After the Dallas Stars second round exit to the St Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Playoffs it is time to look towards the 2016 NHL Draft.
There is just over one month until the first names are called at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo and the Dallas Stars, for now, will be selecting 25th.
So where do the Dallas Stars stand when it comes to the entire draft?
The Stars currently hold five picks in the draft, a pick in each round apart from the second and seventh rounds.
Dallas Stars at the 2016 NHL Draft
| Round | Number Pick | Original Pick Holder |
| 1 | 25 | Dallas Stars |
| 3 | 87-90 | San Jose Sharks |
| 4 | 115 | Dallas Stars |
| 5 | 145 | Dallas Stars |
| 6 | 175 | Dallas Stars |
The Stars have traded three of their own picks in this draft in deals going back to the 2012-2013 season. They’ve acquired a single pick for this draft.
The Dallas Stars traded their second round pick to the Calgary Flames in the deal that brought Kris Russell to Dallas.
They also traded their third round pick to the Buffalo Sabres in the trade for Jhonas Enroth in the 2014-2015 season. However they acquired another third round pick from the San Jose Sharks in the Jason Demers – Brendan Dillon trade. This is the only pick that is currently unclear where it will be. The San Jose Sharks are still in the playoffs and that pick will be between 87th and 90th overall.
The Dallas Stars seventh round pick will go to the Tampa Bay Lightning. This originally was traded, along with Philip Larsen, to the Edmonton Oilers in the Shawn Horcoff trade in 2013. They traded it on to Tampa Bay.
In the next month we at Defending Big D will be looking into who the Dallas Stars might draft with the 25th pick, what weaknesses the Dallas Stars have in their prospect pool and prospects the Dallas Stars could pick later in the draft.
We’ll also be looking to see what the Stars fans could expect to see GM Jim Nill do in his fourth draft with the Dallas Stars. Will the Stars still have their first round pick by the time of the draft? Will it be dealt as the team aims to win now?
All of these things will be looked into in depth as we count down the days until the 2016 NHL Draft. Who knows, maybe the Stars will find another gem in the rough in the fifth round.