Dallas Stars goalie takes leave of absence from team for personal reasons

The Dallas Stars have reached the Western Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons, and this year, they've been off to another scorcher, posting a record of 25-9-7 as they sit in second place in the Central Division.

With a team GAA of 2.68 ranking them fifth in the entire NHL, the Stars have the balance that teams dream of, but now, they've seemingly suffered a loss with one of their goaltenders.

As recently reported, veteran Casey DeSmith is set to take a leave of absence from the team, citing a personal family matter as the reason why the 34-year old will be away from the team.

This season, DeSmith has posted a 2.44 GAA and a .912 save percentage across 15 games, with the team getting elite play all season in net, and while he's likely to be back in the near future, in his place, the team will turn to Remi Poirier as their backup behind Jake Oettinger.

As of right now, the Stars likely aren't going to reveal too many details on the situation, as they should, with the team throwing their entire support behind the veteran netminder as he deals with whatever it is that is keeping him away.

Even without DeSmith, this is a team that's supremely confident in their current group, and with the likes of Jason Robertson having something to prove, this could end up being a massive season for this Stars squad.

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