The Stars will be without one of their key forwards for the remainder of the season.
The team filed the paperwork Friday to declare forward Tyler Seguin out for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, according to multiple reports.
“It’s such a big loss on the ice and off the ice,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said on “The Hardline” on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM) Friday. “We had to take him on the road trip when we went to Vegas and through Utah, just because we wanted his presence when we were struggling there. And lo and behold, we swept that trip.
“He’s a big loss, and that’s a tough one for him. It’s even tougher actually for us.”
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Seguin underwent surgery for a torn ACL in December after suffering the injury during the Stars’ Dec. 2 game against the New York Rangers. He went down awkwardly after a collision with Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who fell on Seguin’s right leg.
Seguin hoped to return for Dallas’ playoff run, but the team ultimately decided to deem his injury season-ending, freeing up additional cap space ahead of next week’s trade deadline.
New NHL rules this season change how teams can receive cap relief after a serious injury.
When the Stars placed Seguin on long-term injured reserve in December, they received $3.82 million in immediate relief. In previous years, placing a player on LTIR freed up their entire cap hit — $9.85 million in Seguin’s case — but starting this year, it limits teams to the previous season’s average league salary.
However, if a player is ruled out for the regular season and the playoffs, then teams can receive the full cap relief. This change came to prevent teams from using cap relief to make trades ahead of the deadline, only to bring their injured players back at the start of the playoffs.
The Stars now have an additional $6 million to work with ahead of the March 6 trade deadline. Before the Seguin move, the Stars had $1.4 million in cap space, per PuckPedia, meaning Dallas will have over $7 million to work with.
The Stars may also loan one of their eight defensemen and forward Arttu Hyry, who was called up amid injuries to other forwards, ahead of the deadline to free up even more room.
Dallas’ top priorities at the deadline will be adding a top-four, right-shot defenseman and a top-six forward to replace Seguin’s production.
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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