Dallas Stars Must Be Careful With Bringing Prospects To NHL

Just two days ago, a report surfaced that on TSN that the NHL had officially parted ways with Reebok as their jersey sponsor. By the beginning of the 2016-2017 season, Adidas is rumored to become the new maker of every NHL jersey. This would call for changes to each sweater, whether big or small.

But the big point to the Adidas takeover is that it may come with a revolution in professional sports uniforms. The rumor is that the new partnership may pave the way for printed advertisements on jerseys.

This news has been greeted with plenty of retaliation from fans around the NHL. But it ultimately proves a major point whether the fans like it or not: the NHL is a business. No matter how much they may try to deny it, the drive to make revenue always lingers.

Another piece of this money puzzle is the ability to expand. The NHL is currently in the process of helping two cities along who have applied to receive a hockey team. These two cities are Las Vegas and Quebec City.

With two new franchises in two new locations for a total of 32 teams, the NHL will most assuredly become more affluent.

With addition comes the need for an expansion draft. The most recent expansion draft was held in 2000, with the main benefactors being the newly created Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild. In order that the two new teams did not start out incomplete with only rookies and prospects that they acquired in free agency and the draft, the expansion draft had to be held.

Put plainly, each team had to give up a certain number of players in order that the two new franchises could add some talent to their roster. Each team was given two scenarios and could choose which one they wanted to follow. The scenarios were that they could either lock down nine forwards, five defensemen, and one goaltender OR lock down seven forwards, three defensemen, and two goaltenders.

Under all of this, there were certain requirements attached to different positions. These requirements were based primarily off of experience in the NHL in order that a certain team wouldn’t end up protecting all of their good players and leaving the inexperienced and lacking prospects.

Now this is more of a speculative article looking into the future. The reason for this is because there are still no confirmed expansion teams and no draft or parameters have been set yet.

But if there is an NHL Expansion Draft in the near future, the Dallas Stars will need to be careful in who they bring up and how long they are up here, lest they may lose some of their hot prospects.

The Dallas Stars farm system is considered one of the best (although ESPN seems to think they have the seventh worst). Winning The Calder Cup in 2014 mixed with Jim Nill’s genius in the NHL Draft, the Texas Stars are a sight to behold.

The Stars 2015 training camp promises to be a good one, as Stars fans will get to watch multiple young and old defensemen alike battle for limited spots on the blue line. The offense will also be a hot topic, as the Dallas Stars introduced some young, energizing talent into the lineup for a brief stint in 2014-2015.

With spots to battle for, there will be winners and losers. Those who miss the cut will likely be transferred to the Texas Stars or further to the ECHL. But if Jim Nill has shown anything in his tenure with Dallas, it’s that he likes to make changes to the lineup in hopes of creating a spark.

This could potentially create some issues. Again, this is a hypothetical situation. First off, the league may not even end up expanding. Secondly, if they do the guidelines and parameters could very well be different than they were back in 2000. This is simply an article pointing out the possible road blocks that could appear if the scenarios turn out to be the same.

If the Dallas Stars were to bring up different prospects throughout the year, they might want to take a look at the numbers. In 2000, the expansion draft had specific guidelines for the players that were up for drafting. At least one defensemen from each team left unprotected had to have appeared in at least 40 games in the 1999-2000 season OR have played 70 games in the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 seasons combined. At least two forwards from each team had to meet these same requirements.

For example, let’s say the Dallas Stars bring up Brett Ritchie or Curtis McKenzie and add them to the roster and starting lineup. That would all be perfectly fine until they both hop over the 40 game limit and become eligible players to be taken in the draft. That would mean the Stars would have two more people that need locks and would more than likely not have locks to give. Therein lies the problem. Same goes for any other prospects, whether offensive or defensive.

It’s a tough thing to do when you let a player with potential go, but it may have to happen if the Dallas Stars face the expansion draft. Again, this is only hypothetical. An expansion draft may never happen, and even if it does there may be different rules and restrictions. Either way, it is still a while down the road, so they’ll simply have to cross that bridge when they get there. That is, if they ever get there.

Next: Who Would Dallas Stars Keep In Expansion Draft? Forwards

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