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Stars 2003 draft review

Written by: Geoffrey Ussery on 06/23/2003

Dallas came into the 2003 NHL Entry Draft with ten selections, half of which were fifth and sixth round selections. With the draft being viewed as a talent rich draft, it was a great chance to select some players that could be key to the Stars future as their core ages. 

As the first round wound down, and the Stars pick approached; it looked like the Stars were going to be able to snag one of the players they had as potential first round picks. However, in the last few picks before the Stars selection, one by one these players were snapped up by other teams. With no players that the Stars were willing to select that high, they traded their first pick, no. 28 overall, two tables over to Anaheim for the no. 36 pick and no. 54 pick. This deal gave Dallas three picks in the second round of this talent deep draft.

The Stars first pick in the second round was very early at no. 33 overall, which was obtained from Columbus for Grant Marshall. With this pick, Dallas selected skilled forward Loui Eriksson from Frölunda's junior club in Sweden. Eriksson, at 6-1 and 183 lb., has a good sized frame, but lacks physical development at this time. On the positive side, Eriksson has outstanding speed, acceleration, and agility. Also, Eriksson's decision making in offensive play is quite good. He will play in the dirty areas of the ice and can protect the puck well. In the area of intangibles, Eriksson has shown a clutch scoring ability coupled with a strong work ethic. This pick may have been a bit of a stretch at this time but given time to develop in Europe to work on his strength, consistency, which is a minor disappointment, and defensive coverage should give another quality prospect with admirable offensive abilities.

Shortly after, Dallas was on the clock again at the no. 36 pick. This turned out to be a tough decision for Dallas as their time expired, and this necessitated the calling of their time out. Even this time was stretched to its limit, and eventually Dallas settled on Vojtech Polak from Karlovy Vary of the Czech Extraliga. Polak is a potential sniper, which is something the Stars did lack. He has an excellent array of shots and likes to go to the net with the puck on his stick. Offensively, his awareness and play with the puck is top-notch making him a dangerous fixture on the power play. He has speed and acceleration that he can use to beat defensemen and will play in traffic, but if the game gets too physical; he tends to stay on the perimeter. Polak has had some reported attitude issues, mostly in putting himself before the team. While this is not exactly common in Stars selections, it is a pretty common vein among snipers. Thus, whether there is need for lots of worry is yet to really be determined.

The Stars third selection in the second round came at no. 54 with Patrick O'Sullivan still on the board. For the third time, Dallas passed on the ultra-skilled forward, whom they had interviewed, and instead pick B. J. Crombeen from Barrie of the OHL. Crombeen has a lot of the things Dallas looks for in prospects. He is aggressive, tough, and oozes character. While not the most skilled player in the draft, Crombeen has good size and a bit of untapped offensive potential. The forward has already been selected to the Canadian U-18 squad twice at age 18. Crombeen looks like one of those players that will go through walls for their team but have enough talent to be able to produce in key situations. He is, however, a project.

In the third round, Dallas owned only their own pick at No. 99. With this pick, Dallas stayed close to home, selecting Matt Nickerson from Texas of the NAHL. Nickerson is a hulking physical specimen with a mean streak as wide as the Grand Canyon. He loves to punish opposing forwards with hard hits, and he was also viewed as the best fighter in the draft, quite the true heavyweight. There were a few times during the season where he absolutely took people that called on him apart. He has gone a bit far at times, earning some suspensions during the year. Nickerson will be moving to Michigan in the NCAA next year, where he should be in great hands. With his raw abilities, refinement in the college game could add dimensions to his game. Right now, he looks like he could be a physically dominating force from the blue line in a few years. He should be a solid, but dangerous, defensive defenseman, but there is a chance that time in college can improve his offensive abilities. As a right handed defenseman, he could be important in the future. 

