The Dallas Stars’ defensive problem grew longer Friday. Lian Bichsel’s absence is now projected to stretch into the coming weeks, rather than ending after a weekend of emergency adjustments. Miro Heiskanen remains out for Saturday against Buffalo, with Sunday against Florida still possible but hardly guaranteed.
For Dallas, that changes the job from plugging two holes to managing a rotation that may have to function repeatedly.
The next stretch makes that difference concrete. Dallas is scheduled to host Buffalo on Saturday and Florida on Sunday, then play at Vegas on Tuesday and Thursday. Bichsel’s longer timeline reaches into that stretch. Gulutzan needs an arrangement he can use again, rather than a single evening of asking the same players to do a little more.
Thursday’s 8-3 loss to Winnipeg offered an uncomfortable preview. Thomas Harley played 26:27, Esa Lindell 24:27, Nils Lundkvist 24:19 and Tyler Myers 21:14. Trey Taylor logged 18:17 after entering the picture because of Heiskanen’s injury. Those numbers do not prove fatigue, and they do not explain every goal. They do show how much responsibility already sat on the remaining group before Friday’s longer Bichsel update.
The game itself resists a simple injury explanation. Dallas led 2-0, then moved ahead 3-2 when David Perron scored in the second period. Winnipeg scored the final six goals.
The Stars finished with 33 shots to the Jets’ 30, while Harley and Lundkvist each recorded two assists. A team can have useful contributions from its defense and still lose control of a game; Thursday was precisely that sort of untidy night.
Bichsel’s own role also needs to be described accurately. He played 1:14 across two shifts Thursday, so assigning the entire collapse to his departure would be careless. His absence still affects the structure of the group because Dallas cannot count on him as another option while the schedule moves forward. The loss was broad; the roster problem is specific.
Glen Gulutzan’s Friday plan was to recall Kyle Burroughs from AHL Texas and pair him with Taylor, who had previously been his partner there. Familiarity gives the proposed pairing a sensible starting point, especially when a player may be entering the lineup on short notice. It does not make Burroughs a replacement for Heiskanen, confirm the final Saturday lineup or solve the absence by itself.
Heiskanen’s workload explains why a one-for-one solution is the wrong frame. He has averaged 24:53 over 15 games and produced three goals and eight assists. That is a substantial assignment, but no single transaction can reproduce every minute, puck movement or situation he handles. Dallas will need several defenders to absorb portions of the work while preserving enough offense from those already carrying major minutes.
That coming sequence makes a repeatable rotation more attractive than heroic minutes. The two home games arrive on consecutive nights, followed by the Vegas trip. A useful recalled defenseman can give the staff another player it is willing to put on the ice, even if he never approaches Heiskanen’s average workload. The alternative is continuing to concentrate the work among the remaining regulars.
