Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin is expected to miss months — and likely the remainder of the NHL season — after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee during Tuesday night’s game against the New York Rangers. Head coach Glen Gulutzan confirmed Wednesday that the 33-year-old will be sidelined long term, calling the update “tough news for our whole group.”
Seguin was injured less than two minutes into the game when he became tangled with Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who appeared to fall onto Seguin’s right leg. Seguin went down immediately, required help to get off the ice and did not return. Follow-up evaluations offered little optimism, and the Stars are still awaiting more medical details to determine whether Seguin could have any chance of returning for the postseason.
Gulutzan said: “Unfortunately, Tyler, he’s got an ACL [injury], and he’ll be out for months, we didn’t get great news today… he’s going to be out for a significant amount of time, probably the rest of the season … There’s lots of injuries piling up and lots of games, so we just got to keep moving forward. There’s lots of guys that their opportunity is born from some of this misfortune. We just have to take that away: It’s next guy up, next guy’s opportunity and run with it. That’s what good teams do is they just keep pushing forward with the players that they have.”
Seguin has been with Dallas since joining in a trade from Boston in 2013; Gulutzan added: “I didn’t live it with him last year, but I did talk to our leadership group here and what I did know is just how hard he (worked) and the effort that he put in to come back last year and how diligent he was. He’s a great leader for us, and he’s a great pro and he’s been a guy, quite frankly, that I’ve been maybe the most impressed with – just his leadership ability when I’ve come in here.” Gulutzan later praised the veteran’s resilience and influence: “He’s a great leader for us, and he’s a great pro. He’s been a guy… that I’ve been maybe the most impressed with — just his leadership ability when I’ve come in here.”
The injury is another setback for Seguin, who played just 20 regular-season games last year after hip surgery, returned in time for Dallas’ playoff run, and earlier in his career endured a sliced Achilles and additional hip and knee procedures. Despite the setbacks, he reached the 1,000-game milestone in October and had registered seven goals and 10 assists in 27 games this season.
With Seguin unavailable, the Stars plan to elevate players internally. Nathan Bastian was slated to step in Tuesday, and the team hopes Duchene, once cleared, can help absorb some of the workload. “You’re going to have to have other guys step up,” Gulutzan said. “There’s going to be more opportunity for more guys, and then you’re going to see who takes it.”
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