It turns out the Stars aren’t quite so close to being in perfect health.
The team announced they’ve put 40 year-old forward Ray Whitney on injured reserve with a lower body injury. Coming up from the AHL to take his spot on the roster is 21 year-old Reilly Smith. Smith was second on the Texas Stars with 27 points in 38 games.
The downside of adding older veteran players is that they might be a bit more high maintenance when it comes to injuries. We’ve seen Jaromir Jagr deal with back issues already this year and now Whitney is out. On the upside, they’re expecting Derek Roy to return on Monday so their scoring lines will be thinner than normal tonight against Phoenix.
Update (3:54 p.m. ET): Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News tweets the update from the Stars. It’s a broken foot for Whitney and he’ll miss 4-6 weeks. That’s a tough situation for him and the team as he was leading them in points.