Top Finnish Defender to Miss Time for Stars

Esa Lindell, one of the Dallas Stars most reliable stalwarts at the back end, will miss time as a result of a blocked shot in Chicago, the team announced Tuesday.

Lindell, who has established himself as an elite defender in the league and the top penalty killer across the NHL, rarely misses time despite playing a gritty, physical game. Unfortunately for the Stars, he was unable to avoid missing time from a painful blocked shot in Saturday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks, resulting in a lower body injury.

Head coach Glen Gulutzan said Lindell will be out "about a week" officially but will then go day-to-day after that, meaning he could potentially be out for a little while afterwards. It sounds like the official timeline for his return is uncertain at the moment.

In a season already marred by injury and missed time, this will shockingly be the first missed game from any defenseman in the lineup. Prior to this, only forwards have been out of the lineup, even resulting in seventh defenseman Kyle Capobianco playing as a forward on the fourth line.

Now, Capobianco will slot in, most likely with Tyler Myers on the third pair, while Lian Bicshel steps up to the second pair with Nils Lundkvist and Thomas Harley gets his deserved first pair minutes exclusively until Lindell returns.

If another defenseman is required to be called up from Texas, it would most likely be Kyle Burroughs or Trey Taylor, who both impressed in the preseason and would most likely have made the team under different circumstances and without such a solid group of six defensemen already established.

Capobianco will join the top six against the Boston Bruins at 7 p.m. in Dallas, with the game available to watch on ESPN.

Make Sure You Bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site For The Latest News, Exclusive Interviews, Breakdowns, And So Much More.