After a brief conditioning assignment in the AHL to get his wonky groin and hip back up to speed, winger Valeri Nichushkin has been recalled by the Dallas Stars.
Evidence of the move can be found on the AHL’s transactions page:
11/02/2014 Valeri Nichushkin (RW) Texas DEL Recalled from loan by Dallas (NHL)
Nichushkin played two games with the Texas Stars on his conditioning assignment with one assist, seven shots and a minus-4 rating while playing on the top line with Curtis McKenzie and Travis Morin. Both games took place on the road.
He went down on the conditioning assignment to continue rehabilitating a groin/hip injury that had bothered him since the start of training camp. Nichushkin has played in only two games in the NHL this season with two penalty minutes to show for it.
The move should give the Stars more depth for the top six, which has been shorthanded since Nichushkin went out with the injury and Lindy Ruff assembled the uber-line of Jason Spezza, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin that spent two weeks terrorizing opponents before falling quiet.
Nichushkin is practicing with the team as is Ales Hemsky, who left Saturday’s game early with an upper body injury.