Don't see it happening. Between Joe Nieuwendyk and Tom Gaglardi you have the plan in full - make a trade for the future if the oppurtunity to acquire some good young players or prospects comes up, but don't go out of your way to sell or make moves that would "make the team worse".
Seems to me this will be a situation where the Stars might try to move out 1 or 2 guys they don't plan on having back next year, but will keep the majority of the roster the same, and the sad fact is that we're just ever so slightly above the low standard of play you require to finish in the bottom 5.
the sad fact is that we're just ever so slightlyKari Lehtonen keeps them above the low standard of play you require to finish in the bottom 5.
Now ..... I would not characterize that as sad because it's nice to have solid goaltending, but he's on my **** list for not getting Dallas a better pick.
Seriously though .... I'm adding goaltending to my list of reasons they should sell vets. They've already blamed coaches for not making the playoffs. They've blamed Turco's goaltending and made a pretty significant, successful upgrade.
.... time to blame the guys on the ice and re-tool. I'm fine with the core they've identified. The supporting cast needs to go .... at least a good chunk of it.
Also .... I'm not looking at a Top 10 pick as anything special. The recent history ... not just Dallas' .... of picks between 7 and 10 is pretty pathetic. Essentially the only team to find any success is San Jose who hit on Setogucci and Couture.
A Top 5 pick .... except for Lehtonen in net ... is not entirely out of the question. I think it's fairly unlikely though. Minnesota, IMO, should pick it up as Koviu gets into shape. Anaheim is surging. The NY Islanders, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Buffalo, and Carolina are all playing OK (Montreal and the NY Islanders honestly are within striking distance of pushing Toronto for Top 8 spot).
Regardless, you have to hope the draft works out, but I think the most important think is to hope they decide to give the team a facelift. Only banking on a pick to pan out and keeping this same team in place seems to be a recipe for failure.
Yes a shake-up is needed. A top 5 pick would help though, and is entirely possible with the games coming up (Vanx3, Cgyx4, SJSx3, Pitx1, Phox2, Chix2 etc..)
If we have a top 5 pick, I honestly don't think we should be targetting a center, unless Grigs is on the board still. If Forsberg is available, I'd take him over Galchenyuk.
But I think GS is right in that we won't have a top 5 pick. I think it'll be higher than 8th, but 5th-9th is what I'm expecting. Right in range to snag Galchenyuk, or even Gaunce (move down, maybe?).
Honestly, with the way we have been playing and the schedule we have left, I'll be quite shocked if we don't finish in the bottom 5.
We still have four against Calgary AND Vancouver, two teams that went 8-0-0 against us last season. And in Vancouver's case, they're coming off the most dominant performance against us in our history by winning all four game by AT LEAST 3 goals. We never even stood a chance against em.
We still have three games against San Jose...a team that has basically dominated us this season. Two against Phoenix, who is as hot as anyone right now. Two against Nashville who we've played well against this season for whatever reason but the next game against them is on the back end of a back to back and we all know we can't do anything in those games. We also have two games against Minnesota, who has considerably played us off the ice this season. Only way we're not 0-2-0 against em is because of Kari.
Then we have, 2 against Chicago (who will wake up at some point), and games against Montreal, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Edmonton(2), Winnipeg, and St. Louis, all of which we could easily lose (except maybe Edmonton who we just seem to beat no matter how bad we are).
It's not an easy schedule and with the way we're playing, there's going to be some ugly ugly games in the next month and a half. That's not even mentioning we still have four back to backs to play.
__________________
★ #14 - #19 - #56 ★
Dallas Stars - Arsenal FC - FC Dallas - Alabama Crimson Tide - Kentucky Wildcats - SMU Mustangs Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - 1997 to 2011 - WPHL Champions 1998, 1999, 2000 - CHL Champions 2011
If we have a top 5 pick, I honestly don't think we should be targetting a center, unless Grigs is on the board still. If Forsberg is available, I'd take him over Galchenyuk.
But I think GS is right in that we won't have a top 5 pick. I think it'll be higher than 8th, but 5th-9th is what I'm expecting. Right in range to snag Galchenyuk, or even Gaunce (move down, maybe?).
Gonna be interesting to see where we finish.
Our depth at center might just be the worst in the league.
If we have a top 5 pick, I honestly don't think we should be targetting a center, unless Grigs is on the board still. If Forsberg is available, I'd take him over Galchenyuk.
But I think GS is right in that we won't have a top 5 pick. I think it'll be higher than 8th, but 5th-9th is what I'm expecting. Right in range to snag Galchenyuk, or even Gaunce (move down, maybe?).
Gonna be interesting to see where we finish.
If we end up picking top 5 (which i think is still very unlikely) Galchenyuk would be a fine pick. Maybe a little risky because of the lost year of development but this is a guy who was slated to challenge for first overall. Forsberg would also be a great imo though and I sure as hell wouldnt complain if we came away with Trouba. Ive seen Forsberg listed as LW most times but a few places show him as a Center so if he could play there it would be even better.
If we stay around where we are now I'd be thrilled with Collberg or Aberg.
Our depth at center might just be the worst in the league.
Not even close. If you're only referring to the prospect level, then I agree, but I'm looking at everything, prospects and roster players.
I'm just saying that if we're picking at 4th or 5th and Forsberg and Galchenyuk are both on the board, I'd personally prefer Forsberg. He's the BPA to me, and just seems more versatile. But I'd be extremely happy with either player, don't get me wrong. Can't really make a bad choice between those two.
So which goalie will Dallas be drafting this year? Our depth there is low, and if we trade one of them for a big time player (which we wont, we're going to be sellers) we'll need to fill the hole.
If they're going to draft a goalie at all in the second or third rounds, I think it'll be Jon Gillies. He's 6'5", American, and going NCAA so he won't interfere with Campbell's development.
Hopefully someone in the 6th/7th round. Stop burning high picks on them.
I agree. I mean goalies in general are difficult to predict, and for every solid goalie taken in 1st round of the draft there are multiples who have failed. I believe you should take a goalie every draft but never overly high.
If they're going to draft a goalie at all in the second or third rounds, I think it'll be Jon Gillies. He's 6'5", American, and going NCAA so he won't interfere with Campbell's development.
With our recent playoff push we've sort of neglected draft talk.
What are we looking for? I assume forward. If we make the playoffs our pick will likely be 15-20. Around that area, we've got forwards like Brandon Gaunce (Physical forward, good defensively not great, OK offensive skills, better version of McNeil last year), Pontus Aberg (Swedish winger, seems to be having a good season in the SEL, he'll be one of the oldest first year players in the draft), Tomas Hertl (Czech in their league, don't know much about him) and a couple others like Maidens, Pearson, Matteau, Teravainen and Frk who should be going in the late 20s early 30s and would maybe be reaches at our pick.
Also, if he's still available in the 5th or 6th round, I'd love to see us draft Nathan Walker, he's an Australian playing for HC Vitkovice in the Extraliga.
