The disappointing season of stops and starts, but mostly stops, continues for center Martin Hanzal, who left the team after the Vegas game and returned to Dallas for evaluation.
It's not entirely clear what his injury is, or when he might return to the lineup.
"We don't even know what the injury is," Hitchcock said. "We don't even know where it is, to be honest with you. Just the general soreness comes up all the time and we've got to figure it out."
The impact has the potential to be significant. When Hanzal has played (he's appeared in 19 games for the 13-10-1 Stars), he's been a factor. He has given Hitchcock enormous flexibility in his lineup -- given that he plays against opposing teams' top centers, takes important draws, logs time-killing penalties and is on the second power-play unit.
"We've learned to deal with it, but it's been very disappointing for him, because he's been a very effective player every game he's played," Hitchcock said. "For whatever reason, he can't seem to stay healthy, and it's been a big swing for us because when you have players who play both ends of special teams, and play 5-on-5, there's a lot of ice time that gets allocated to that player, then you've got to get other people up to speed.
"I think that's the challenge facing us, but I know how disappointing it's been for Marty."
Remi Elie will rejoin the lineup and skate with Brett Ritchie and Gemel Smith on the team's fourth line.