Add Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley to the list of Stars who have been hit with the flu bug running through the team. Neither player was on the ice for Friday’s practice in Frisco.

“When we thought we were leaving the flu bug, both of them have been nipped by it,” said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. “Seguin is worse than Peverley. Peverley is just starting to feel it. We’ll see where they are at tomorrow.”

Ray Whitney, who has missed the last two games with the illness and Shawn Horcoff, who missed Thursday night’s game with it, were back on the ice for Friday’s practice. Ruff said Whitney would be ready to play Saturday against Detroit, but Horcoff still seemed to be feeling some of the effects after Friday’s skate.

“We got Ray and Horc back today, and Horc is doing OK. It’s his first day out of it. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring,” Ruff said.

Ruff has been around for a while, so dealing with an illness running through a team is nothing new. He said the Stars will just have to work their way through it.

“If I hadn’t been through this before, I’d be frustrated,” Ruff said. “I’ve seen where five or six guys will be out at one time, it will go through the whole team and there is not a darn thing you can do about it. You’ve got to get through it. It is something that happens, it’s something a lot of teams deal with and we’ll get through it.”

The Stars sent forward Colton Sceviour back to the Texas Stars on Friday, but they could need to call up a player from Texas for Saturday’s game. The Texas Stars are playing Charlotte Friday night. The Stars will see how that game goes, see where they are as far as the health of players and then make a call on bringing up a forward.

Gonchar close

Stars defenseman Sergei Gonchar has missed five games with concussion-like symptoms, but he is getting close to a return. Gonchar went through a full practice on Friday. Stars coach Lindy Ruff wouldn’t rule out Gonchar returning for Saturday’s game against Detroit, but indicated the veteran blue liner was more likely to return when the Stars hit the road next week.

“I think he’ll be a coach’s decision,” Ruff said. “I think he’s close. I don’t like the fact that he’s had only two real hard practices. My plan was to get him through this and get him ready for the road. We’ll see where we are tomorrow.”





This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.