“He’s one of the top two-way centers in the league, and he’ll keep getting better.” What we see also is how well he plays without the puck, how reliable he is defensively,” said Bowness. “You guys are seeing points and goals like tonight. He sits right around 50 percent on faceoffs and has shown the responsibility to play in the defensive zone. Hintz also has a solid plus-4 rating on the season, which shows that he is playing the right way on both sides of the ice. “He is such a great player and great skater and when he is not in our lineup, you notice it.” “It’s clear he is such a great impact player for us when he is in the lineup,” Rick Bowness said. Roope Hintz of the Dallas Stars celebrates a goal (Photo by Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images) It seems that every time he is in the lineup, he makes a difference. He ranks second on the team in nearly every category including goals, points, and power-play points despite playing in just 27 of the teams’ 38 games. Hintz has 28 points in the 27 games he has played this season. With all of that being said, he has also been the Stars’ best forward. He is a game-time decision every night and most of the time, his status is unknown until after warm-ups. Instead, he is playing through the injury and jumping in and out of the lineup on a nightly basis. In a 56-game condensed schedule, that could easily be enough to eliminate the Stars from the postseason.

If Hintz needs surgery to repair his injury, it is likely that he would miss most of the season. When they already knew they would be without Ben Bishop and Tyler Seguin, perhaps the team started looking at this season like the playoffs. Last season, Dallas revealed a massive list of injuries that players had sustained during their run to the Stanley Cup Final. In the playoffs, players will play through just about anything for a chance to win the Cup. However, it drew close comparisons to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It is hard to understand the circumstance where a player would choose to play hurt rather than address the injury itself and how much of an impact he could have playing at half-speed. While that is admirable, it raised questions with fans. He was injured early on and general manager Jim Nill said he would be dealing with the injury for the rest of the season. Roope Hintz has had a fairly odd 2020-21 season.

Roope hintz