The Dallas Stars announced today that they have reassigned forward Rhett Gardner and defenseman Joel Hanley to the Texas Stars.
Gardner was a healthy scratch the past three games, while Hanley has not played in the last five. Neither player has to pass through waivers — Gardner is ineligible, while Hanley has not played 10 NHL games nor spent 30 days on the NHL roster since he last cleared waivers.
Both players were initially called up to Dallas after the team lost Blake Comeau and Roman Polak in the season opener. However their reassignment does not necessarily mean that Comeau and Polak are close to returning:
No update on Polak or Comeau yet, but neither Gardner and Hanley were going to play Thursday, so it makes sense from cap perspective and playing time stand point to have them play for Texas this week instead of sitting in Dallas. https://t.co/DHiiCNjV03
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) October 22, 2019
The Texas Stars kick off a four game road trip tomorrow as they take on the Chicago Wolves. Similar to Denis Gurianov’s reassignment, both Gardner and Hanley could be recalled quickly if they perform well in the AHL.
Here is the Stars’ press release:
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has reassigned forward Rhett Gardner and defenseman Joel Hanley to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ top development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Gardner, 23, has appeared in seven NHL games with Dallas in 2019-20, posting eight shots on goal and seven hits in an average 10:12 of ice time per game. The forward made his NHL debut on Oct. 5 at St. Louis, logging four faceoff wins and one hit in 12:04 of ice time.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound native of Moose Jaw, Sask. was originally selected by Dallas in the fourth round (116th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft.
Hanley, 28, has registered one assist (0-1=1) and three hits in two games with Dallas so far this season. The defenseman has also appeared in one AHL game with Texas so far in 2019-20.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound native of Keswick, Ont. was originally undrafted and signed as a free agent by Dallas on July 1, 2018.