Projected Lineups for Stars vs Capitals - 1/7/26 - The Hockey Writers - Projected Lineups

The Dallas Stars take on the Washington Capitals tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.

STARS (25-10-8) at CAPITALS (22-15-6)

7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, Victory+, TNT

Stars projected lineup

Matt Duchene — Wyatt Johnston — Mikko Rantanen
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Mavrik Bourque
Justin Hryckowian — Sam Steel — Nathan Bastian
Oskar Back — Radek Faksa — Colin Blackwell

Esa Lindell — Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley — Kyle Capobianco
Ilya Lyubushkin — Nils Lundkvist

Casey DeSmith
Jake Oettinger

Scratched: Adam Erne, Alexander Petrovic

Injured: Tyler Seguin (ACL), Lian Bichsel (lower body), Jamie Benn (nose)

Status report:

The Stars did not hold a morning skate Wednesday following a 6-3 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. … DeSmith will start after making 17 saves in 32:56 in relief of Oettinger at Carolina. … Hryckowian signed a two-year, $1.9 million contract ($950,000 average annual value) on Wednesday.

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Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Anthony Beauvillier
Connor McMichael — Justin Sourdif — Justin Leonard
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Ethen Frank
Brett Leason — Hendrix Lapierre — Sonny Milano

Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin — Dylan McIlrath

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Declan Chisholm, Trevor van Riemsdyk

Injured: Pierre-Luc Dubois (lower body), Aliaksei Protas (lower body), Tom Wilson (lower body)

Status report

Wilson was on the ice in a non-contact jersey before the Capitals’ morning skate; the forward will miss his second straight game. … Protas, a forward, was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 1. … Leason was recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.

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