MORNING SKATE: Ales Hemsky returns to lineup, Greg Pateryn to make Stars debut

DALLAS — Ales Hemsky will return to the Dallas Stars lineup against the New York Islanders on Thursday.

Hemsky has only played one game this season, on Oct. 22, and has missed the past five months after having hip surgery around Halloween.

“It’s been a while, it’s nice to be with the guys and to have a chance to play a game tonight,” Hemsky said. “It’s exciting, I worked hard to be where I am right now. We’ll see how it goes tonight.”

While Hemsky will return to the lineup, Greg Pateryn will make his Stars debut. Pateryn was traded to the Stars along with a fourth-round draft pick for Jordie Benn on Monday.

“I’ve been looking forward to this, and the transition has been really good,” Pateryn said. “It’ been a hectic couple days, ever since I’ve been traded life has been great.”

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee – John Tavares – Josh Bailey
Andrew Ladd – Brock Nelson – Josh Ho-Sang
Jason Chimera – Ryan Strome – Shane Prince
Nikolay Kulemin – Stephen Gionta – Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy – Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey – Scott Mayfield
Calvin de Haan – Dennis Seidenberg

Thomas Greiss
Jean-Francois Berube

Scratched: Adam Pelech

Injured: Anthony Beauvillier (illness), Alan Quine (upper-body), Travis Hamonic (lower-body), Casey Cizikas (upper-body)

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn — Cody Eakin — Tyler Seguin
Antoine Roussel — Jason Spezza — Brett Ritchie
Devin Shore — Radek Faksa — Patrick Sharp
Curtis McKenzie — Jiri Hudler — Ales Hemsky

Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak — Stephen Johns

Antti Niemi
Kari Lehtonen

Scratched: Patrik Nemeth

Injured: Mattias Janmark (knee), Adam Cracknell (lower-body)