2013 NHL Draft: Does Jim Nill Change The Stars Drafting Tendancies?

In recent years the Dallas Stars have developed a particular pattern when it comes to their drafting. In this article which I wrote shortly after the 2012 NHL Draft I analysed what the Stars have shown when it comes to their drafting habits. However, with the arrival of Jim Nill as General Manager, a GM who had plenty of hands on experience in drafting and development with the Detroit Red Wings, it's possible that the focus and strategy that the Stars approach the draft will be different. Who will call the shots when it comes to the draft?

In previous years it was Les Jackson who called the shots at the draft but Jim Nill also performed this role for Detroit. Who will have the final say on the draft might affect who the Stars go for, and probably will impact on the draft board that the Stars have been developing since the end of the regular season. Obviously as Nill is the General Manager he would have the final say but how would Nill making the final decision change how the Stars draft? Hopefully Jim Nill and Les Jackson will form a harmonious partnership and guide the organisation towards a bright future.

There is a general reputation that the Red Wings have one of the best drafting and development systems in the league. In particular they have a focus on European players and slow development but also finding diamonds in the rough. While some of this is an over-exaggeration, in particular the consistent top quality of the Red Wings drafting, other elements of it are true.

In order to work out the changes the Stars might undergo in drafting I've decided to analyse and compare both the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings drafting habits for the past 4 drafts, from 2009-2012.

After the many tables below some analysis:

Dallas Stars 2012

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
1	13	Dallas	Radek Faksa	C	CZE	6"2	200	OHL
2	43	Dallas	Ludwig Bystrom	D	SWE	6"0	169	SWE JR
2	54	Dallas	Mike Winther	C	CAN	6"0	172	WHL
2	61	Dallas	Devin Shore	C	CAN	6"0	185	OJHL
3	74	Dallas	Esa Lindell	D	FIN	6"3	187	FINLAND-JR
4	104	Dallas	Gemel Smith	C	CAN	5"10	164	OHL
5	134	Dallas	Branden Troock	RW	CAN	6"2	194	WHL
5	144	Dallas	Henri Kiviaho	G	FIN	6"1	167	FINLAND-JR
7	183	Dallas	Dmitry Sinitsyn	D	RUS	6"2	200	H-EAST

Detroit Red Wings 2012

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
2	49	Detroit	Martin Frk	RW	CZE	6"0	193	QMJHL
3	80	Detroit	Jake Paterson	G	CAN	6"0	176	OHL
4	110	Detroit	Andreas Athansiou	C/LW	CAN	6"0	177	OHL
5	140	Detroit	Mike McKee	D	CAN	6"4	229	USHL
6	170	Detroit	James de Haas	D	CAN	6"2	197	OJHL
7	200	Detroit	Rasmus Bodin	LW	SWE	6"6	207	SWE

Dallas Stars 2011

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
1	14	Dallas	Jamie Oleksiak	D	CAN	6"7	241	H-EAST
2	44	Dallas	Brett Ritchie	RW	CAN	6"3	209	OHL
4	105	Dallas	Emil Molin	C	SWE	6"0	170	SWE-JR
5	135	Dallas	Troy Vance	D	USA	6"6	200	QMJHL
6	165	Dallas	Matej Stransky	RW	CZE	6"3	193	WHL
7	195	Dallas	Jyrki Jokipakka	D	FIN	6"3	191	FIN

Detroit Red Wings 2011

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
2	35	Detroit	Tomas Jurco	RW	SVK	6"1	191	QMJHL
2	48	Detroit	Xavier Ouellet	D	FRA	6"0	179	QMJHL
2	55	Detroit	Ryan Sproul	D	CAN	6"3	185	OHL
3	85	Detroit	Alan Quine	C	CAN	5"11	184	OHL
4	115	Detroit	Marek Tvrdon	RW	SVK	6"2	210	WHL
5	145	Detroit	Philippe Hudon	C/RW	CAN	6"0	197	HIGH-CT
5	146	Detroit	Mattias Backman	D	SWE	6"2	169	SWE-JR
6	175	Detroit	Richard Nedomiel	D	CZE	6"4	204	WHL
7	205	Detroit	Alexei Marchenko	D	RUS	6"2	183	RUS

Dallas Stars 2010

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
1	11	Dallas	Jack Campbell	G	USA	6"3	175	USHL
2	41	Dallas	Patrik Nemeth	D	SWE	6"3	201	SWE-JR
3	77	Dallas	Alexander Guptill	LW	CAN	6"3	175	CCHA
4	109	Dallas	Alex Theriau	D	CAN	6"2	189	WHL
5	131	Dallas	John Klingberg	D	SWE	6"0	158	SWE-JR

