I've been trying to confirm things to meet the demands of the paper, and I can't get anyone inside the Stars to say on or off the record that Richards has a broken wrist.
Their official stance is ``upper body injury'' and they will re-evaluate tomorrow. However, TSN is reporting a broken wrist, and I believe they are right. If you watched Richards go into the boards on the hit from Voracek, he twisted his wrist very awkwardly. Now, how bad is the break and how long is he out? I'm not sure on that. I guess we'll find out Tuesday.
I will say that I believe the Stars will study calling up Tom Wandell from Timra in Sweden. Wandell, 22, played in Iowa (AHL) last season and would have been in North America this year if the Stars had an AHL affiliate. However, with Dallas sending players all over the place, they decided Wandell would do well with a year in Sweden. He has 14 goals and 23 assists (37 points) in 43 games for Timra. He also is plus-13.
In addition, Steve Ott, Joel Lundqvist and Brian Sutherby can all play center.
So we'll see what happens on Tuesday. The easy answer could just be moving Sutherby or Ott to center and calling up Chris Conner.
I don't believe the Stars will pursue a trade. They simply are hard against their internal budget and believe that they can find answers for the majority of their problems from within. They are looking at options, but I do not believe they will be a big player at the trade deadline.
_Mike Heika
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