The Dallas Stars announced that they had reassigned defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka to the Texas Stars of the AHL. Jokipakka has played 19 games with the Dallas Stars this season and has five assists in total.
With Trevor Daley returning to action last night in Dallas’ 3-2 loss to Montreal, the Dallas Stars were carrying eight defenseman. With both Jokipakka and Jamie Oleksiak being scratched in last night’s game it was expected that at least one of them would be reassigned to Texas. Jim Nill is on the record as saying he wants the young defensemen to get playing time and that wasn’t going to happen with the Dallas Stars carrying eight defensemen.
The Texas Stars’ next game is tomorrow evening at the Cedar Park Center against the San Antonio Rampage.
Here is the press release from the Dallas Stars:
Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has reassigned defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Jokipakka, 23, has appeared in 19 games for Dallas this season, posting five assists (0-5=5) and 16 shots on goal. The defenseman has registered five points (3-2=5) in 17 games for Texas this season.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound native of Tampere, Finland was selected by Dallas in the seventh round (195th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft.