FRISCO – When it comes to the development of prized forward prospects, Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill has a mentality.
“Well, they’ve got to be in the lineup every night,” Nill told reporters on Saturday. “I don’t really worry if that’s the first line, second line, third line, fourth – it doesn’t matter. If you’re playing every night, you’re developing. But if you’re sitting in the press box, playing one of every three games, that’s not good for development.”
The biggest prize among Dallas’ current prospect pool is 2021 second-round pick Logan Stankoven, who was ranked as a top-10 prospect in the league last February, according to The Athletic’s rankings. Stankoven nearly made the Stars lineup last year. Instead, the Stars went with Wyatt Johnston, resulting in a trip back to Kamloops and the Western Hockey League.
Stankoven will be headed to Texas this year, but because of Nill’s mentality and the first wave of Nill’s free agency moves, he could be in Cedar Park instead of Dallas.
The Stars, one of the best scoring teams in the NHL last season, elected to strengthen an already-strong offense in free agency. They signed veteran Craig Smith (one year, $1 million), added Sam Steel (one year, $850K) from Minnesota, and then used the majority of their limited cap space to sign recently bought-out forward Matt Duchene (one year, $3 million).
The Stars added a trio that combined for 41 goals and 100 points a year ago. It also brought their forward count to 12, not including Stankoven or former first-round pick Mavrik Bourque, who had 51 combined points last season for the Texas Stars down in Cedar Park.
If one of Dallas’ forward prospects wants a roster spot that will allow them to play every night, they’ll have to take it.
“There’s going to be injuries. We were very fortunate last year … we know there will be injuries and we covered that,” Nill said regarding the team’s additions and depth. “We’re looking forward to training camp. There’s going to be great competition, and I guess it’s a good problem to have.”
Stankoven is prepared for it.
“It’s out of my control. I don’t control who they sign,” Stankoven said when asked about it. “And at the end of the day, it’s about what I can do on the ice and off the ice as a good person. It’ll make me compete harder to make it hard on the coaches to send me home.”
It was hard for the Stars to do that a year ago, as well. Stankoven impressed in preseason last year. As did Johnston, who played a key role for the Stars in the postseason and nearly was a nominee for the Calder Trophy.
If the Stars wanted to focus mostly on improving their defense, then – from an external standpoint – it made sense to simply add Stankoven or Bourque to a more full-time role. Dallas instead made additional goal scoring a priority.
The chances that Stankoven ends up in Cedar Park instead of Dallas are higher than they were before free agency began. And in the minds of those in the Stars front office, that’s OK.
Rich Peverley, the team’s director of player personnel, reminded reporters on Monday that the majority of the team’s roster spent time in the American Hockey League, which is home to the Texas Stars. Jason Robertson did; this year he broke the team record for points and was first-team all-NHL.
Texas Stars head coach Neil Graham had a presentation about that very topic on Monday, Peverley said.
“I think it’s the same message from [Nill] all the time: if you’re ready, then we’ll make room for you,” Peverley said. “But it doesn’t hurt guys to go down and earn their stripes. It’s a big jump from the junior league to the American Hockey League, and you’re talking a bigger jump to get from there to the NHL. It’s a process, and earning it is very important.”
The players at development camp were all given Stars shirts. On the back of those shirts was the phrase, “Earn it.”
Stankoven will hope to earn a nightly job among Dallas’ forwards when training camp starts in September. That task, seemingly, has become more difficult than it was prior to the start of free agency.
On Twitter: @JoeJHoyt
