{"id":549917,"date":"2026-03-28T06:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T06:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/549917\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T06:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T06:31:10","slug":"mikko-rantanen-expected-to-return-to-stars-this-weekend-plus-an-update-on-sam-steel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/549917\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikko Rantanen expected to return to Stars this weekend, plus an update on Sam Steel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Stars<\/a> are just hours away from returning Mikko Rantanen<\/a> to the lineup.<\/p>\n

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said Friday that Rantanen will \u201ccertainly\u201d play this weekend during the team\u2019s back-to-back in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very close to playing,\u201d Gulutzan said. \u201cI think, certainly, he\u2019ll play one of these games. If it\u2019s not Saturday, certainly it\u2019ll be Sunday, or maybe both. We\u2019ll see how he\u2019s feeling after today\u2019s skate and tomorrow morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rantanen has not played since the Olympic break. He suffered a lower-body injury late in Finland\u2019s semifinal matchup with Canada on Feb. 20, which led to his absence from the bronze medal game against Slovakia<\/a> and every Stars game since.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rantanen \u2014 who joined the team ahead of last season\u2019s trade deadline and signed an eight-year, $96 million deal at the time \u2014 was Dallas\u2019 leader in points up until his injury with 69 (20 goals and 49 assists) in 54 games this season.<\/p>\n

The Stars also provided an update on forward Sam Steel, who exited Thursday\u2019s loss against the New York Islanders early<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Gulutzan said Steel will miss the rest of the Stars\u2019 east coast road trip and will head back to Dallas to be evaluated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably a hip flexor or a groin,\u201d Gulutzan said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see how bad it was. It wasn\u2019t as bad this morning as we thought it was yesterday, which is a good sign, but we do have to send him back and get him looked at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steel has played in 72 games for the Stars this season, totaling 33 points on 12 goals and 21 assists. He is a key contributor on the Stars\u2019 penalty kill.<\/p>\n

Injuries have crushed the Stars all season. Until Rantanen\u2019s return, Dallas is currently without four forwards \u2014 with Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa rounding out that list.<\/p>\n

Faksa has not played since the Olympics. Hintz played one game before suffering a lower-body injury against Colorado on March 6. Neither player is expected to return until just before the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Stars are on a four-game losing streak and have dropped five of their last six. In that stretch, they\u2019ve particularly struggled offensively, so Rantanen\u2019s return comes at an important time.<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @Lassimak<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Stars are just hours away from returning Mikko Rantanen to the lineup. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4825,67453,385,99,1507],"class_list":{"0":"post-549917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-dallas-stars","9":"tag-mikko-rantanen","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-stars"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}