Stars activate former first-round pick from IR

Stars prospect Mavrik Bourque will make his season debut Tuesday against the Sharks, head coach Peter DeBoer told Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest. That indicates he’ll be activated from season-opening injured reserve after missing the past week-plus with an undisclosed injury.

Bourque, 22, is coming off a banner campaign in the minors with AHL Texas. The 30th overall pick of the 2020 draft erupted for 77 points (26 G, 51 A) in 71 games, leading the league in points and taking home All-Star and MVP honors. It was a strong enough performance to warrant a brief NHL call-up, which he received at the end of the year. It resulted in him making his debut against the Blackhawks in early April, recording two shots on goal in under 11 minutes of ice time.

After the Stars lost Joe Pavelski to retirement this offseason, many expected Bourque to fill the vacant spot in their top-nine forward group. The undisclosed injury foiled his chance to do so on opening night, but he’ll get the opportunity now in the second week of the 2024-25 campaign. Per Rea, he’ll enter the lineup instead of veteran Tyler Seguin, who’s being held out with a minor lower-body injury for precautionary reasons.

With Bourque coming off SOIR and the recall of defenseman Alexander Petrovic from AHL Texas earlier Tuesday, the Stars now have a full 23-man roster. They can create an additional spot by moving Mathew Dumba to IR should they need to. He was downgraded to week-to-week Tuesday with his lower-body injury. 

Bourque counted just $9,314 against the cap while on SOIR, per PuckPedia, so their cumulative cap hit will increase by roughly $885K with his activation instead of his entire $894K cap hit.