Detroit Red Wings 2010

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
1	21	Detroit	Riley Sheahan	C	CAN	6"2	202	CCHA
2	51	Detroit	Calle Jarnkrok	C	SWE	5"11	156	SWE
3	81	Detroit	Louis-Marc Aubry	C	CAN	6"3	186	QMJHL
4	111	Detroit	Teemu Pulkkinen	LW	FIN	5"11	183	FIN
5	141	Detroit	Petr Mrazek	G	CZE	6"0	162	OHL
6	171	Detroit	Brooks Macek	C	CAN	5"11	180	WHL
7	201	Detroit	Ben Marshall	D	USA	5"9	160	HIGH-MN

Dallas Stars 2009

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
1	8	Dallas	Scott Glennie	RW	CAN	6"1	185	WHL
2	38	Dallas	Alex Chiasson	RW	CAN	6"4	187	USHL
3	69	Dallas	Reilly Smith	RW	CAN	6"0	157	OJHL
5	129	Dallas	Tomas Vincour	C	CZE	6"2	199	WHL
6	159	Dallas	Curtis McKenzie	LW	CAN	6"2	192	BCHL

Detroit Red Wings 2009

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Position	Country	Height	Weight	Amateur League
2	32	Detroit	Landon Ferraro	C	CAN	5"11	165	WHL
2	60	Detroit	Tomas Tatar	C	SVK	5"11	176	SVK
3	75	Detroit	Andrej Nestrasil	C	CZE	6"2	200	QMJHL
3	90	Detroit	Gleason Fournier	D	CAN	6"0	176	QMJHL
5	150	Detroit	Nick Jensen	D	USA	6"1	187	USHL
6	180	Detroit	Mitch Callahan	RW	USA	5"11	175	WHL
7	210	Detroit	Adam Almquist	D	SWE	5"10	169	SWE-JR

Analysis

The Stars have shifted towards drafting big players, in particular those over 6-0. In the past four years the Stars have drafted only one player below 6-0 -- Gemel Smith in 2012. That's one player out of 25 picks that has been smaller than 6-0. In comparison, the Red Wings have selected nine players in the same four drafts who were below 6-0 out of 29 picks. Will the Stars be willing to go below that 6-0 limit if Jim Nill calls the shots? For a super talented, but small, forward then yes I think they would.

Its obvious looking through the the Red Wings drafting history that their reputation with drafting European players is well deserved. Just under half of their picks, 14, have been of European players, though only 7 were drafted from European leagues. 11 of the Stars 25 picks have been European players with 7 of those being drafted out of European leagues. It's not really a huge difference so over the long term it's unlikely that the Stars will suddenly draft more European players. In this draft it's a possibility because of the strength of European prospects, in particular from Sweden, that is available in this draft class.

One interesting thing to note is that, unlike the Stars, the Red Wings have drafted a reasonable number of players who are Slovakian. Will the Stars pick a Slovakian this time round or in the future? If Nill has had a good experience with Slovak players its a possibility that there will be a shift towards this region in Europe alongside the Stars already strong presence in Finland and Sweden. One Slovak to keep an eye out as the draft progresses is centre Marko Dano.

One group, which is probably less represented than stereotypically thought, is Russians. The Red Wings have drafted the same number of Russians as the Stars have in the past four years so there is unlikely going to be a surge of Russian prospects heading to the Lone Star State.

When it comes to North American leagues there are two obvious major differences. Firstly the Dallas Stars are known for drafting out of the CJHL, the second tier of Canadian Junior Hockey. They have drafted players such as Jamie Benn and Reilly Smith out of these leagues. In the past four years these have been utilised only once by the Red Wings. While I hope, considering the talent the Stars have got out of the CJHL, they continued to use this resource it's possible that Nill's own vision of the direction of the Stars organisation might shift them away from this league.

In complete opposite to Stars philosophy in the past four years the Red Wings have drafted a reasonable amount out of the QMJHL, 6 players compared to the Stars one. Considering the depth that the QMJHL has in this draft class it wouldn't surprise me if they drafted a player or two out of the QMJHL but as time progresses the Stars could become more QMJHL focused and shift away from the WHL. The WHL is another league in which the Red Wings have not drafted much from in the past four years.

Will they continue to 'shotgun' draft organisational weaknesses or will they focus solely upon the best player available? If Les Jackson is the architect of this particular strategy I can see it remaining in place. Whether this is a good thing or not depends upon your opinion of the philosophy and principle of shotgun drafting.

This is simply speculation on my part and its quite possible that the drafting tendencies of the Stars stay the same. I find it unlikely, however, simply because that as the new general manager Jim Nill is going to want to stamp his own brand upon the Stars and staying with the same draft and development strategy would be unlikely. If he follows the strategy that he followed while in charge of Detroit's drafting then its quite likely we will see a shift in strategy.