Jamie Benn undergoes surgery; World Cup participation 'will be determined'

Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn underwent surgery to fix a core muscle injury on Thursday in Philadelphia, according to the team.

No word yet on whether the injury was found over the off-season or Benn injured himself training for next season.

In a statement released by the Stars on Friday, general manager Jim Nill said that the recovery time is six weeks, meaning Benn will be just fine for their opening on October 13. The World Cup of Hockey, however, could be a different story.

Nill said that Benn’s availability for the tournament in September “will be determined.” That likely means unless he’s feeling 100 percent there’s no way the team will risk anything allowing Benn to play. Good thing for Canada they’re just a tad deep up front in their player pool should they need to replace him.

World Cup training camps begin in early September, with the Toronto-based tournament taking place from Sept. 17 through Oct. 1.

This is the second straight off-season that Benn has gone under the knife. He had surgery on both hips following his Art Ross-winning 2014-15 campaign. The surgery didn’t affect him much as he played all 82 regular season games and led the Stars in goals (41) and points (89) and finished second overall in the NHL in scoring.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy