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Stars Activate Matt Duchene, Nils Lundkvist From LTIR

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The Stars announced they’ve activated center Matt Duchene and defenseman Nils Lundkvist from long-term injured reserve. Both are expected to be in the lineup for this evening’s game against the Penguins.

Duchene’s absence has been longer than anyone expected. The 34-year-old has been limited to four appearances this season with an upper back injury that he first sustained against the Wild on Oct. 14. He was initially listed as day-to-day and missed one game before attempting a return. He hasn’t played since reaggravating the injury when he re-entered the lineup on Oct. 18 against the Blues, though.

The 17-year veteran has still carried a day-to-day designation throughout his absence. He wasn’t moved to LTIR until after he had already missed the 10 games and 24 days required for a placement, so he was eligible to come off at any time.

Coming off a 30-goal, 82-point showing for Dallas last season, Duchene could have been among the most high-profile unrestricted free agents on the market last summer. Instead, he opted to take a significant discount to return to the cap-strapped Stars, signing a four-year, $18MM deal to potentially retire in Dallas. The 5’11” pivot initially joined the Stars for the 2023-24 season after a high-profile buyout by the Predators. At the time, he had three years remaining on a contract paying him an average of $8MM per season. He signed back-to-back one-year, $3MM pacts with Dallas before finally landing some term this past summer.

Duchene has been a highly valuable cog in the Stars’ top six since his arrival, particularly in the wake of top-line fixture Joe Pavelski’s retirement and continued long-term injury issues for Tyler Seguin. His 0.90 points per game since joining the team are third on the club behind only Mikko Rantanen (1.17) and Jason Robertson (1.02). His 82 points last year were only the second time in his career that the 2009 third overall pick has crossed the 80-point mark and were four short of his career high.

While battling through his back problems to begin the year, Duchene still managed a goal and an assist before his extended absence. He also went 12-for-23 on faceoffs (52.2%), and Dallas outchanced opponents 20-18 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.

At first glance, with Duchene out for virtually the entire season, the Stars’ offense hasn’t missed a beat. However, their shot generation is in the basement – 26.0 per game for 26th in the league – despite their actual goal production being fourth at 3.45 per game. That’s fueled by an unsustainably high 13.3% shooting rate. Duchene’s return, particularly with Seguin’s ACL tear likely ending his season, should help them boost their underlying numbers to help cushion the blow as their finishing luck recedes.

Lundkvist is also an important return for a Dallas defense that’s also been without Lian Bichsel and Thomas Harley as of late. The 2018 first-rounder has still yet to elevate himself past a No. 7 job, but it looked like he was well on his way toward doing so before sustaining a lower-body injury in his fourth appearance of the season against the Canucks on Oct. 16. He hasn’t played since.

In those four games, though, the 25-year-old righty had rattled off a goal and two assists while averaging 16 minutes per game in second-pairing duties with Harley. While the skilled rearguard is highly unlikely to continue producing at a 0.75 points per game clip the rest of the way, that added layer of puck-moving support on Dallas’ back end behind Harley and Miro Heiskanen was an element they sorely missed last season.

With Harley out, not only is Lundkvist expected to step back into the lineup as Dallas’ second-pairing righty – he’ll anchor the unit with call-up Vladislav Kolyachonok on his left flank. That arrangement shouldn’t need to last for too long, though. Harley, who hasn’t played since Nov. 13 due to a lower-body injury, has returned to practice and shouldn’t be too far off from a return, per Robert Tiffin of D Magazine.

While LTIR activations usually must be accompanied by some cap-clearing moves, that isn’t the case here. The Stars already had two open roster spots, plus Seguin, Bichsel, and Adam Erne remain on LTIR to keep their pool of $5.36MM well above their current cap exceedance of $1.77MM.

Stars Place Tyler Seguin And Lian Bichsel On LTIR

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The Stars have been hit hard by the injury bug this season and recently lost two more players to longer-term injuries.  Today, the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Tyler Seguin and defenseman Lian Bichsel have been placed on LTIR.

Seguin’s placement, made retroactively to December 2nd, should come as no surprise as he was diagnosed with a long-term ACL injury.  The exact nature of the injury is still being evaluated which will determine if there’s a small chance the 33-year-old could return at some point late in the playoffs or if his entire 2025-26 campaign has come to an early end.

That particular distinction, when made, will be notable.  Dallas has placed Seguin on regular LTIR, meaning the potential cap flexibility of the placement is limited to last year’s average salary, or $3.82MM.  However, if it’s determined that there is no chance that he can return in the playoffs, the Stars will be able to put him on season-ending LTIR.  If they do that, they will be able to get potential cap flexibility of his full AAV of $9.85MM which could open up some opportunities for GM Jim Nill to add to his roster.

As for Bichsel, his placement is retroactive to November 30th.  Earlier this week, it was revealed that he’ll miss the next six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a lower-body injury.  The Stars had been easing him in during his first full NHL campaign, keeping his ice time around the 16-minute mark while he has enough of a lead in the hits department (85, 40 ahead of Nathan Bastian for second) that he will still likely be the team leader in that category when he returns to the lineup next month, assuming his recovery goes as planned.

With the moves, Dallas now has a pair of open roster spots.  It seems likely that those could be filled by other players coming off LTIR.  Defenseman Nils Lundkvist and center Matt Duchene are believed to be nearing returns and today’s LTIR placements give the Stars enough cap room to formally bring them back onto the active roster.  Blueliner Thomas Harley also skated today, per D Magazine’s Robert Tiffin (Twitter link) but he was never moved off the active roster when he was injured.

Tyler Seguin Suffers ACL Injury, Out Long Term

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Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan told the media today, including radio analyst Bruce LeVine, that veteran forward Tyler Seguin has suffered an ACL injury and will “probably” be out for the rest of the 2025-26 season.

The news comes after Seguin had to be helped off the ice last night during the team’s overtime loss to the New York Rangers. This unfortunate development comes almost exactly one year after it was announced that Seguin would miss most of the rest of the 2024-25 season due to hip surgery. Seguin ended up returning in time for the Stars’ regular-season finale, and managed to play in 18 playoff games.

So far this season, Seguin had kept up his standard of solid offensive production. While he wasn’t scoring at the point-per-game clip Stars fans grew accustomed to in the late 2010s, his 17 points in 27 games still set an 82-game pace of 52. He currently ranks fifth among Stars forwards in 2025-26 scoring.

Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News reported that the Stars “are still awaiting more input from doctors to determine the exact timeline” of Seguin’s recovery, as well as whether he’ll be available to play in the playoffs, which the Stars will almost assuredly qualify for. Assimakopoulos added that “it doesn’t seem like” the Stars “are too optimistic” that Seguin will be available to play again this season.

Seguin had been playing on Dallas’ second line alongside Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz, and he was succeeding in that capacity. But now for a second straight year, a significant injury will cost him the chance to play in even 30 regular-season games.

Owen Newkirk of DLLS Sports relayed word from Gulutzan that veteran forward Matt Duchene, who is dealing with his own injury, is currently “day-to-day” and is inching towards a return to the lineup. It appears likely that whenever Duchene is ready to return, he’ll slot into Seguin’s vacated spot as the team’s second-line right winger behind Mikko Rantanen.

Since Seguin is under contract for another season after this one at a $9.85MM AAV, this injury won’t cost him the chance to put together a healthy, productive platform season. But it will most likely cost Seguin the chance to compete for a second career Stanley Cup championship. The Stars will still chase their franchise’s second title without Seguin, and now that the extent of his injury is all but confirmed, expect focus on potential fits for Dallas on the trade market to increase.

The Stars have been the NHL’s second-best team so far in 2025-26, with their 39 points trailing only the Colorado Avalanche (who have one regulation loss all year) in the standings. The Stars have all the makings of a true Stanley Cup contender this season, and it would be a surprise if GM Jim Nill went the entire season without acquiring additional scoring help.

The Stars traded for both Rantanen and veteran Mikael Granlund to bolster its attack last season, and while a trade on the scale of the Rantanen deal will be almost impossible to complete, expect Dallas to be in the mix for the top rental scoring options. That may have been the case even before this development regarding Seguin, but Seguin’s ACL injury will only further heighten the team’s need to add scoring reinforcements for what it hopes will be a long playoff run.

