Dallas Stars lose captain Brenden Morrow for the season

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — Already mired in a poor start to the season, the Dallas Stars were dealt a major blow Friday: captain Brenden Morrow will be out six months due to a torn ACL, which will require surgery.

The expected six month recovery period means Morrow likely will miss the rest of the season.

“We are obviously very disappointed to hear the news about Brenden’s knee,” co-GM Les Jackson said in a team release. “As our captain, he will obviously be missed, but we have every assurance that he can and will come back from this injury at 100 percent."

Morrow was injured in the third period of Thursday's 6-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. There was no update on Morrow's condition after the game and nothing new following the team's practice early Friday afternoon in Frisco.

But later in the day it was determined that Morrow had a tear in the ACL, it would require surgery and that he would be out for about six months.

This is the second major injury for Morrow in the past three seasons. He missed 33 games in 2006-07 after having tendons in his wrist severed by a skate in a game against the Blackhawks in Chicago.

With Morrow likely out for the rest of the regular season the Stars can file for a long-term injury exception for Morrow's $4.1 million cap hit, which will help with the Stars' very tight salary cap situation. The Stars will have the ability to call up players to help fill the void and possibly make a trade, but for now they'll have rely on players in the organization.

The Stars called up veteran right wing veteran right wing Landon Wilson to fill Morrow's roster spot. But the Stars, who are 6-9-3 and sitting in last place in the Western Conference, are going to need others to step up and fill the void with Morrow out.

"There is a lot of hockey left to be played this season, and we are confident our team will rally together and keep pushing," said Jackson.