Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer announced Thursday morning that center Roope Hintz will miss the team’s season opener against the St. Louis Blues due to an upper-body injury.
Hintz, 26, has been dealing with the injury for the majority of training camp, and did not play any games during the preseason as a result. It’s unclear what caused the injury, but it doesn’t appear to be anything major. DeBoer said that his reasoning for keeping Hintz out of the season opener was due to the amount of time until their next game, wanting to not risk an injury and instead give him more time to heal. The Stars will have four days off after Thursday’s game until they play the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
Hintz is coming off his best season in the NHL, as he had 37 goals, 38 assists and 75 points in 73 games in the 2022-23 season. It’s the second time he’s finished above a point per game in a season, as he also had 43 points in 41 games in 2020-21. He also continued that play into the playoffs, where he had 10 goals, 14 assists and 24 points in 19 games as the Stars were eliminated in the Western Conference Final by the Vegas Golden Knights.
Seguin will reportedly take Hintz’s spot on the top line between Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski for the game. Seguin’s 2022-23 season was on par with his recent production, with 21 goals, 29 assists and 50 points in 76 regular season games, and five goals, four assists and nine points in 19 playoff games. According to Evolving Hockey, Seguin played 130:19 of 5v5 ice time with Robertson and Pavelski last season, with the trio having a 61.64% shot attempt share and 63.91% expected goal share when on the ice together.
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