Dallas Stars forward Mats Zuccarello will have surgery Tuesday to repair the arm he broke while blocking a shot in his Stars debut Sunday.
“It’s a surgery to put a plate in place. It just helps it to heal faster. It’s nothing major,” general manager Jim Nill told the team’s website. “It was a very clean break and the surgery makes sure it stays in place so it heals faster.”
Zuccarello was expected to miss around four weeks, and surgery does not change that timeline, the team said.
The 31-year-old Zuccarello was the centerpiece of the Stars’ trade deadline deals, and Nill said Monday that the team decided not to chase someone to replace him.
“Injuries are part of the game. You know they’re going to happen,” he said. “We know we’re hopefully going to get him back in four weeks.”
Zuccarello, a longtime fan favorite for the New York Rangers, was acquired by the Stars on Saturday. He left New York at 5 a.m. ET Sunday and joined the Stars for a Sunday afternoon game in Chicago.
He impressed early, scoring a goal and recording an assist by early in the second period as Dallas built a 3-0 lead. However, in the waning seconds of the frame, Zuccarello blocked a slap shot from Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy. The puck hit Zuccarello in the arm and he did not return for the third period.
The Stars also lost captain Jamie Benn to an upper-body injury Sunday. Benn, who has 21 goals and 20 assists in 61 games, was hurt during the first shift of the game and went to the dressing room for evaluation. He was later ruled out.
“Jamie Benn is day-to-day, upper body,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said, adding that Benn was actually hurt in Saturday night’s game and tried to play, but the injury was aggravated early Sunday.
Benn will stay with the team on the current trip.
The Stars hold the first wild card in the West. They enter Monday one point ahead of the Wild, two points ahead of the Avalanche, up four on the Coyotes and six on the Blackhawks.
Information from ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and The Associated Press was used in this report.