The Dallas Stars have placed forward Alexander Radulov on the injured reserve, they announced Thursday morning. The specific injury has not yet been released, however despite Radulov playing in the Stars' last game Tuesday versus the Carolina Hurricanes, he did miss Saturday's contest against the St. Louis Blues, so it is possible that he has been trying to play through some type of ailment.
Much like all of the Stars team, this season has been a struggle offensively for Radulov. The 33-year-old Russian forward has just 15 goals and 31 points in 52 games. This comes after two straight 72 point seasons during his first two years with Dallas. Despite a disappointing offensive season for Radulov, his 31 points is still good for second on the Stars, who rank 25th in goals scored this year with just 151 goals. Shockingly, the Stars have still put together a solid season standings wise, where they currently find themselves sitting third place in the Central Division with 69 points, in large part due to the goaltending of both Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin.
As of now, the Stars have not given a timeline on how long they expect Radulov to remain out of the lineup. Due to the fact the move was retroactive to February 11th, the earliest he could return is February 18th. This means Radulov will miss at minimum three games. In a corresponding move, the Stars have recalled forward Jason Robertson from the Texas Stars of the AHL. The 20-year-old forward was taken in the second round of the 2017 draft by the Stars. He has had a very solid start to his professional career with 35 points in 49 games for Texas. If he gets into Dallas' lineup, it will be his NHL debut.
-
