Stars' Tyler Seguin Could Have Surgery on Hip Injury; Would Miss 4 Months

Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin is considering surgery after suffering a torn labrum in his hip during the 2019-20 NHL playoffs.

According to Stars general manager Jim Nill, the surgery would require four months of recovery.

Seguin, who led the team with 50 points during the 2019-20 regular season, registered two goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 26 playoff games, as the Stars advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

While Seguin was still an important player for the Stars during the postseason, he was clearly overtaken by several other players as the go-to scorers on the team.

He tied with Roope Hintz for seventh on the team in playoff scoring behind defensemen Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg, as well as forwards Joe Pavelski, Jamie Benn, Alexander Radulov and Denis Gurianov.

It is fair to wonder if the hip injury Seguin suffered during the playoffs played a role in sapping some of his effectiveness and preventing him from playing his usual explosive style.

The 28-year-old veteran is a six-time All-Star who has been one of the faces of the franchise in Dallas for the past seven seasons since acquiring him from the Boston Bruins.

Seguin has been nearly a point-per-game player during his Stars tenure, with 223 goals and 291 assists for 514 points in 538 regular-season games.

When taking his three seasons in Boston into account, Seguin has 279 goals and 356 assists for 635 points to his credit in 741 games.

Entering the 2019-20 season, which was shortened because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Seguin had posted at least 72 points in six consecutive seasons, making him one of the NHL's most consistent players during that time.

Seguin set a career high with 84 points in 2013-14, but he was essentially just as good during the two seasons preceding 2019-20. He scored a career-high 40 goals in 2017-18 and followed that up with 80 points in 2018-19.

It is clear that Seguin can still be a big-time point producer when healthy, but in order to get him back to that level, surgery may be needed.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said this week that the NHL is hoping to start the 2020-21 season on Jan. 1, meaning Seguin would likely miss at least the first month of the season if he undergoes surgery.

While that would be far from an ideal scenario for the Stars, having a healthy Seguin for the second half of the season and the playoffs would likely be a worthwhile tradeoff.