Seguin sidelined: How Stars plan to navigate “big hole” left in forward’s absence

Tyler Seguin will have surgery on Thursday to repair his left hip and will be out for the next four to six months, Stars GM Jim Nill announced Wednesday.

Seguin, 32, has been managing the injury by using “maintenance days” and not playing on the second night of back-to-backs this season, but it got to the point where surgery became the best option for this year and beyond, Nill said.

"Tyler's been dealing with this - been managing, I guess is the best way to say it - for a while," Nill said. "And it just got to a point where it's really this time to have surgery, and it's a wear-and-tear injury. You don't really know the timeframe. And he was managing as well as he could. I was talking to him the other day. He's off to probably, he said, the second-best start he's ever had in his career, so tough timing for him and for the team. But get the surgery done and he'll be back better than ever."

The timeline makes it so that Seguin could potentially return before the start of the playoffs in mid-April if everything goes well.

“If we’re able to continue on our route and make the playoffs, hopefully he’s ready to go for Game 1,” said linemate Matt Duchene. “We’ll miss him, that’s a big hole in our lineup, but this will extend his career and he’s ascending right now, so it would be great to see him do that with a new hip.”

Seguin has had numerous injuries throughout his career, including a sliced Achilles tendon and several knee and hip procedures. He had a similar surgery on the other hip in 2020 and missed most of the 56-game season in 2021. Nill said his recovery from that process is encouraging.

"He's responded well," Nill said. "He had his other hip done and labrum done on the other side, and recovered well from that. So, he'll recover well from this and be back with us."

The Stars’ immediate replacement is Logan Stankoven. Like Seguin, he’s a right-handed player with skill, so he should be a good fit on a line with Duchene and Mason Marchment. That trio has been the team’s top line, and Seguin exits with 20 points (9 goals, 11 assists) in 19 games.

“It’s tough news,” said Stars coach Pete DeBoer. “He was battling with it and you’re hopeful he can play. It obviously got worse and worse. Someone’s misfortune is someone else’s opportunity. We’ve got some people here where there are some key minutes in key situations that are up for grabs, and guys have gotta grab that opportunity.”

Stankoven, 21, is a rookie that logged 24 games of experience from last season (in addition to 19 playoff games). He has 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists) in 22 games this season.

Duchene said he thought Stankoven was a good fit on the line Monday in Utah.

“You don’t replace a guy like Seggy and the chemistry of our line has been pretty special,” Duchene said. “It’s tough to recreate that, but we have Stank stepping in and he’s a very similar player – right-hand shot, good passer, good shooter, smart player. I’m sure it will look a little bit different, but at the same time there’s no reason we can’t have the same success.”

Seguin also had a spot on the power play, and that will have to be filled by another forward. Evgenii Dadonov has looked good on the man advantage, and players like Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque also might get more looks and minutes. The Texas Stars (AHL) also have five forwards with 13 points or more this season.

"This is a great opportunity for players internally, and we're going to monitor that, see where we go," Nill said. "You know, hopefully there's no other injuries, but if there is, we'll kind of have to manage that as we go along. But it's an opportunity for other people."

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.