Dallas Stars: Dellandrea, Robertson Among First Roster Cuts

The Dallas Stars have made their first round of cuts to the pre-season roster, with nine players getting sent down or released.

Of the nine players the Dallas Stars are sending home, eight are returning to juniors and one has been released from his try-out.

Goaltender Anthony Popovich was on an amateur try-out, but was released this morning. There are quite a few goaltending prospects in the system, so this move wasn’t a surprise.

Only one defenseman was cut today, with Dawson Barteaux being sent back to the Red Deer Rebels. He was a sixth-round draft pick this year.

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Of the forwards on today’s list, three were 2017 draft picks and four were 2018 picks. Most of the players from the two newest draft classes aren’t close to making the roster, so it makes sense for the Stars to cut them so they can head back to juniors and prepare for the upcoming season.

From 2017, Brett Davis and Liam Hawel didn’t make it past the first cut. Sixth-round pick Davis will spend the year with Kootenay, while fourth-round pick Hawel plays in Guelph.

The members of the 2018 class going home include Jermaine Loewen, Curtis Douglas, and Riley Damiani. Douglas is a fourth-rounder who is headed back to the Spitfires and Damiani is a fifth-rounder from Kitchener.

Before being sent home, Jermaine Loewen got a special tribute from the Stars. Loewen was the first ever Jamaican-born draft pick when he went in the seventh round this year. In his honor, the Stars showed a special video during the second intermission of the game last night to tell the story of his journey to the NHL. The video appeared on the Stars’ YouTube page last month, but they still took the time to show it with Loewen in the house.

Only two prospects that played in last night’s game against St. Louis are heading home: Jason Robertson (2017, 2nd round) and Ty Dellandrea (2018, 1st round).

Robertson and Dellandrea are two of the best prospects in the Stars’ system, so it was good for them to get some ice time, but they were both meant to play in the OHL this year. Robertson heads to Kingston while Dellandrea goes to Flint.

The two of them shared a line last night, along with Dellandrea’s former OHL teammate, Nick Caamano, who had an impressive pre-season run last year. Caamano once again stays through the first cuts this year, though he’s destined for Hamilton at some point in the pre-season.

AHL camp opens next week, so many of their players are likely to head out in the second cuts. Until then, some of them will get a shot at playing on the road Thursday night when the Stars head to Minnesota.