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Stars’ Roman Polak suffered ‘small fracture’ of sternum

The Dallas Stars announced that defenseman Roman Polak suffered a “small fracture” of his sternum during Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. Polak, 33, will be evaluated again in about one week, according to the Stars’ release.

Considering that Polak was hospitalized after being taken off the ice on a stretcher, you could argue that the news could have been far worse.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t a serious situation, and it certainly sounds like Polak is likely dealing with serious pain.

Via a breakdown from Healthline, this injury is often associated with high-impact sports, but also “falling from a large height” and “vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions.” A normal timeline for a recovery could mean a few months, with one window being for 10-and-a-half weeks. That process can also take longer if surgery is required.

So, while it seems like a fairly optimistic update, it still seems like a pretty significant injury for Polak, especially since he’s the rugged type of player who would almost certainly be involved in high-impact collisions whenever he returns to action (assuming he does).

Thursday was a costly night for the Stars overall, as Blake Comeau and Jason Dickinson could also miss a week or more with injuries suffered during that game against the Bruins.

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.