On the second day of our draft prospect preview, we will focus on the right wing position this afternoon. After talking about all the left-wing prospects that will be available in the third round of the NHL Draft yesterday, let's focus on the other side. The right-wing position has some promising prospects that will be available late in the draft, which the Stars could snag if they so choose. They could end up being a cornerstone franchise player one day in Dallas.
There's one right wing prospect I want to kick off our coverage with today. Young Cameron Schmidt is a solid right-wing prospect who reminds me a lot of Logan Stankoven. He was initially projected a first-round talent, until GM's looked at his size and decided he would probably slide into the second round of the draft. He could be the steal of the draft this year with how crafty of a wing he is. Here's more on Cameron Schmidt and how he could fit the Stars' plans for the future.
This young wing is a fantastic player at 5'7 "who could be a future cornerstone for the Canadian national team down the road. He played with the Vancouver Grizzlies this past season and recorded 40 goals and 38 assists. That suggests he could be a nearly ready talent for the Stars if they are looking to expedite someone from this draft to their team. However, there's just one downside to his game, and I hate to say it's because of his height.
That's the reason he's dropping so quickly into the later rounds of the draft. GMs are afraid to draft him and see him struggle at the NHL level due to his height. I could see Jim Nill looking past that because of how Logan Stankoven turned out. However, the Stars are looking to build a more physical team that can compete with the likes of Florida next season, so I don't know if Schmidt is the type of player the Stars are focusing on in the draft this weekend.
Schmidt is going to be a good player for the team that decides to overlook his height and bet on how well of a scoring threat he can be. He could be on the table for the Dallas Stars, who knows? That's the beauty of the NHL Draft because any late-round prospect could turn into a franchise cornerstone down the road. He could be a larceny of a draft pick if Nill can draft him and develop him into a Logan Stankoven-type player.