Stars’ Nils Lundkvist placed on IR, out week-to-week
The Dallas Stars will have to make due without one their mainstay defensemen for the next little while.
Head coach Glen Gulutzan told the media Monday that defenseman Nils Lundkvist has been placed on injured reserve, and is considered out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
Nils Lundkvist will be placed on IR and is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury, Glen Gulutzan said.
They plan to recall a defenseman, but not yet, he said.
Dallas plans on calling up a defenseman to make up for Lundkvist’s absence, but no move is imminent.
The Stars acquired Lundkvist from the New York Rangers in a trade just prior to the 2022-23 season. After two seasons in Dallas, in which the Swedish national played a combined 98 NHL games, notching two goals and 22 assists for 24 points, the Stars re-signed Lundkvist to a one-year, $1.25 million contract this past offseason. In four games played this season, Lundkvist has a goal and two assists.
Lundkvist was drafted in the first round, 28th overall, by the Rangers in the 2018 Draft. His first NHL action came in the 2021-22 season, in which he played 25 games in New York and registered a goal and three assists. Seen as a smooth-skating, puck-moving defenseman as a prospect, Lundkvist has yet to truly blossom as an offensive producer in the NHL.
The Stars will still boast a strong blueline in Lundkvist’s absence, as the trio of Esa Lindell, Miro Heiskanen, and Thomas Harley headline one of the best young defense cores in the league.
Dallas has been among the Western Conference’s elite over the past few seasons, but are still looking to get over the hump. The Stars have reached the conference finals each of the last three years, but have bowed out to the Edmonton Oilers the last two years and the Vegas Golden Knights the year prior.
The Stars kick off a three-game homestand Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, followed by the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday and the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.