day-to-day recovery timeline, and there was even a brief discussion of him playing this evening.

Even without their captain, the Stars have gotten off to a solid start to the 2025-26 season with an 11-4-3 record. Dallas quickly signed Benn to a one-year, performance-laden contract in what could be the last of his NHL career. Last season, Benn finished sixth on the team in scoring with 16 goals and 49 points in 80 games.

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  • Moving to where the Stars originated from, the Minnesota Wild are dealing with some injury troubles up front. The Wild announced that veteran winger Vladimir Tarasenko will miss tonight’s contest with a lower-body injury. The two-time Stanley Cup winner has gotten off to a relatively decent start, scoring two goals and 10 points in 18 games.

Dallas Stars Place Adam Erne On Injured Reserve

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The Dallas Stars will be without one of their depth forwards for at least the next little while. The Stars announced they’ve placed Adam Erne on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury, retroactive to November 11th.

Although he’s far from a high-profile talent, Erne was one of the most surprising signings from the summer. The 2024-25 campaign was the first time in nine years that Erne hadn’t registered an NHL contest.

He signed a professional tryout agreement with the New York Rangers in the early portion of the preseason heading into the 2024-25 season. Unfortunately, Erne wasn’t able to capitalize on the tryout and instead had to settle for a PTO with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. After registering one assist in 10 games for the Wolf Pack, Erne was released from his PTO in mid-November and didn’t play another minute of professional hockey.

Still, leave it to a cap-strapped team with a significant need for depth to give Erne his next opportunity. The former 33rd overall selection of the 2013 NHL Draft required another PTO again this September, though he managed to turn it into a one-year, two-way contract this time around.

He’s played fairly well early on for Dallas. Erne has skated in 14 games so far, scoring two goals and three points while averaging 9:37 of ice time and recording 44 hits. The expectation is that Erne will return around American Thanksgiving.

Erne Out At Least A Couple Of Weeks

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  • Stars winger Adam Erne will miss at least a couple of weeks due to a lower-body injury, relays Robert Tiffin of D Magazine (Twitter link). He will leave the team’s road trip to return home for treatment.  One of the few players to earn a full-season contract off a training camp PTO, the 30-year-old has largely been a regular for Dallas, playing in 14 of 17 games so far.  In those outings, Erne has two goals and an assist along with 44 hits in 9:37 per night of playing time.

Latest On Colin Blackwell

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  • The Dallas Stars might have to deal with the loss of Colin Blackwell due to an injury, reports Stars Thoughts’ Robert Tiffin. Per Tiffin, Blackwell “took a heavy shot last night in the leg/foot” and did not practice today. While there has not been any official update from the Stars, it appears entirely possible that Blackwell will miss some time due to injury. The 32-year-old veteran of over 300 NHL games isn’t much of an offensive producer (he has one point through 14 games) but has been a key contributor on the penalty kill. He leads all Stars forwards in short-handed ice time per game so far this season, and ranked second in 2024-25, just behind Sam Steel.

NHL Announces Stars 2027 Stadium Series Game At AT&T Stadium

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  • The NHL announced today that the Dallas Stars will play in the 2027 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at AT&T Stadium on February 20, 2027. AT&T Stadium, located in Arlington, Texas, is the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and has a seating capacity of 80,000. The game marks the second outdoor game hosted by the Stars in their franchise history, the first being the 2020 Winter Classic, played against Nashville at the Cotton Bowl. Per the league’s announcement, the Stars’ opponent will be announced at a later date.

Central Injury Notes: Hintz, Duchene, Thomas, Zuccarello

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The Dallas Stars will be without some significant talent ahead of the Western Conference Final rematch tomorrow night. According to team reporter Brien Rea, the Stars won’t have forwards Roope Hintz or Matt Duchene against the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow night. Additionally, Jake Oettinger is also doubtful, given that he and his wife just had a child.

It’s more of the same for Duchene. The 17-year veteran will have missed Dallas’ last eight games due to an upper-body injury after tomorrow night’s contest. He’s only appeared in four games this year, scoring one goal and two assists with a 52.2% success rate in the faceoff dot.

Meanwhile, Hintz will miss his fifth straight game due to an undisclosed injury. He’s been a much bigger void to fill, given that he’s been a point-per-game player to start the campaign. Since Duchene left the lineup, the Stars have averaged two goals per game.

Other injury notes from the Central Division:

  • In some positive news, the St. Louis Blues will return Robert Thomas to the lineup tonight. According to Lou Korac of the NHL, Thomas returned to practice this morning and was included in all line rushes. He’s missed the team’s last four games with an upper-body injury. Unfortunately, Thomas’s absence was notably evident, as the Blues lost all four contests.
  • The positive news isn’t only isolated to St. Louis. According to Joe Smith of The Athletic, Minnesota Wild veteran Mats Zuccarello looks very close to returning. Zuccarello suffered a lower-body injury before the start of the regular season. Like Thomas, his absence has been noticeable. Despite leading the league in power-play goals, the Wild are only averaging 1.61 even-strength goals through their first 13 games.

Flyers, Stars Swap Christian Kyrou For Samu Tuomaala

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The Flyers have acquired defenseman Christian Kyrou from the Stars in exchange for winger Samu Tuomaala, per announcements from both clubs. Both players were assigned to their respective teams’ AHL affiliates, so no corresponding moves are needed.

The puck-moving Kyrou will add some speed and upside to the Flyers’ pool of defense prospects. He’s still just 22 years old but has had an awkward last couple of years in the Stars’ system. The 5’11” righty was a second-round pick by Dallas in 2022 and clicked at over a point per game in his final season of junior hockey, but he hasn’t been able to find consistency since turning pro. Kyrou’s first year saw him record eight goals and 23 points in 57 games for AHL Texas, but his offense has slid from there. His output dropped to 15 points in 36 games last year, and he’s gone without a point through his first four games of the season for Texas. He’s also a -12 for his career in the minors.

Kyrou was still something of a notable name in a weak Dallas prospect pool. He was the No. 5-ranked player in the system by Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff and the top right-handed defenseman. With their minor-league affiliate winless through six games and struggling to produce offense, though, they opted to part ways with the plateauing Kyrou and swap him out for some forward help.

As for why the Flyers moved on from Tuomaala, it’s quite apparent. The 2021 second-rounder had put up good point totals for AHL Lehigh Valley over the past two seasons but has tumbled down the organizational depth chart to begin 2025-26. He was one of the club’s first cuts from training camp and has fallen into healthy scratch territory with the Phantoms, only playing in three of eight games so far this year and going without a point.

Tuomaala’s previous track record makes him an intriguing pickup for Dallas, though, and one still with NHL upside. The 22-year-old Finn has a 26-49–75 scoring line in 120 career appearances for Lehigh Valley and was an AHL All-Star in 2023-24. He was also the top player in Finland’s second-tier pro league, Mestis, the year prior, scoring 27 goals and 48 points in just 31 appearances for Peliitat and Ketterä in 2022-23.

Neither player has made their NHL debut, and they’re both in the final seasons of their entry-level contracts. They’re also both not eligible for arbitration when they reach restricted free agency next summer.

Stars Sign Thomas Harley To Eight-Year Extension

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Oct. 29: Harley’s extension has been finalized at a total value of $84.7MM with a cap hit of $10.587MM, PuckPedia reports. The contract includes a no-movement clause from the 2029-30 through 2033-34 seasons, the last five the deal covers. His year-by-year breakdown is as follows:

2026-27: $9MM base salary, $4MM signing bonus
2027-28: $9MM base salary, $2MM signing bonus
2028-29: ”
2029-30: $7,939,200 base salary, $2MM signing bonus
2030-31: ”
2031-32: ”
2032-33: $8,939,200 base salary, $1MM signing bonus
2033-34: ”

Oct. 28: According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Dallas Stars have made significant progress on an extension for defenseman Thomas Harley. Friedman believes that the extension will likely be an eight-year, $84MM ($10.5MM AAV) agreement and is expected to occur relatively soon.

It’s a significant agreement for a negotiation that had plenty of question marks. Harley has been a high-scoring blueliner for the Stars over the past three years, but the team was reportedly hesitant to pay him more than Miro Heiskanen’s $8.45MM salary.

Considering how much the upper limit of the salary cap has grown since Heiskanen signed his extension in 2021, there was little chance the Stars would get him at or below $8.5MM. To add more context, Heiskanen’s deal in 2021-22 accounted for 10.37% of Dallas’ available salary cap space, and Harley’s reported $10.5MM salary beginning in 2026-27 would only account for 10.1%, technically making Harley more affordable.

There is little argument that Harley isn’t deserving of the price tag. Since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, when Harley became a full-time member of the Stars’ blueline, he has scored 32 goals and 105 points in 166 games for the Stars, with another four goals and 18 points in 37 postseason contests. That makes him the 15th-highest scoring defenseman in the NHL over the last three years, and he’s only 24 years old.

Additionally, he’s earned a +57 rating, 53.3% CorsiFor% at even strength, and 90.8% on-ice save percentage at even strength over that stretch. Not only can he significantly contribute offensively in the NHL, but he’s also an above-average player on the defensive side of the puck.

While there are few concerns about Harley’s projections for the contract’s duration, Dallas’ salary cap situation should raise some red flags. After factoring in the purported deal, the Stars would enter the summer with approximately $17MM in cap space. Although some players, such as Adam Erne and Nathan Bastian, are easily replaceable, the Stars will face challenges keeping Jason Robertson, Mavrik Bourque, and Nils Lundkvist around on long-term deals with that cap space.

Regardless, General Manager Jim Nill should be commended for locking in the team’s core for the foreseeable future. Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Esa Lindell, Jake Oettinger, Heiskanen, and now Harley all signed through the 2029-30 season at the very least, guaranteeing Dallas a competitive roster into the next decade.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images. 

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