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Stars Recall Defenseman to Help Troubled Blue Line

taylor newby
·2 min read

After a couple of rough games for the Stars sixth defenseman, Dallas announced Thursday that young defenseman Lian Bichsel has been called back up to join the roster in preparation for the Stars game against Vegas Friday night.

The Stars have a rare two days between games, with Friday's game against Vegas the first of a back-to-back that finishes in St. Louis. Dallas is known for doing "paper transactions" to maximize cap space on off days, so when the team announced that they were recalling Matej Blumel, it was no surprise. Blumel played Tuesday and was expected to play again Friday.

Mason Marchment has been out since December 27th after taking a puck to the face and having surgery soon after. Head coach Pete DeBoer announced that Marchment's anticipated return could be before the Four Nations Face-Off Tournament in mid-February. But with his absence, they have been cycling through several of their top performing AHL forwards such as Blumel, Arttu Hyry and Justin Hryckowian.

However, the Stars calling up Bichsel along with Blumel is a bit surprising. No injuries have been announced to all seven defenseman who have been on the roster all season. But it has been no secret that Matt Dumba has had a short leash. He has been a healthy scratch the last two games after a standout performance - for the wrong reasons - against Colorado, allowing Brendan Smith to slot into the lineup. Smith did not have his best performance against the Carolina Hurricanes, ending up -1 with a minor penalty taken in a 3-1 loss.

Dallas takes on the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights on Friday at home and then head to St Louis to take on the resurgent Blues on Saturday. His call-up could be as a direct replacement for Dumba and Smith based on performance alone for the first time all season. In his prior eight games, he has filled in for injuries on the blue line. Bichsel has tallied two points in his short NHL career so far.

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