The Dallas Stars received devastating news Wednesday, announcing forward Tyler Seguin will likely miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season with an ACL injury.
Seguin has already had an injury-riddled career and missed most of last season due to hip surgery.
The loss is a big hit to the team’s morale, as Seguin is a pillar of the locker room. But his injury also leaves a big hole on the ice, as Seguin had recorded 17 points in 27 games to start his 16th NHL season.
The Stars may look outside their own organization to bring in some support to account for the loss.
Sports Roundup
But the NHL changed its rules at the beginning of this season when it comes to injuries and their impact on the salary cap. Here’s a breakdown of the new rules and how the Stars could navigate them:
How did the NHL rules change?
Beginning in the 2025-26 season, the NHL introduced a new designation for long-term injured reserve (LTIR).
In past years, a player could be placed on LTIR if he would miss at least 10 NHL games and 24 days of the regular season. Putting a player on LTIR allowed a team to exceed the salary cap ceiling by the player’s cap hit minus its available cap space. It offered more relief than regular injured reserve, which only freed up the roster spot.
The Stars have already taken advantage of the LTIR pool this year, with Matt Duchene, Adam Erne and Nils Lundkvist all currently under the designation. That’s why the Stars have a current cap hit of $97.3 million, which exceeds the league’s salary cap of $95.5 million.
An injury to a player like Seguin, who has a cap hit of $9.85 million, typically would have opened up a massive amount of cap space for the Stars to work with. However, it’s not necessarily as significant this year.
This season, the league introduced a new designation called season-ending long-term injured reserve. If a player is placed on SELTIR, meaning he will miss the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, the team can receive LTIR relief up to the player’s full cap hit, as they’ve been able to do in the past.
However, if the player may return later in the regular season or the playoffs, the LTIR benefit is limited to the previous season’s average league salary, which was $3,817,293.
If Seguin were placed on LTIR today, the Stars would receive $3,817,293 in additional immediate relief. If he were designated for SELTIR, they would receive his full $9.85 million.
It’s also worth noting that teams now have to be cap compliant in the playoffs. In the past, there was no salary cap in the postseason, so many teams would capitalize on the LTIR pool at the trade deadline and then bring back their injured players as well at the start of the playoffs.
The Stars did this last year when injuries to Seguin, Lundkvist and Miro Heiskanen allowed Jim Nill to trade for Mikko Rantanen, Cody Ceci and Mikael Granlund. The Stars were able to then return Heiskanen and Seguin for the postseason and exceed the cap.
If the Stars choose to place Seguin on regular LTIR and use the $3.82 million immediately available to them by trading for a player, they would have to find a way to be cap compliant in the playoffs if Seguin were to return.
What could the Stars do?
The next steps for the Stars will largely be dependent on what Seguin’s doctors say.
While coach Glen Gulutzan said he expects Seguin will be out for the year, he did not specify whether that meant just the regular season or the playoffs, as well. The team is awaiting further guidance from medical professionals on a more precise timeline for Seguin’s return.
If Seguin is out for the entire season, including the playoffs, the Stars would want to place him on SELTIR to maximize his $9.85 million cap hit. They could go trade for a forward that carries a significant cap hit and effectively replace Seguin’s spot on the roster.
If Seguin is potentially able to return late in the regular season or at some point in the playoffs, the Stars would have to be more conservative.
The Stars have no cap room to work with when their roster is fully healthy, so they would not have the room to add a $3 million player and return Seguin for the postseason unless they cleared significant cap room another way.
Given that Seguin’s injury is an ACL injury, it’s more likely that he won’t be healthy for the playoffs and the Stars could trade for someone else. However, Dallas has limited assets and draft picks to work with after all they gave up for Rantanen, Granlund and Ceci ahead of last trade deadline.
On Twitter/X: @Lassimak
Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin out for months with ACL injuryHow to watch Stars-Devils: TV, streaming info as Dallas looks to get back to winning ways
Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.