With only 22 games remaining in the season, it is becoming more and more likely that the Dallas Stars will receive a top-10 pick in the NHL Draft. This is the one year where a top-10 pick doesn’t seem to be extremely valuable.
Nathan MacKinnon, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, and Auston Matthews. Chances are you know these four names because of the immense talents that each one has shown off since joining the NHL.
They are also the number one overall picks of the last four NHL Entry Draft classes. These players have proven to be just a few of the many talents that have been produced from the past few draft classes.
For the Dallas Stars, Valeri Nichushkin, Jason Dickinson, Julius Honka, and Denis Gurianov are a few of the players that have thrived beautifully since being drafted.
But none of those picks have been in the top nine of players. Only Nichushkin has cracked the top 10 after being selected tenth overall, and he immediately snagged a full-time NHL roster spot at the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
Dallas Stars
Their picks have not been extremely high up because for the past few seasons the Stars have been finishing relatively high in the standings. They’ve qualified for the postseason in two of the past three years and have been picking up mid to late first round talent in the recent past.
This year, that could very well change. The Dallas Stars currently sit at a 23-27-10 record with 56 points. That record puts them in 28th in the NHL. So in other words, things aren’t good in Dallas. In fact, the Stars are in red-alert mode. Their chances of making the playoffs are slim-to-none at 3.13 percent.
With the trade deadline just around the corner and the final stretch of the season in full swing, the expectations are for Dallas to sell off some of their valuable assets and look forward to next season. Unless a miracle comes along and the Stars receive a good amount of help, their chances at landing a playoff spot are practically non-existent.
If this prediction does hold true, the Stars will conclude their season on April 8 and look forward to the expansion and entry draft in late June. Their first round pick in the entry draft would also be high, possibly in the top five depending on how the rest of the season goes.
But that might not be as beneficial as it has been in years past. That’s because this year’s draft class is nowhere near as highly regarded as the ones preceding it.
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In an article from USA Today, the 2017 draft class was categorized as “uninspiring” and “lacking in depth.” In the past, there has been plenty of detailed coverage regarding picks in the top ten and even top 15. But in this year’s draft, there has not been much coverage at all unless you go digging.
The Dallas Stars may get a top five pick, but it might not carry as much weight as it did in the recent past. While the Stars may pick up a young prospect with some value, it would very likely not be a player that they could immediately inject into the Dallas system.
One projection for the Stars is Gabriel Vilardi, a 17-year-old playing for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. The center has 48 points in 37 games this season and is expected to go in the top five. But the last thing the Dallas Stars need at the moment is a center considering they have Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Cody Eakin, Radek Faksa, and Devin Shore currently on the NHL roster.
Players picked in the top five are typically ready for the NHL in their first season, but that may not be the case in this year’s draft. That’s definitely a negative for the teams who ended up on the short end of the stick this year and expected a significant return, Dallas included.
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The 2017 NHL draft class is not the most talented or diverse class in recent memory, and that makes the Stars’ current stance a bit more depressing. We’ll have to wait and see where the next few months take Dallas.