Thomas Harley was on his way to the airport, ready to head to Mexico for a short vacation. But then he got a call that changed his season and the trajectory of his NHL career.

Instead of speaking the NHL break for the 4 Nations Face-Off in early February on a beach, the Dallas Stars defenseman was instead summoned to snowy Montreal to play for Canada as an injury replacement for Shea Theodore of the Vegas Golden Knights.

It might have been the best thing to ever happen to Harley.

“Definitely, it probably was, yeah,” Harley said. “I think the second half of the year would have gone differently for sure and then the playoffs would have gone differently."

Heading into the Stars’ game against the Minnesota Wild at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN), Harley has fo

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