Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz updated injury timelines will disappoint Stars fans

The Dallas Stars continue to surge after winning 14 of their last 16 games, but they could be without two of their most important players for most of the rest of the regular-season.

Stars radio analyst Bruce LeVine passed along an update from head coach Glen Gulutzan regarding Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz, as well as Radek Faksa, on Monday.

“Mikko Rantanen is still more than 10 days to two weeks away from any possible return. He will not go on the road with the team this week,” LeVine reported. “Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa are further away from consideration.”

Rantanen suffered his current lower-body injury while playing for Team Finland at the Winter Olympics in Milan. He missed the bronze medal game, although his country was able to secure third place.

Hintz, also dealing with a lower-body ailment, has been out for the last week and a half. With just 15 games left in their regular-season, it’s possible that both Hintz and Faksa will be out until Round 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It’s an unfortunate update on all three players, but the silver lining is that Dallas is playing some of its best hockey of the season at the perfect time. The Stars are 8-0-1 since returning from the Olympics, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 21 in that span.

They’ve closed the gap on the Colorado Avalanche in the President’s Trophy race, and are now just three points behind their bitter rivals.

Even without Rantanen, Hintz and Faksa, it’s very possible that the Stars could end up being the top regular-season team in 2025-26. They lost 6-3 to the Utah Mammoth on Monday night, but before then, hadn’t lost in regulation since Jan. 22.

Both Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting have looked like solid fits since coming over from the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators, respectively, and have helped to bolster the depth in the absence of the three key forwards.

The hope is that Rantanen will be able to return before the end of March, while an ideal scenario would see Hintz get into a couple more games before the end of the regular-season.

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