The Dallas Stars made two roster moves Saturday morning, indicating more moves could be coming.
The team announced it has placed Tyler Seguin and Lian Bichsel on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) as each deal with lower body injuries. Bichsel will miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery for an injury to his left leg, while Seguin will likely miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury. Bichsel is on LTIR retroactive to Nov. 30, while the Seguin move was retroactive to Dec. 2.
The moves relieve $4.74 million in cap space, which will allow the Stars to either activate other players that are close to returning from injured reserve or call up additional support from the Texas Stars.
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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.
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.
With Seguin placed on regular LTIR, the Stars receive approximately $3.82 in immediate salary cap relief. Placing Bichsel on LTIR gives Dallas an additional $918,000 of salary cap relief for the injured defenseman.
Seguin is not yet on SELTIR, but the Stars have the option to move Seguin to that designation later this season and receive his full $9.85 million.
However, Seguin is still receiving more guidance from doctors on whether he would be available to return in the playoffs or whether his injury is year-ending. He can only be placed on SELTIR if he misses the regular season and playoffs.
If that’s the case, the Stars will likely want to trade for a top-six forward and use some of Seguin’s significant cap space. But given the condensed schedule and all the injuries they’ve already had, it’s risky for Dallas to make any move this early. Expect a trade won’t come until much closer to the March deadline.
Last year, for example, the Stars were able to use Seguin’s cap hit starting in early December but didn’t make their first trade until February when Miro Heiskanen and Nils Lundkvist both went down with injuries in the same week.
As the Stars continue to win, there is less of an immediate need to make a move. Plus, the Stars don’t have all too many assets to give up, other teams aren’t desperate to trade this early in the year.
While the moves likely don’t indicate a trade in the near future, they do signal that the Stars could make some further roster moves before Sunday’s home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin didn’t skate at practice Saturday due to injury. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said he believes either Nils Lundkvist or Matt Duchene may be available to play for the first time in months Sunday. Both have been out since mid-October with injuries.
If Lundkvist and Lyubushkin aren’t available, the Stars would only have five healthy defensemen and need to call up a defenseman from the Texas Stars Sunday morning.
“We just have to see where our health is tomorrow morning,” Gulutzan said. “We may have to call somebody up if we can’t get healthy today, if we’re not there yet, so I think that’s the reason for the moves.
“I think Dutchy’s very close to playing. Nils is very close to playing. [Thomas Harley] is still a few days away. We’ll have to see in the morning where everybody’s at.”
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