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Dallas Stars Morning Skate Update: Tyler Seguin Out Again, Kris Russell Ill

The Dallas Stars will play Game 3 of their series against the Minnesota Wild tonight without All-Star forward Tyler Seguin.

Seguin played after missing 11 consecutive games with a lacerated Achilles tendon in Game 2, but his ice time waned as the game went on, and he did not travel with the team to Minnesota, according to Jim Nill. His official status right now is day-to-day, though Nill said he could come join the team if necessary.

Here’s the full set of Lindy Ruff quotes on Seguin’s availability, courtesy of the great Mark Stepneski.

Reading between the lines (which is all we can really do this time of year), it sounds like the original injury is not the issue but some sort of fallout from it is in play. That could be anything from a pulled muscle from trying to compensate to simply a lot of extra swelling that needs time to go down. Maybe it’s major and he’s out until next season, or maybe it’s minor and they simply don’t want to risk a more major compensatory injury until a potential later round.

Who really knows except the team, and the Stars definitely won’t be telling us.

It is interesting, though, as it speaks to the difficulty of replicating true game intensity in practice. It’s the great difficulty with getting players back late in the season – they may feel ready to get back in, but there is a huge jump from being able to go for a 90 minute practice to being able to play 15 minutes in an NHL game.

In players who are not Seguin and will not be playing tonight news, Kris Russell appears to be the latest victim of the brief illness that has been making its way through the team since the end of the season. He did not skate in Minnesota and will not play tonight, which means Jordie Benn will draw into the third pairing to try and rekindle his chemistry with Jason Demers.

With Seguin and Russell out of the lineup from Game 2, here is what the Stars ran in today’s morning skate:

Jamie BennCody EakinPatrick Sharp

Mattias JanmarkJason SpezzaValeri Nichushkin

Antoine RousselRadek FaksaAles Hemsky

Colton SceviourVernon FiddlerPatrick Eaves

And on defense:

Alex GoligoskiJohn Klingberg

Johnny OduyaStephen Johns

Jordie Benn – Jason Demers

Beyond the Benn-Demers pairing that was so successful last season, the other notable change is the recreation of the Janmark-Spezza-Nichushkin line. Spezza has been one of the Stars most effective players so far in the playoffs, and this particular trio was quite dangerous earlier this year. It’s yet another wrinkle the Stars can throw at opponents thanks to their forward depth.

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