The numbers game that is the Dallas Stars roster caught Radek Faksa up on Sunday as the rookie forward was returned to the Texas Stars of the AHL.
The young Czech was recalled in mid-October after a slew of injuries hit the Stars lower lines and was nothing short of impressive in his 14-game NHL debut, where he scored his first career NHL goal and fit in extremely well on the Stars third and fourth lines.
But both Travis Moen and Patrick Eaves are recently recovered from their upper and lower body injuries respective, and their removal from injured reserve puts the Stars at 13 active forwards without Faksa on the roster. That’s the maximum the Stars can carry for a 23-man roster so long as they continue to carry eight defensemen.
The team will have another decision to make when Curtis McKeznie is fully recovered from the hip injury he suffered at the hands of Nikita Nesterov. McKenzie is still waiver exempt, and given that he hasn’t played in a month, the easy decision may be to send him back to Cedar Park as well.
Regardless of today’s decision, Faksa proved himself to be ready for consistent NHL action both when the need arises this season via injury or trade and as a more permanent option next training camp once there is inevitable roster turnover.
Here is the official release:
Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the team has reassigned forward Radek Faksa to the Texas Stars, Dallas’ top development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Faksa, 21, appeared in 14 games for Dallas, including his NHL debut on Oct. 17 at Florida. He registered two points (1-1=2) in his time with Dallas, scoring his first career NHL goal on Nov. 6 at Carolina. Prior to his recall, he registered two goals (2-0=2) and a +1 plus/minus rating in one game with Texas.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound native of Vitkov, Czech Republic was originally selected by Dallas in the first round (13th overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft.