Why the Stars dressed an emergency backup goalie and what options they have moving forward

When Stars goalie Jake Oettinger went down with a lower-body injury in the first period of Friday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators, the team didn’t have many options.

The Stars were set to travel to St. Louis for the second game of a back-to-back less than 24 hours after his injury, leaving the team desperate for a second goalie.

Head coach Pete DeBoer quickly announced postgame that Oettinger would not board the team’s flight to St. Louis and would stay home for additional testing over the weekend. Backup Scott Wedgewood was promoted to be the team’s starter in the meantime, but he was all the team had left.

Dallas had to dress an emergency backup goalie Saturday given the limitations it has in calling up an additional netminder because of its salary cap number. St. Louis resident Joe O’Brien took the ice for warmups and waited in the wings in case Wedgewood got hurt.

DeBoer said pregame he was happy for O’Brien to get the unique opportunity but was hopeful they wouldn’t have to use the goalie with no NHL experience.

Saturday wasn’t the first time the Stars found themselves in a predicament when injury struck. Back on Nov. 6, the Stars played the Boston Bruins and dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen instead of the usual 12 and six when Matt Duchene and Radek Faska were injured.

The Stars didn’t leave themselves much wiggle room when injuries do strike, often leading to some bizarre situations such the one back in November and Saturday.

But with Oettinger now week-to-week with a lower-body injury, here are some answers to common questions about the team’s cap situation, NHL rules on injuries and what options the Stars have from here on out.

Why can’t the Stars immediately call up a player from the AHL when someone gets hurt?

The Texas Stars are one of the best teams in the AHL this season, boasting a number of top prospects about whom the Stars are excited. When a Dallas Stars player gets injured, it’s assumed the first move would be to look toward Cedar Park.

However, early this season, that has not been an option. Even though the Stars are using only 22 of 23 maximum roster spots, they currently have just $707,878 in cap space, which is still below the league minimum salary of $775,000.

Cap space is accrued throughout the season, so at the time of Faksa’s and Duchene’s injuries in November, the team had just $531,981 in available cap space. Despite wanting to call up players such as Mavrik Bourque or Logan Stankoven, they couldn’t. Bourque’s cap hit is $894,167, and Stankoven’s is $814,167.

Why couldn’t the Stars call up a goalie Saturday?

The same rules apply to goalies as skaters. The Stars simply did not have the cap space to call up Matt Murray or Remi Poirier for Saturday’s game against the Blues. Murray has a cap hit of $775,000 and Poirier’s is $836,668.

As a result, they used an emergency backup goaltender (EBUG), Joe O’Brien, as their backup for the night.

In the 2020-21 season, the rules were different. Teams could call up a goalie without playing below the two-goalie threshold for a night. But that was only because of COVID-19, and that rule was eliminated the following season.

Can the Stars create cap space to call up a player?

The only way for the Stars to create cap space in the immediate future is by placing an injured player on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Doing so means the player will miss 10 games and 24 days, so it is not conducive to short-term injuries.

The Stars could place Oettinger on LTIR, which would free up his cap hit of $4 million. However, the Stars had 11 games in the 24 days following Oettinger’s injury, so there was less incentive to place him on LTIR, especially as his injury status was unknown at the time.

Placing a player on regular IR frees up only that player’s roster spot, which doesn’t benefit the Stars in this situation.

NHL teams also accrue cap space over time. Over the 192 days of an NHL season, more and more cap space becomes available. Dec. 28 is the day the Stars will have accrued enough cap space to call up a player at the league minimum of $775,000.

The issues the Stars have seen early in the season when injuries arose won’t be as much of a problem after Dec. 28.

Can the Stars call up a player without freeing up cap space?

The Stars now have the ability to call up a player because of how they played Saturday’s game.

The league’s roster emergency exception rule states if an NHL team plays one game with fewer than 18 skaters or two goalies available, it can call up someone from the minors on an emergency basis.

Because the Stars had only one rostered goalie available Saturday against the Blues (Scott Wedgewood), the team was able to recall Murray to serve as a backup for Monday’s game against the Kraken and as long as they need him until Oettinger returns. Once he does, Murray will be sent back to Cedar Park.

Emergency recalls do not count against the salary cap, but a player must have a salary cap hit of no more than the league minimum plus $100,000. This year, that number is $875,000, and both Murray and Poirier are below it.

Once the Stars do accrue enough cap space Dec. 28, Murray will start counting against the cap.

It’s important to clarify that the Stars were not able to make an emergency recall after the Boston game because even though they played with 11 forwards, they still had 18 total skaters by using a seventh defenseman.

Could the Stars send a player down to bring up a goalie?

Besides LTIR and the roster emergency exception rule, the last option to fill the goalie need would be sending a player down to Cedar Park in order to bring up a goalie.

Only two players on the Stars’ roster are non-waiver players: Wyatt Johnston and Thomas Harley. Because the Stars played in a back-to-back, and it takes 24 hours to clear waivers, the team could not place another skater on waivers in time to call someone up for Saturday’s game against St. Louis. Harley or Johnston could’ve been sent down to Cedar Park in exchange for a goalie, but the team opted not to do so and signed O’Brien instead.

If the Stars hadn’t played back-to-back, they could have placed another player on waivers and risked that player being claimed by another team.

What is an EBUG?

EBUG stands for emergency backup goalie, which was the role O’Brien played Saturday. Per league rules, every home team needs to have someone on standby to play in goal for either team should both goalies be unavailable or injured. EBUGs are typically local individuals who have some hockey experience but are not affiliated with any team.

O’Brien, 28, is originally from Clayton, Mo., and runs a popular sports bar and restaurant there with his father and uncle. He played four years of college hockey at Niagara University from 2015-19, appearing in a total 26 games with a 3-11-2 record. He also played two seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Nipawin Hawks, posting a 37-27-6 record in 75 career games.

The Stars signed O’Brien to an amateur tryout agreement for one day so he could serve as the backup goalie Saturday night, but he was released from that agreement Sunday when the team returned to Dallas.

The Stars had tried to call major junior teams in Ontario because the team could have used a goalie who was 20 years old and is not draft-eligible. They could have signed a player with those qualifications to an amateur tryout agreement instead, but they ended up deciding O’Brien was the easiest option.

An EBUG was used in the Stars’ game against the Anaheim Ducks in April 2022. Both Ducks goalies got hurt, and emergency backup Thomas Hodges played the third period for Anaheim while wearing Stars gear. His day job is selling life insurance. He made two saves on three shots in the third period, allowing a power-play goal to Jason Robertson that turned into the game-winner.

Twitter: @Lassimak

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.