Prospects to Keep an Eye on for Texas Hockey Fans

The Stars have barely had time to catch their breath since the end of the Stanley Cup Final but the shortened off-season is rolling on quickly.

The NHL draft takes place on October 6th and the Stars, originally slated to pick somewhere in the lower middle of the draw, will have pick number 30.

When we looked at the Stars draft options back in April, when the whole season was up in the air, they were slated to pick 22. It’s fairly well established that by the time you get to the bottom of the 1st round it’s a coin toss whether the player you take will play in the NHL. Unless you are looking to fulfill a specific positional need your best option is likely to take the best available player. So who might be available that the Stars would look at?

The consensus 30th overall pick is Ridly Greig from the Brandon Wheat Kings. Another relatively slight player, listed at 5’11’ and 159lb. Elite prospects scouting report on him is strongly reminiscent of the Flyers Travis Konecny; “If there’s a scrum, he’s involved: if there isn’t, he creates one. Although average in stature, few players in the draft bring a more refined physical game and all-out destruction. He’s an intelligent defensive player, he attacks with pace offensively, and has a deft passing ability”. Although there are some weaknesses in his game (particularly his skating) that need to be worked out. He would definitely be a project worth considering for the Stars.

The Stars, as we all know, love to recruit Finns, and there is at least one player from the Finnish league that could go in the bottom of the 1st round or top of the second. Roni Hirvonen is a player that could easily fit in the Stars system, a defensively responsible two-way center, he’s ranked as high as 22 on some scouting lists but most draft reports have him slated to go around 35-40. A slight player at 5’9’’ and 170lbs one could easily see him being a player of the Alex DeBrincat type. Of course, the last time the Stars drafted an undersized Finn it didn’t go so well. However, by and large, the Stars scout the Finnish leagues well, relying on the experience of Stars legend Jere Lehtinen among others.

Of the players listed in our earlier piece, Jan Mysak is the one most likely to be available when the Stars pick.

If he is, I could still definitely see the Stars taking him. He is exactly the kind of player that Jim Nill likes.

Also worth noting for fans of Texas hockey is that several local prospects may be picked in the draft. Thomas Bordeleau, born in Houston although raised in Canada, is likely to go in the lower first round or bottom of the second. It’s a possibility that the Stars could draft the University of Michigan center. Cross Hanas, from Highland Village, who played his youth hockey with the Junior Stars, before joining the Portland Winterhawks, is likely to go somewhere in the third round. Chase Yoder, who also played for the Junior Stars, before going on to Providence College is likely a lower round pick.