Mikko Rantanen will be out indefinitely, but the Dallas Stars are hoping the forward will be able to return before the end of the regular season.
Rantanen sustained a lower-body injury at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. He missed Team Finland's 6-1 win against Team Slovakia in the bronze medal game Saturday, and had six points (two goals, four assists) in five games.
"He will be back before the end of the regular season from all the indications we are getting but he's going to be out for ... it's not days," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said Tuesday.
"He had a doctor's appointment with our docs yesterday and he is going to be ... it won't be one or two games, it will be, let's start [at] two weeks and then see where it goes from there. So he will be out for some time."
The Stars (34-14-9) are third in the Central Division, six points behind the Colorado Avalanche. They have 25 games remaining in the regular season beginning against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; FOX4, KHN/Prime, KING 5, Victory+, KONG), in their first game following the Olympic break.
Their final game of the regular season is at the Buffalo Sabres on April 15.
Gulutzan said it will be on others to step up without Rantanen, who leads the Stars with 69 points (20 goals, 49 assists) in 54 games.
"Hard to replace. ... It's just an opportunity for other guys to get more time and step up in that role," Gulutzan said. "You can't replace a player like him, but you can mitigate the loss for a bit and that's what we're going to try and do with different guys. There's only a few of those superstars in the League and they are hard to replace."
Rantanen also had 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 20 regular-season games with Dallas last season, following a trade from the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7, and led them in the playoffs with 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 18 games.
