Dallas Stars Recall Julius Honka, Mike McKenna From Texas Stars

The Dallas Stars were busy in the recall game today, bringing defenseman Julius Honka and goaltender Mike McKenna up from the AHL. Why were these two called up?

The Texas Stars lost two good soldiers to the big leagues this morning. Early on Monday, the Dallas Stars announced that they recalled defenseman Julius Honka and goaltender Mike McKenna from the AHL.

The two players have both played extensive time with Texas this year. Honka has played eight games for Texas this year after being sent down by Dallas in late October. McKenna has played in 12 different games in the crease for Texas.

Honka has yet to tally a point this season in a combined 14 games in both NHL and AHL play. While his defensive skills are slowly sharpening, the offensive defenseman is playing at an unexpected pace this season. He’s growing as a defender and getting a chance to prove himself on a nightly basis, regardless of the league he plays in.

McKenna has yet to play a regular season game for the Dallas Stars since signing with the team this offseason. He was signed with the intent of competing for the starting role in the AHL, which he eventually won. So far, he has posted a record of 5-5-1 with a .871 save percentage and 3.51 goals against average. They aren’t the best numbers, but the veteran goalie has assisted Texas in reaching a record of 8-8-1 and staying in the thick of the standings race.

Dallas Stars

So why did the Dallas Stars call both of these players up? After all, they already have seven healthy defenders and one supposedly coming back from injury in the near future. They also have two veteran starting goaltenders who have played well in tough situations and helped keep the team afloat. Why do they need minor league substitutes?

The Honka decision could be for any number of reasons. There is a chance that defenseman Marc Methot, who is currently sidelined with a lower-body injury, could still be a few games away from returning. It was reported on Friday that he needed a few more days, so Honka could be filling in as a healthy scratch option.

Update: Methot will miss the next 4-6 weeks after having his knee scoped.

Going off of that, Honka could also fill in for a lacking defender currently in the Dallas lineup. If Ken Hitchcock believes a defender currently on the Stars’ blue line isn’t playing up to par, he now has Honka as an option to turn to.

In the crease, things become a little bit foggier. GM Jim Nill stated that regular backup goaltender Kari Lehtonen is unavailable indefinitely due to personal reasons. Though we don’t know what those reasons are, we can certainly hope that everything is okay with Lehtonen.

Next: Stars Crush Oilers, Continue Creating Questions

As a result of these moves, the Dallas Stars’ roster will look relatively different over the next few days. Let’s see how it affects them over the next week.