Matt Duchene Out Three Months After Core Muscle Surgery

The Dallas Stars 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 Matt Duchene 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.

"Frank Seravalli reported the surgery and the three-month timeline."

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 Buffalo Sabres 4-0, before dropping a tight 2-1 game to the Pittsburgh Penguins. 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 Dallas. He is the kind of offensive engine that makes their forward group a nightmare for opposing defenses. Without him, the Stars' depth gets tested immediately, and the betting markets are going to have to adjust how they price Dallas's goal totals and pucklines going forward.

The timing could not be worse, either. Dallas is staring down a brutal home-and-home back-to-back against the Colorado Avalanche 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 Stars need to find their footing fast.