Stars’ Roope Hintz tore hamstring, could have been available for second round
The Dallas Stars were without first-line center Roope Hintz for the entirety of their six-game first-round series loss at the hands of the Minnesota Wild.
At the Stars’ locker clean-out day on Monday, Hintz provided some clarity on the nature of his injury and where he was in his timeline to return to game action by the time Dallas was knocked out on Thursday night.
Roope Hintz said he tore his hamstring in two spots. He was getting close to returning and then he re-injured it. He thinks he would have been back by the second or third game of the second round.
Hintz told reporters, including Lia Assimakopoulos of Dallas Morning News, that he suffered a torn hamstring in two different places and that he re-aggravated the injury at a point when he was nearing a return, adding that he thought he could have played in Game 2 or 3 of the second round.
The speedy Finn suffered the injury on Mar. 6 in the midst of a 5-4 shootout loss against the Colorado Avalanche while engaged in a board battle against Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon.
The Stars felt Hintz’s absence rather acutely, as the team struggled mightily to generate offense at 5-on-5 play against Minnesota, becoming dangerously reliant on their power play to find the back of the net.
Hintz, a seasoned playoff performer, has 44 points in 51 Stanley Cup Playoff games over the three postseasons prior to this one.
The Olympic bronze medalist finished his 2025-26 campaign with 15 goals and 29 assists for 44 points in 53 games played while skating to a plus-16 rating on an average of 17:20 of time on ice per game.
Hintz just completed the third season of an eight-year contract that carries a salary cap hit of $8.45 million per year.
Given that he believes he could have played in the second round, there is every reason to believe that the 29-year-old should be ready to go at full health for training camp next season as the Stars gear up to take another run at the Stanley Cup.