The Dallas Stars shared an official update on Tyler Seguin’s injury status Friday morning.
Stars GM Jim Nill announced Seguin underwent successful surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ACL in his right knee that he suffered in the Stars’ Dec. 2 game against the New York Rangers.
The team also announced that Seguin has not yet been ruled out for the season and his timeline to return to play will be evaluated after the Olympic break.
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What this means is the Stars still get approximately $3.82 million in immediate cap relief that they received after placing Seguin on LTIR on Dec. 2. New NHL rules this season would allow the Stars to use the full $9.85 million of Seguin’s cap hit if he were placed on season-ending LTIR. Dallas can do so later on this season.
Regardless, new NHL rules require all teams to be cap compliant at the start of the playoffs.
The Stars could make a trade as soon as now to add a top-six forward to replace Seguin or more defensive depth. However, Nill typically prefers to wait until closer to the March 6 trade deadline to better evaluate the state of his team’s needs at that time.
The timeline for making a decision on Seguin’s status would be around Feb. 25, giving Nill about nine days to work with the additional cap space if they choose to end Seguin’s season. Season-ending LTIR requires a player to miss both the regular season and the playoffs.
Return for intense physical activity from ACL surgery often takes nine months, meaning it’s unlikely Seguin is able to return until next season.
Seguin’s surgery was done by Dr. Dan Cooper in Dallas, the Cowboys’ team physician, who also recently repaired Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ torn ACL.
The Chiefs said they expect Mahomes to be on a nine-month timeline.
Seguin suffered the injury less than two minutes into the Stars’ Dec. 2 overtime loss to the New York Rangers. He went down awkwardly after a collision with Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who fell on Seguin’s right leg.
The 33-year-old forward was off to a strong start to his 16th season in the NHL, recording seven goals and 10 assists in 27 games. He played in his 1,000th NHL game on Oct. 30 in Tampa, Fla., an impressive feat given all he’s had to overcome in his career.
Seguin played in only 20 regular-season games last season, missing the majority of the season for hip surgery he had around this time last year. Seguin returned for the last game in the regular season and the playoff run.
In 2016, he suffered a sliced Achilles tendon that sidelined him for the rest of the regular season. He missed all but three games in the 2020-21 season because of hip and knee surgeries.
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