Matt Duchene Out Three Months After Core Muscle Surgery
Frank Seravalli reported the surgery and the three-month timeline.
The just got handed the kind of early-season news that makes you want to simulate straight to January. According to NHL insider Frank Seravalli, veteran center underwent core muscle surgery and is officially on the shelf for the next three months.
Three months in NHL time is an absolute eternity. That is roughly half the regular season gone before Duchene can even think about taking a meaningful faceoff again. Core muscle surgery is also the exact kind of procedure that sounds miserable to recover from, let alone rehab well enough to jump back into professional hockey speed.
The Stars were off to a pretty clean start before this dropped. They opened the year by absolutely blanking the San Jose Sharks 5-0 and the 4-0, before dropping a tight 2-1 game to the . Now, they have to figure out how to replace a massive chunk of their middle-six production on the fly.
Losing a guy like Duchene completely shifts the math for . He is the kind of offensive engine that makes their forward group a nightmare for opposing defenses. Without him, the ' depth gets tested immediately, and the betting markets are going to have to adjust how they price 's goal totals and pucklines going forward.
The timing could not be worse, either. is staring down a brutal home-and-home back-to-back against the starting October 14. Figuring out your new line combinations against a heavy-hitting division rival is like trying to learn how to swim by jumping out of a helicopter. The need to find their footing fast.