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Dallas Stars Activate Kari Lehtonen from Injured Reserve, Jason Demers Day-to-Day

There was some good news on the Dallas Stars injury front at Wednesday’s afternoon practice as starting goalie Kari Lehtonen was activated from injured reserve and resumed his regular routine with the team.

Unfortunately for Dallas, that came with some bad news as well as defenseman (and apparently mysterious glue that holds the blueline together) Jason Demers did not skate after suffering an upper-body injury in the shootout loss to the Calgary Flames.

Lehtonen’s activation meant the Stars needed a roster spot, which they cleared by sending goalie Jack Campbell back to the Texas Stars of the AHL. Campbell backed up Niemi but never was pressed into action during Lehtonen’s week-long absence.

Given that he was able to start practicing the last few days, it’s no surprise that it looks like Lehtonen may be the starter tomorrow against the Vancouver Canucks. According to Mike Heika, Lehtonen was the first goalie off the ice today, which almost always points to the next starter.

The lack of a recalled defenseman doesn’t mean much with regards to Demers, however, as the team has been carrying eight all season and can replace his minutes while still having another body in the press box as backup.

As far as what exactly happened, there’s been some speculation that the injury occurred on this delayed penalty (almost certainly for for boarding) to Matt Stajan. Demers did play three shifts after the hit but did not return. Getting his arms up probably saved Demers head from hitting the dasher but could have easily messed up a finger, wrist, arm or shoulder. Given then secretive nature of NHL injuries, that’s the best we’re probably going to get.

The best replay occurs about 25 seconds into the replay:

The official word out of the Stars camp is that Demers is day-to-day, which is somewhere between “he’s fine” and Lindy Ruff’s favorite description, that he will miss “a period of time.”

Talking Points