Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene will be out for up to three months after having core muscle surgery, the team said Monday.
Duchene, 35, began the season on injured reserve and last played when the Stars were eliminated from the first round of the playoffs last season by the Minnesota Wild. The loss snapped the Stars' three-year streak of advancing to the Western Conference finals.
Losing Duchene means the Stars will be without one of their more productive top-nine forwards who can play either down the middle at center or on the edge out on the wing.
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan didn't go into the specifics of how the injury occurred. He did say Duchene's injury is one that's more chronic in nature that "you didn't want to kick down the road anymore."
Duchene missed portions of last season while he was recovering from a concussion. Gulutzan was asked what was learned from Duchene's injury history from 2025-26 that could help the team this year.
"I think he's going to be able to come back easier because history for this is it's a physical thing," Gulutzan said. "Last year, obviously, was a concussion, and that's tough to deal with. This is a physical thing. So, you actually know what steps you can go through. ... It's a lot easier to monitor their return to play. So, I would expect when he comes back that it'll be a little bit more seamless than it was last year, just with the nature of the injury."
Gulutzan, who is in his second season with the Stars, had to navigate several injuries to his lineup last season as players like Jamie Benn, Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen and Tyler Seguin missed varying amounts of games.
"You just got to make sure the energy stays good in the room, and that everybody picks up a little bit of it, Gulutzan said. "It's on the coaches too to find other ways to give guys more. ... It's community coverage by everybody."
Duchene finished 2025-26 with 16 goals and 45 points in 57 games for the Stars, who are 2-2-1 to start this season.