First off, the stunner of the day comes from Mike Heika.
“Derek Roy had shoulder surgery today. Out until November. More to come.”
Even better is that it looks like that’ll be late November till he’s ready to play again. He’ll probably still be able to condition and skate, but he loses valuable time in camp getting used to his linemates and learning the system in Dallas. He probably won’t truly get into the swing of things with the team until January.
The injury also brings up a multitude of questions. When did it happen? Was the trade made with this injury known to the Stars? Roy himself said he was 100% healthy when the trade happened so who knows when this injury popped up. There’s a lots of answers that need found out before we lambast the team and GM Joe, but his doesn’t look good right now.
For all intensive purposes, it looks like Tom Wandell will get chance number 20 to make an impression on the team as he’ll most likely center Ray Whitney and Michael Ryder. Jamie Benn gets the pressure moneky put back on his hefty shoulders as he’s the only playmaking center left.
The most interesting part of the this is what Dallas does with Radek Faksa. He’s been signed to a three-year entry level contract and has looked great in camp thus far. He could get late line minutes for the start of the season, but the Stars are hoping he becomes the team’s number one center in the future. Dallas could always thrust him into the fire in that second line role for the first months of the season as he does have solid wingers around him, but who knows.
There’s a lot more that needs to be learned about this Roy injury before any conclusions can be made, but there’s no question that this throws a giant monkey wrench into the team’s plans.
Also in the news today was that the Stars signed Troy Vance and Brett Ritchie to entry level contracts. Vance is a gigantic defender and a really interesting prospect while Ritchie is a bruising power forward type that has looked great at development camp this offseason. Ritichie has the better chance of making the team, but it won’t be for another year or two.
