Dallas Stars could benefit by holding on to number three pick
The Dallas Stars will have the number three overall pick in this June’s NHL Draft. While rumors of a trade have arisen lately, perhaps their best bet is to hang onto the pick and use it.
The stars (no pun intended . . . mostly) aligned perfectly for the Dallas Stars last week in the NHL Draft Lottery. For the first time since moving to Dallas, the Stars will have a very high draft choice and they could really use the help.
General Manager Jim Nill went on the air with NHL Radio this week and discussed the idea of trading away the selection. While this could do some good for Dallas, perhaps their best interest lies in hanging onto the pick.
It’s well documented that the Stars need some help this offseason. After a monumental regression from their Western Conference-best 109 points in 2015-16, they have some holes to fill.
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Dallas will return some offensive firepower with forwards Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Throw in the trade-and-sign deal made with goalie Ben Bishop and they have a nice framework to build around. But along the blue line, they need help.
That’s the main reason the Dallas Stars front office went and brought back the now former-former head coach Ken Hitchcock to lead the team once again. His defensive mindset and hard-nosed coaching philosophy opens the door for big changes this coming season. But he can’t do it without the right guys, and here are a few the Stars should target with that third overall choice.
Miro Heiskanen — Defenseman — Espoo, Finland
Hockey scouts are really high on Miro Heiskanen. They tout him as a two-way guy that’s extremely athletic and one of the best overall skaters in the draft. He’s coachable and adaptive, able to play with finesse but can also throw his body around and get physical.
Heiskanen plays a clean game and rarely finds himself in the box. That could be huge for a team that struggled to kill penalties last season. Check out what one scouting site had to say about him.
"Possesses excellent lateral agility and straight ahead speed…starts and stops very quickly and possesses a very smooth overall stride…carries the puck confidently up the ice and into the offensive zone…has impressive vision…makes very good passes, finding his teammates quickly and without hesitation in all three zones."
The Dallas Stars could make some big waves by taking a guy like Heiskanen. I mean, he’s even from the same hometown as the great Jere Lehtinen. That’s some pretty good company.
Cale Makar — Defenseman — Calgary, Alberta, Canada
The Canada-born Cale Makar might not turn as many heads as Heiskanen, but he’s still a guy worth looking at. He’s another two-way guy with a little more offensive firepower to his game than Heiskanen. His recent play this winter in the Alberta Junior Hockey League shot him up into the top 10 of most mock drafts.
The biggest knock on him is his size. He’s a smaller guy at under six feet and about 175 pounds. How he handles himself to the wear and tear of the NHL game would be of biggest concern to most scouts and coaches. But he has the finesse to stay healthy and could be a huge playmaker from the defensive end.
Timothy Liljegren — Defenseman — Kristianstad, Sweden
The biggest wild card defenseman in the draft may be Sweden’s Timothy Liljegren. Looking through mock drafts, you’ll see him at the top of some defensive boards and near the middle of the pack in others. He’s another in a bevy of defensemen that have some offensive game.
Scouts use words like “creative,” “fluid” and “matured.” That brings a lot of upside potential in a position the Dallas Stars badly need. He has the potential to come right in and hang around for a little in the minors and then shoot into the NHL without looking back.
Depending on which report you read, he could go as high as the Stars’ pick, or he could slip down to the mid-round. There’s a small chance he could still be there when Dallas picks again at 30, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.
Next: Should the Stars trade their number three pick?
This gives the Stars three really good options to look at if they go defense with that number three pick. All three of them show great promise and very little “bust factor” as choices. That’s why Dallas should hang on to the number three pick and take one of these great young defensemen. They have the talent to build the team around and quickly move back into contender status.