Stars' injury woes continue after latest updates on Tyler Seguin, Lian Bichsel

The Dallas Stars have been hit hard by the injury bug this season and recently lost two more players to longer-term injuries. On Saturday, the team announced (X link) that forward Tyler Seguin and defenseman Lian Bichsel have been placed on LTIR.

Seguin’s placement, made retroactively to Dec. 2, should come as no surprise, as he was diagnosed with a long-term ACL injury.  The exact nature of the injury is still being evaluated, which will determine if there’s a small chance the 33-year-old could return at some point late in the playoffs or if his entire 2025-26 campaign has come to an early end.

That particular distinction, when made, will be notable.  Dallas has placed Seguin on regular LTIR, meaning the potential cap flexibility of the placement is limited to last year’s average salary, or $3.82M.  However, if it’s determined that there is no chance that he can return in the playoffs, the Stars will be able to put him on season-ending LTIR.  If they do that, they will be able to get potential cap flexibility of his full AAV of $9.85M which could open up some opportunities for GM Jim Nill to add to his roster.

As for Bichsel, his placement is retroactive to November 30th.  Earlier this week, it was revealed that he’ll miss the next six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a lower-body injury.  The Stars had been easing him in during his first full NHL campaign, keeping his ice time around the 16-minute mark while he has enough of a lead in the hits department (85, 40 ahead of Nathan Bastian for second) that he will still likely be the team leader in that category when he returns to the lineup next month, assuming his recovery goes as planned.

With the moves, Dallas now has a pair of open roster spots.  It seems likely that those could be filled by other players coming off LTIR.  Defenseman Nils Lundkvist and center Matt Duchene are believed to be nearing returns and Saturday's LTIR placements give the Stars enough cap room to formally bring them back onto the active roster.  Blueliner Thomas Harley also skated on Saturday, per D Magazine’s Robert Tiffin (X link), but he was never moved off the active roster when he was injured.