Again, in the fourth round, Dallas only had their own selection, this time at no. 134. This selection turned out to be Alexander Naurov from Yaroslavl's junior team in Russia. Naurov has the potential to be a major steal down the line as he has a strong mix of talent and work ethic, but his stock suffered due to very limited ice time. Naurov has excellent quickness, being able to change directions nearly on a dime, and speed though his stride is a bit awkward. He is also very tough to knock off the puck as he is built very low to the ground and has great strength. He uses this strength to go through players, even ones larger than him, if need be. Along the boards, his strength and quickness make him invaluable. Naurov forechecks hard, often forcing turnovers. He is also very competent in defensive coverage. To go along with this, he thinks the game very well and has a good package of offensive skills. His speed makes him dangerous because it allows him to turn the corner on defensemen and create chances for his team. Everything looks to be in place for this forward, so now he just needs some playing time to progress.

With the pick obtained in the summer deal that sent Ed Belfour and Cameron Mann to Nashville, the Stars selected Finnish goalie Eero Kilpelainen with the no. 144 overall selection in the fifth round. A small goaltender with good agility, Kilpelainen played for Kalpa Jr. in the Finnish junior system and did not exactly post the most awe inspiring numbers there. Despite that, he was the among the best goalies under-18 in Finland as he was the backstop for Finland at the U-18 Championships. As Finland is being recognized as a good source for goalies now, this pick, while seemingly excessive with the goalies in the system, may turn out to look better down the line as he develops and works his way through the ranks in Finland.  

With their own pick at no. 165, Dallas selected Gino Guyer from the NCAA champion University of Minnesota. Guyer is a player who has enough talent to play in the NHL, but at the moment, has not really shown a lot of NHL potential. In that respect, he may be very similar to last year's late round college selection, Ned Havern. Blessed with a good work ethic, Guyer has been a good role player for Minnesota. His future should be more clear as his college career ends. 

With the first of the three picks in the sixth round, Dallas picked Francis Wathier from Hull of the QMJHL with the no. 185 overall selection. Wathier has good size and toughness but did not put up very good numbers for a forward in the QMJHL. He looks mostly like a strong physical presence and a role player at this point.

With their next pick in the sixth round at no. 195 overall, Dallas selected defenseman Drew Bagnall from the SJHL. Bagnall has decent size but also showed admirable offensive ability and a mean streak in the Junior A league. Bagnall was selected as the SJHL's best defenseman for this season, so there is some promise there. Attending St. Lawrence of the NCAA next year, Bagnall will probably be left to develop by Dallas. Whether his offensive production will carry on to higher levels of competition is yet unknown, but at the very least, he should be a tough physical defenseman in college. 

Dallas's final selection in the sixth round at no. 196 overall was Elias Granath from Leskand's junior team out of Sweden. Granath has a decent size frame that he has to fill out before he even has a hope at the NHL. He plays a steady defensive game and couples it with a smart offensive game in the junior system, but he still has to improve all facets of his game. At the U-18 Championships, he scored only a goal for Sweden and was a minus player. Steady progression should make him a more NHL-caliber prospect in a few years, but it looks doubtful that he has a future with the Stars, especially with him being one of four defensive prospects selected this year.

With their seventh round pick in Tampa Bay's possession from last year's Brad Lukowich trade at the draft, Dallas had to wait until the eight round to pick again as Chicago opted to take Dallas's seventh round pick next year instead of the eighth round selection. With what turned out to be their final pick, Dallas selected Niko Vainio, a defenseman from Jokerit's junior system. Vainio possesses a good sized frame that he has yet to fill out and has good offensive instincts that he must learn to use better against better competition. As a defenseman for Finland's U-18 squad, he was much more of a defensive presence and did not produce any points. Much like Granath, he will be left to develop in Finland and needs quite a bit of improvement before being considered a true NHL prospect. The Vainio selection turned out to be Dallas's last pick as they swapped their ninth round selection for Phoenix's eighth round pick in next year's draft.

Dallas's draft this year was somewhat discouraging as they again came out of the draft without any defensive prospects having promising offensive talent and passed on very talented players in favor of hard workers. However, the Stars organization has stated repeatedly that they do not select for needs. They did finally add a prospect with terrific offensive upside to their stable though, which was a nice change. It also appears that they may have hit on a gem in Naurov if he can get the playing time to progress.  

Copyright 2003 Hockey’s Future. Do not reprint or otherwise duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.

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