The Dallas Stars‘ offensive depth took a massive hit when Tyler Seguin suffered an ACL injury at the beginning of December. The team needs a deep lineup to compete with the Colorado Avalanche and suddenly stronger Minnesota Wild in their division, which puts figuring out Seguin’s injury timeline at the top of their to-do list.
The Stars announced on Friday morning that their veteran forward underwent successful surgery on December 16. They will reevaluate the timeline after the Olympic break, as Pierre Lebrun expanded on via X (formerly Twitter).
“Stars will have a better feel for Seguin’s timeline after the February Olympic break, which is 2 months into recovery,” Lebrun explained. “So for now, Seguin is not ruled out for playoffs. Obviously, need to make another decision on that between Olympic break and March 6 trade deadline to see if he remains an option or not, and what cap money they have to spend.”
The new rules regarding long-term injured reserve make this a sensitive subject for Dallas. If Seguin can’t return, they can rule him out for the remainder of the season and then use his cap space to improve their team before the postseason. If doctors decide that Seguin will be good to return in the postseason, the Stars have to keep his money on the books.
It would be a rapid recovery for Seguin to be game-ready for a late-series playoff game. The worry for the Stars should be that their most challenging games could come in the first two rounds, when they have to get past their Central Division foes, and Tyler Seguin will likely not be ready.