Assuming Seguin is indeed out for the rest of the season, including the playoffs, the team does at least gain a significant amount of financial flexibility. Seguin could be placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), which would give the Stars quite a bit of room to make additions without running afoul of the league’s payroll limits.

Photos Courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Stars’ Lian Bichsel Out Six Weeks

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Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel needs surgery to address the lower-body injury he sustained Sunday against the Senators and will miss around six weeks of action, head coach Glen Gulutzan told reporters today (including Peter Baugh of The Athletic). Dallas hasn’t made a roster move, but with no healthy extra defensemen available anymore on their road trip, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an injured reserve placement for either Bichsel or Thomas Harley, who’s out week-to-week with a lower-body issue, to open up a roster spot.

Bichsel left the 6-1 drubbing of the Sens midway through the second period and didn’t return. He was on the receiving end of what seemed like an innocuous hit by Ottawa winger Fabian Zetterlund in the neutral zone, but he lost an edge, and his left leg buckled awkwardly against the boards. He didn’t put any weight on his leg and needed assistance getting off the ice.

That’s now three regular defenders the Stars are without. In addition to Bichsel and Harley, Nils Lundkvist remains on long-term injured reserve after sustaining a lower-body injury in the fourth game of the season. Harley’s absence meant an elevation in minutes for his fellow lefty in Bichsel, who’s played almost exclusively on a pairing with Alexander Petrovic this year, with middling results.

The 2022 first-round pick has three points and a +6 rating in 26 appearances, but his under-the-hood numbers aren’t as promising. Dallas has controlled just 40.5% of shot attempts when Bichsel is on the ice at 5-on-5, the third-worst figure on the team behind Adam Erne and Ilya Lyubushkin. A heavy bit of defensive zone workload doesn’t help his case, but considering Petrovic has posted better numbers in isolation in every meaningful category, it’s clear the 21-year-old still has plenty of development to do defensively before he’s ready to challenge for top-four minutes.

Still, their left-side depth looks quite weak until Harley’s able to get back into the fold. Lefty Miro Heiskanen has played his offside all year long on the top pairing with Esa Lindell. Behind Lindell, it’s now mid-season call-ups Kyle Capobianco and Vladislav Kolyachonok holding down the fort on the second and third pairings. Those two have done as well as can be expected and actually lead the team in even-strength shot-attempt share at 51.8% and 53.8%, respectively.

The Stars haven’t played great possession hockey this season – as to be expected, given injuries have also robbed key forwards Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene of significant time – and have ridden an unsustainably high 13.5% team shooting rate. That’s propped their record all the way up to 17-5-4, even riding a four-game win streak to sit comfortably in second place in the Central Division behind the league-leading Avalanche. Regression is bound to bring their points percentage down at some point, but the longer they can ride the wave with their defensive depth stretched as thin as it is, the healthier margin they’ll build for the back half of the schedule.

Duchene Medically Cleared To Return But Still Dealing With Lingering Symptoms

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  • The Stars have been without center Matt Duchene for nearly six weeks due to an upper-body injury. DLLS Sports’ Sam Nestler notes (Twitter link) that the 34-year-old has already technically been medically cleared to return.  However, he continues to experience some lingering symptoms.  As a result, head coach Glen Gulutzan indicated that Duchene will still need to be out a little while longer to get properly conditioned to return.  Duchene has a goal and an assist in four games this season after tallying 82 points in 2024-25.

Mikko Rantanen Suspended One Game

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This afternoon the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen has been suspended one game. As a violation under Rule 23.6, Physical Infractions Category, Rantanen incurred two game misconduct penalties in his last 41 games, which automatically carries a one game suspension. Such infractions have occurred in an especially short timeline however, just the last three games for Rantanen. It is a bit unusual for the 29-year-old, who has never been categorized as much of a dirty player.

Late in last Tuesday’s loss versus the Islanders, Rantanen was ejected after shoving Alexander Romanov into the boards in a dangerous play where the defenseman skidded into the boards with no chance to stop. The hit landed Romanov on injured reserve, but ultimately, the league chose not to suspend Rantanen.

