The Dallas Stars made a pair of personnel moves on Tuesday morning that appear to be designed to get some young players more ice time.
Devin Shore, who was called up for the recent four-game road swing as injury insurance and made his NHL debut in Boston, was returned to the Texas Stars after three NHL games. He has been an offensive dynamo in the AHL this season and was named the league’s player of the month for October after eight goals in his first nine games played.
Defenseman Patrik Nemeth was also sent down, but as a waiver-eligible player, he was sent down on a conditioning loan that could span up to 14 days. Nemeth has not seen much ice time in Dallas this season as Jordie Benn and Jyrki Jokipakka have the Nos. 5 and 6 defenseman spots on lockdown. He’s played in just two games this season, both multi-goal losses, and is a minus-3 in 32 minutes of ice time.
Per the CBA, players must agree to be sent on a conditioning assignment. Nemeth could play as many as seven games with the Texas Stars before his 14-day stint is up, should he remain down that long. He will continue to count against the Stars salary cap and roster limit during that time.
Both Shore and Nemeth were in Cedar Park on Tuesday morning and practicing with the team.
With Nemeth down, the Stars still have seven active defensemen on the roster with Jamie Oleksiak as the seventh.
Shore’s return to the AHL likely indicates that one of a trio of Stars injured forwards is ready to return to the lineup. The most likely candidates are Patrick Eaves and/or Travis Moen. Eaves, who suffered a lower-body injury early in the season, and Moen, who is nursing an upper-body injury, both practiced with the team earlier this week. Curtis McKenzie has resumed skating after a nasty-looking hip injury suffered at the hands of a Nikita Nesterov boarding penalty, but he has not returned to practice.
In order to activate more than one injured player, the Stars would need to either inactivate another player or make a move to cut down to seven defensemen on the roster. With Nemeth, the Stars have 22 active roster players (12 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies) before anyone comes off of injured reserve.
Here is the full release on the moves:
Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has reassigned forward Devin Shore to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ top development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL), as well as loaned defenseman Patrik Nemeth there on a conditioning assignment.
Nemeth, 23, has appeared in two games this season for Dallas registering three shots on net. Per terms of his loan, his conditioning assignment can span up to 14 days.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound native of Stockholm, Sweden was selected by Dallas in the second round (41st overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.
Shore, 21, appeared in his first three career NHL games with Dallas and posted a +2 plus/minus rating. At the time of his recall on Nov. 1, he sat second in the AHL in goals (8) and tied for sixth in points (8-3=11) in nine games played. The rookie was named the CCM/AHL Player of the Week for the week ending Oct. 18, the AHL’s first week of the season, as he collected five goals and one assist (5-1=6) in three games played, all road victories.
The 6-foot-1, 205-pound native of Ajax, Ontario was selected by Dallas in the second round (61st overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft.