Dallas Stars Recall Jack Campbell, Patrik Nemeth

(Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

The first bit of big injury bad luck has hit the Dallas Stars with Kari Lehtonen's upper body injury from the Ottawa game on Tuesday night. Jack Campbell has been recalled to backup Antti Niemi for at least Friday's game and possibly longer. The Campbell move suggests that Maxime Lagace will rejoin Texas before Saturday's game against San Jose.

Patrik Nemeth ended his conditioning assignment as we recalled as well. The release, which you can read below, notes that the conditioning assignment was 14 days. However, Nemeth's assignment to the Texas Stars actually spanned 15 days with games played on both the first and the last day. According to the CBA, a conditioning assignment may not span longer than 14 days. It is unclear if this assignment violated those rules, and the Texas Stars did not respond for comment on the matter. According to the Dallas Stars, conditioning assignments do not begin until the first full day of assignment. Because Nemeth was assigned midday on the 11th, the counter did not start until the 12th.

Here's the release:

Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has recalled defenseman Patrik Nemeth and goaltender Jack Campbell from the Texas Stars, Dallas' top development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL).

Nemeth, 23, completed his 14-day conditioning assignment in Texas by registering one point (0-1=1) in seven games played. He has appeared in two games this season for Dallas registering three shots on net.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound native of Stockholm, Sweden was selected by Dallas in the second round (41st overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.

Campbell, 23, began the season on the injured non-roster list after sustaining an injury during the preseason. Since being assigned to Texas on Nov. 7, he appeared in five games with a 2-3-0 record, a 3.97 goals against average and an .877 save percentage. He is coming off a 30-save performance in a 3-1 victory on Nov. 24.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound native of Port Huron, Michigan was originally selected by Dallas in the first round (11th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.

Also, goaltender Kari Lehtonen was placed on Injured Reserve, retroactive to Nov. 24, with an upper body injury.