With the Boston Bruins beating the New York Rangers on Saturday night they advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Pittsburgh Penguins (Aka. Dallas Stars Mark Two with the number of formers Dallas Stars playing on the Penguins side). In the process of doing this they fulfilled the conditional requirement within the Jaromir Jagr trade which means that the Boston Bruins first round pick, which will be between 27-30, now belongs to the Dallas Stars.
The Stars now have four picks in the top 50, though depending on the results of a few other series that could be more like 53. The Stars own first round pick, 10th Overall, the Boston Bruins first round pick, The Stars own second round pick and the Vancouver Canucks second round pick.
This draft is considered one of the deeper drafts that has been seen in the NHL since 2003. Even into the second round there are excellent players available and a question of philosophy has begun to arise. What are the Stars do with these picks?
One option, and one heard a lot by many Dallas Stars fans, is that these combinations of picks should be used to try and move up in the first round. While this is a more likely possibility with the Bruins first round pick rather than the Stars own pick its still a possibility. It would likely however require the Stars to give up one of those second round picks as well as the Boston first in order to do so. Should the Stars give up picks in order to move up the draft? That’s one philosophy.
Theres another Philosophy, and one that I am willing to admit I’m an advocate of, that when it comes down to the draft it is a game of percentages. With a draft as a deep as this one, unless the Stars are really set on a particular player, they should try and get as many bites of the apple as possible. How do they do that? It seems likely there will be some movement before the draft, particularly if the Stars are thinking of graduating players (most likely defensemen) from Austin to Dallas. Will the Stars go for roster players or picks and prospects if they decide to do some trades?
With the emphasis for the Stars being to build up the system from its foundations, it seems likely any movement would be for young roster players or picks and prospects. But there is a real possibility that the Stars decide that packaging a pick or a prospect is worth moving up in the first round. With a new General Manager its incredibly hard to predict what they will do. With Nill’s development background it feels more likely they are going for picks and prospects but he could surprise us all.
In order to spark a little debate, and to throw my own thoughts out there, I thought I’d suggest who I realistic believed the Stars would pick. In order of the picks that would be Ryan Pulock (1st), Nicolas Petan (1st), Jimmy Lodge (2nd) and Adam Tambellini (2nd).