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Joel Kiviranta

Hintz, Lindell Added To COVID Protocol

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The Dallas Stars have two more names for the COVID list, as both Roope Hintz and Esa Lindell have been placed in the protocol. They join Jani Hakanpaa, who went in before Christmas, and Radek Faksa, Miro Heiskanen, Joel Kiviranta, Michael Raffl, and Jason Robertson who all entered yesterday. Two of the team’s support staff are also in the protocol.

Dallas is expected to return to action on Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche, but like everywhere else in the league right now, that game could obviously be postponed at any moment. The Stars obviously have an outbreak of their own and are now down eight players from their active roster. That includes a huge swathe of defensemen, certainly making it difficult to field a competitive group in the coming days.

The team is practicing today but according to Saad Yousuf of The Athletic, it is closed to the media. The team is also not holding any media availability for the time being as they try to get things under control.

Stars Place Five Players In COVID Protocol

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Dallas has returned from their holiday break with a sizable batch of COVID-positive tests as well.  The Stars announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Miro Heiskanen, center Radek Faksa, plus wingers Jason Robertson, Michael Raffl, and Joel Kiviranta have all been placed into COVID protocol along with two support staff members.  They will all now be out for at least the next ten days.

Heiskanen is obviously a significant loss as he is their top defenseman.  The 22-year-old has four goals and 14 assists in 28 games this season while leading the Stars in ATOI at 24:32 per game.  With Jani Hakanpaa also recently entering COVID protocol, Dallas will need to bring up a blueliner from AHL Texas.

They’ll also have to recall several forwards as they were down to 11 on the active roster with three of their active players entering protocol today (Kiviranta is currently on IR with an upper-body injury).  Robertson sits second on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 15 assists in 23 games and is the only Star averaging more than a point per game on the season.  Faksa has been limited to just two goals in 27 contests but has won an impressive 57% of his faceoffs while Raffl has eight points in 28 games on the season.

Dallas is next scheduled to take to the ice on Wednesday against Colorado pending any other adjustments to the schedule.

Stars Re-Sign Joel Kiviranta And Ben Gleason

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The Stars reached contract agreements with two of their restricted free agents.  The team announced that winger Joel Kiviranta signed a two-year, $2.1MM deal while defenseman Ben Gleason inked a one-year, two-way deal.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that Gleason will make $750K in the NHL and $95K in the minors.

It was a bit of a tough year for Kiviranta.  He started the season on IR and after being activated, he was shuffled to and from the taxi squad on several occasions.  The 25-year-old then missed more than a month due to a lower-body injury.  In the end, he wound up playing in 26 games last season, notching six goals and five assists.  He had just 11 career NHL regular season contests under his belt heading into the season but had gotten himself on the radar with five goals in 14 playoff contests in the bubble in 2020.  Kiviranta was eligible for salary arbitration but instead will bypass that option and will now be eligible for unrestricted free agency two summers from now.

As for Gleason, he made four NHL appearances in his rookie professional season in 2018-19 but has exclusively played with AHL Texas since then.  Last season, he had four goals and 13 assists in 37 minor league games and will now need to pass through waivers in order to return there in 2021-22.

Kiviranta was the last NHL regular on the Stars to need a new deal although they have a trio of minor leaguers that remain as restricted free agents.  They now sit roughly $3MM above the cap ceiling per CapFriendly but with Ben Bishop appearing to be unable to play to start next season, they will be able to place him on LTIR and remain in cap compliance.

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