Stars’ Mikko Rantanen tore MCL at Olympics; won’t require surgery
Dallas Stars’ forward Mikko Rantanen suffered an injury at the 2026 Winter Olympics while representing Finland last February, and was forced to play the remainder of the 2025-26 season with a torn MCL, general manager Jim Nill told media on Thursday.
Mikko Rantanen tore his MCL at the Olympics. Nill said they would've liked him to have one or two more weeks to recover than when he did come back. "I never really thought he was himself [after]." He won't need surgery.
Nill added that Rantanen won’t require surgery in the offseason.
Rantanen was placed on injured reserve after the Olympics and missed 15 games with what the team called a lower-body injury. He returned March 28 and dressed in the team’s final 10 regular-season contests.
Nils Lundkvist - fractured leg and ankle in regular season, facial laceration in playoffs, "very lucky man," Nill said, also had a concussion because of the facial laceration Mikko Rantanen - tore MCL in Olympics, came back as quickly as he could but was never himself again
The 29-year-old finished the regular season with 22 goals and 55 assists for 77 points in 64 regular-season games. He scored one goal and added six assists for seven points in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Stars were eliminated by the Minnesota Wild.
In 11 NHL seasons, Rantanen, a native of Nousiainen, Finland, has 316 goals and 466 assists for 782 points in 716 regular-season games with the Stars, Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalalnche.
Rantanen has reached the 100-point mark twice in his career, and in 2022-23 he scored 55 goals and recorded 50 assists for 105 points.
He’s also played in 105 career NHL playoff games, where he’s recorded 44 goals and 86 assists for 130 points. He was part of the Avalanche’s 2022 Stanley Cup championship, where he scored five goals and added 20 assists for 25 points.
The Stars finished the 2025-26 regular season with a 50-20-12 record and 112 points with a plus-53 goal differential. Despite having the third-best record in the NHL, they finished second in the Central Division behind the Avalanche.