Stars' Seguin skates, could return within a week

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin resumed skating with his teammates Thursday and could be back in the lineup within a week.

Seguin took part in the morning skate in preparation for a game against the Florida Panthers, the team against which he was injured Feb. 13. Seguin sustained a knee injury on a low hit by defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who was suspended four games by the NHL for the play.

"Tyler really is closing in on day-to-day for us," Stars coach Lindy Ruffs said. "I would say probably within a week or sooner. Depends how he responds to some heavy workouts here today, tomorrow."

Seguin will miss his 10th game Thursday. He was expected to be out 4-6 weeks; Friday will be three weeks since the injury.

"My goal was to get on this trip," Seguin said. "I had targeted it because it was early enough where it could be a goal because technically I shouldn’t be ready for another 1 1⁄2 to two weeks. This was the goal I set and I reached it, so I was happy about that.

"It felt good to be back out there, be around bodies. It’s (been) kind of me and two guys the last five or six times on the ice. Today was nice to be around the guys."

Seguin is second on the team with 59 points (29 goals, 30 assists) in 55 games. The Stars have a 2-5-2 record since his injury.

"Everybody knows who he is," center Jason Spezza said. "He’s one of the best players in the game. He’s dynamic. You can’t just plug those holes. Our record without him hasn’t been great. We’re probably on the wrong end of a few games we’ve dominated and not gotten the wins. But you miss a guy like that. He’s so dynamic. He can change the game in a couple of minutes of him having a few good shifts. It’s been a big loss for us."

While Seguin appears close to returning, the Stars will be without defenseman Trevor Daley for 2-4 weeks because of a lower-body injury.

Daley was injured in a 3-2 overtime victory against the New York Islanders on Tuesday after a collision with Islanders forward Matt Martin, who was assessed a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct, and was suspended for one game.