Olympic injuries to Rantanen and Faksa affected how Dallas Stars approached NHL trade deadline

DALLAS (AP) — A couple of injuries during the Olympics affected how Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill approached the .

Nill wanted to add some depth, and some more good players, with standout forward and center Radek Faksa both on injured reserve after they were hurt in the Olympics.

“Because of the injuries, that's why we had make the moves we made,” Nill said before the Stars played NHL-best Colorado on Friday night. “We’re pretty happy with the players we have obtained. They addressed our needs.”

While the Stars didn't make any more trades Friday, they had earlier this week fortified their defense by from Vancouver, and filled a need up front by getting left wing Michael Bunting from Nashville.

Myers will become the first Texas-born player to appear in a game for the Stars when he does play. He and Bunting likely will make their Dallas debuts on Sunday.

Faksa sustained an upper-body injury when playing for the Czech Republic at the Olympics, but had been expected to be back after the break. But Nill said a lower-body injury when he was skating and working out after that will keep him out until around the start of the playoffs.

“Was rehabbing and in a pretty good spot to start playing again and unfortunately got injured,” Nill said. “That was a big loss for us. That kind of changed our direction.”

The Stars knew they would be at least a few weeks without Rantanen, their big acquisition at the trade deadline last year, because of the lower-body injury he sustained in Italy. He and didn’t play in for the bronze medal.

Nill said Rantanen was still at least a week or 10 days from starting to skate again.

“From there, we'll see how he comes along.” Nill said.

Rantanen and Faksa were among seven Dallas players who went to the Olympics.

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