It appears as if the Dallas Stars are going to finally get some good news on the injury front.
Coach Lindy Ruff said on Friday afternoon that forward Patrick Sharp is “ready to go” and should be returning to the lineup this weekend after missing most of the season due to a concussion.
The Stars are home on Saturday night against the Edmonton Oilers, and it is expected that Sharp will be on the ice.
Sharp has not played for the Stars since Oct. 20 and has been one of the many forwards the team has been without through the first quarter of the season. Along with the Sharp the team has also lost Jason Spezza, Ales Hemsky, Jiri Hudler, Mattias Janmark, and Cody Eakin for extended periods of time due to injury (and in Hudler’s case, an illness).
That is a lot of talent to take out of the lineup and it has robbed the team of a lot of its scoring depth.
Even though goal prevention has been the Stars’ biggest issue so far this season (28th in the league in goals against entering play on Friday), it would be impossible to argue that all of that forward talent being out of the lineup hasn’t also been a contributing factor to a start that has seen the team win just seven of its first 18 games. They are currently sitting in the second wild card sport in the Western Conference. A year ago the Stars were the No. 1 seed in the conference and had the second best record in the entire league.
Acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks before the start of the 2015-16 season, Sharp finished with 55 points (20 goals, 35 assists) in his first season with the Stars.
In four games so far this season the 35-year-old forward recorded one assist before being injured in a game against the Los Angeles Kings when he was hit by Brayden McNabb.