DALLAS -- Tyler Seguin is expected to be ready for training camp next season with the Dallas Stars after tearing the ACL in his right knee on Dec. 2.
“I feel good,” the forward said Monday. “It was tough. I guess ACLs aren’t that common in hockey. It was hard to really bounce these questions off other players. There’s not even really a true open book on, get on the ice at this time right now, you can then do this, you can now cut this way.”
The 34-year-old had surgery Dec. 16. The typical timeline for recovery averages around nine months, which aligns with the start of training camp in September. Seguin had 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) and was plus-10 in 27 games this season for Dallas, which was eliminated Thursday in a 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round.
“I feel deep down I’ll be as strong as ever,” Seguin said. “It’s like going into the offseason, you have one or two lower-body days, except now you’re doing them four days a week.”
Seguin’s injury was just one of many for the Stars over the course of this season. Forward Jamie Benn, their captain, missed the first 19 games because of a punctured lung, and center Matt Duchene missed 24 with a head injury. Defenseman Lian Bichsel sustained a lower-body injury that kept him out 31 games, and defenseman Nils Lundkvist (lower body) missed 25 and also had his face cut by a skate in Game 5 against the Wild.
Mikko Rantanen, a forward, missed 15 games after a lower-body injury he sustained while playing for Team Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.
“It’s hard to ever see what exactly what (full health) looks like,” Seguin said. “It’s also an excuse too; every team deals with it. This was a special year, hard year for the whole League and for our team especially with the amount of injuries, and I’m not even talking about myself. I was proud during the season of how the guys did, and then playoffs are a different beast.”
The Stars, who struggled to generate offense at even strength in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, were also without Roope Hintz, their top-line center who usually plays on a line between Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston. Hintz tore his hamstring on March 6 in a battle along the boards with Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon and missed the last 20 regular-season games, as well as the entire first round. He had 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) and was plus-16 in 53 games.
“I just kind of over-stretched it or something and it just kind of popped; I don’t know what really happened there,” Hintz said.
Coach Glen Gulutzan confirmed Monday that Hintz likely would not have been ready for the start of the second round had Dallas advanced.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Hintz said. “I was getting close, maybe a game. Maybe second or third (game in the second round),” Hintz said. “A lot of rehabbing and stuff like that. Then I was getting close and I kind of reinjured it again a little bit, so got a little setback.”
The Stars reached the conference final each of the previous three seasons but packed their belongings for the offseason on Monday after a first-round exit.
“I think every team we’ve had over the last few years, you feel like it’s a team that could go all the way,” Seguin said. “I think you fight yourself with not getting used to the feeling we have right now of the pit in the stomach that we had another chance and we let it slip away. I think it gets more intensified with losing in the first round, just thinking that it’s over this quick.
“Get a good recovery, get everyone healthy and rested and get back at it. Because we’re not going anywhere.”
