Hirschfeld returns to Lincoln Stars for one more USHL season

John Hirschfield is headed back to the Lincoln Stars for one more season, keeping a familiar piece in place as the USHL club builds toward 2026-27. The move gives Lincoln a returnee with league experience at a time when the roster is again turning over around college commitments, draft picks and camp invites.

For the Stars, this is a development decision as much as a personnel note. In a league defined by churn, a player who already knows the pace, systems and expectations can absorb more ice time without the same adjustment period as a newcomer, and Lincoln can use that continuity while training camp and preseason decisions come into focus. Another year also gives Hirschfield a cleaner runway to keep adding to his game before he moves on to the next level.

Lincoln has already built the next season’s framework around that late-summer build. The Stars announced their 2026-27 regular-season schedule on June 23, and they posted their 2026 USHL Draft tracker on May 4 after their 2024-25 season ended in Sioux Falls on April 28. Those are the kinds of checkpoints that matter for a returnee, because they shape how quickly a team can sort out depth, roles and special-teams responsibilities before the puck drops for real.

Hirschfield’s relationship with Lincoln goes back to May 7, 2024, when the Stars selected him with the 61st pick of the USHL Phase II Draft in exchange for a 2027 Phase I fourth-round pick. Lincoln already has evidence that he can deliver in a Stars sweater, too: the club highlighted his first goal in an October 2024 game recap tied to a home opener in Sioux Falls. That is the kind of milestone that turns a returning player from a name on a roster sheet into a piece the staff can keep building around.

What Hirschfield still has to prove is not whether he belongs in the program, but how much more he can give it. One more year in Lincoln should mean a bigger role, more consistent minutes and a chance to show that his game can translate into a stronger 2026-27 impact than it did before.