Meanwhile, apparently unperturbed, just last night Rantanen viciously boarded Calgary forward Matthew Coronato, where he again was thrown out of the game with a misconduct. Although Coronato turned away at the last second, making himself especially vulnerable, Rantanen was already flying in, set to deliver a hard hit on the numbers. Thankfully Coronato returned to the game, but with a noticeable nose injury, as the Flames triumphed in a shootout.

Now, given that the current one game suspension is automatic with no further mention, additional discipline could come to Rantanen for the Coronato incident as well, especially considering what all transpired with the 29-year-old’s reckless play throughout the week. For now, Dallas will prepare to take on Edmonton on Tuesday without their superstar, who is tied for the team lead in points.

Rantanen Fined For Embellishment

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  • While Stars winger Mikko Rantanen didn’t receive any supplemental discipline for his hit on Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov earlier in the week, he is a little lighter in the wallet. Today, the league announced that he has been fined $2K for his second citation of embellishment this season.  The first instance came back on October 16th while the second was a week and a half ago against Ottawa.  The fine money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Dallas Stars Activate Jamie Benn

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The Dallas Stars announced today that captain Jamie Benn has been activated off of long-term injured reserve (LTIR). The move positions Benn to make his 2025-26 season debut as soon as tonight, when the Stars take on the New York Islanders.

Benn, who has very rarely missed time due to injury throughout his nearly 1,200-game NHL career, missed the early portion of the season due to a collapsed lung he suffered in the preseason. Benn missed only two games in 2024-25, and played in all 82 Stars games in each campaign from 2021-22 through 2023-24.

While the 36-year-old isn’t what he once was on the ice (he won the Art Ross Trophy in 2014-15 as the league’s top scorer) he’s still a valuable contributor to a Stars team that has been among the league’s best in the 2020’s. Benn scored 16 goals and 49 points last season while averaging 15:18 time-on-ice per game, with some regular power-play time and sporadic usage on the penalty kill.

Benn’s return to the Stars’ lineup comes at a good time for the team, as they are currently dealing with quite a few injuries. While much of the damage lies with the team’s defense (both Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist are out) there are still absences on offense.

Veteran forward Matt Duchene is currently on LTIR, meaning the Stars have had to make do without their leading scorer from last season. With today’s activation, the Stars receive crucial offensive reinforcement and get back from injury one of their key on and off-ice leaders.

Dallas Stars Recall Vladislav Kolyachonok

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As expected, the Dallas Stars have recalled a defenseman to their active roster for tonight’s contest. According to a team announcement, the Stars have recalled defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok from the AHL’s Texas Stars. 

Given that Dallas only had five healthy defenseman on the roster before this morning’s move, it’s a guarantee that Kolyachonok will draw into the lineup this evening. Although they haven’t been placed on the team’s injured reserve, the Stars are without Thomas Harley for the next few weeks and Ilya Lyubushkin for the next few days.

Tonight will be Kolyachonok’s first NHL appearance since the end of last season. Dallas acquired the Belarusian this summer in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins that landed Matt Dumba in Pennsylvania. The Penguins acquired him last season on the waiver wire from the then-named Utah Hockey Club. He finished the season with two goals and seven points in 35 games with a -12 rating, averaging 13:01 of ice time per game.

Although he hasn’t been the highest-scoring blueliner for the AHL Stars this season, Kolyachonok has the most NHL experience of any of Dallas’s recall options. He’s registered three assists in 10 games with 10 PIMs.

Regardless of Kolyachonok’s recall, it’ll be interesting to see how the Stars split up their defensive pairings this evening. Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, and Lian Bichsel are each high-quality defenseman in their own right. However, Dallas will have to fill the remaining gaps with Alexander Petrovic, Kyle Capobianco, and Kolyachonok without any additional help.

Additionally, with Kolyachonok’s recall, the Stars still only have 22 players on the active roster. Factoring in the reports from Sunday indicating that captain Jamie Benn could return within the next few days, Dallas has left a spot on the roster open for him tonight.

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.

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