Stars center Mattias Janmark out six months after knee surgery
The Dallas Stars will be without center Mattias Janmark for the next six months after knee surgery.
Injuries likely prevented the Dallas Stars from winning the Stanley Cup in 2015-16. It appears they might cost them this year as well. The Stars have one healthy center right now (Jason Spezza). While Tyler Seguin is expected to start skating next week, they will be without Mattias Janmark for the next six months. He is undergoing knee surgery to fix his Osteochondritis Dissecans, a joint condition in his knee.
Jim Nill says that it is an issue with the joint and is a condition that you are born with, Osteochondritis Dissecans.
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) September 30, 2016
The Stars were already counting on Janmark to help replace Cody Eakin, who could miss regular season time with an injured knee. Janmark could prove to be a difficult person to replace. Despite starting 30.31 percent of his zone stars in the defensive zone, Janmark had some of the best puck possession numbers on the Stars. Janmark averages just 14:10 of ice time per game for the Stars, but finding a center who can handle such responsibilities and thrive is harder to do than it sounds.
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Radek Faksa should be back very shortly for the Stars, so he should be able to help the Stars replace Janmark. However, they will likely have to rely on someone from the AHL like Travis Morin to help replace his roster spot. Luckily, the Stars are a deep enough team that they can probably overcome Janmark’s injury. But he’s still a very important player, even if he doesn’t end up on the scoresheet too often.
In his first NHL season in 2015-16, Janmark had 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 73 games. He had just 16 penalty minutes in 1,035 minutes on the ice. The Stars drafted Janmark in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft. He won 36.2 percent of his faceoffs last season, but was still a very effective center for the Stars.