Dallas Stars put defenseman Sergei Zubov on injured reserve; Robidas questionable

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

The Stars are down to a few kids and a bag of pucks on defense now.

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars put Sergei Zubov on injured reserve Thursday and called up defenseman Dan Jancevski from the AHL due to an injury to Stephane Robidas.

Robidas' status is up in the air for Friday's game against the Detroit Red Wings following oral surgery on Thursday. Robidas took a puck to the mouth at the end of the first period of Wednesday's game against Phoenix and missed part of the second. He did return and finished the game, but he lost some teeth and had repair work done Thursday.

"You know Robidas, if there's a possibility he can play he'll play," said Stars coach Dave Tippett.

But with the Stars playing back-to-back games Friday and Saturday the Stars, who have 12 healthy forwards and six healthy defensemen without Robidas, called up Jancevski from the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Defenseman Mark Fistric, who is with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL, is still not available for a call up right now. Fistric, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in late November, skated for the first time since the procedure earlier this week but is not ready to return to action yet.

Zubov was placed on injured reserve retroactive to November 28. The Stars had been listing his injury as a lower body ailment, but revealed it was a hip injury in a press release Thursday. The release said he was still recovering from the hip surgery that forced him to miss the first 12 games of the season.

Zubov returned to play ten games but has missed the last the five games. Tippett said earlier this week that Zubov is getting some opinions from doctors about what to do about the injury.

"He is getting some outside opinions that he feels are very valuable and we are in a holding pattern," Stars coach Dave Tippett said after Thursday's practice in Frisco.