Andrew's Dallas Stars Blog

Stars trade down in round three

The Stars traded down in round three sending the 71st pick to Colorado for the 77th pick and the 109th pick.

Stars scouts on Nemeth

Here are some quotes from Dallas Stars scouts on Swedish defenseman Patrik Nemeth, the team’s second round pick (41st overall)

Stars Director of European Scouting Kari Takko: “Nemeth is a good skating defenseman. He is good on the puck and a big guy on the back end.”

European Scout Rickard Oquist: “He’s a good skater for his size. He brings leadership to his club. Nemeth brings a physical edge and is a solid defensive player.”

Stars pick Swedish defenseman Nemeth in round 2

Patrik Nemeth is 6-3, 201 pounds. He’s a left shot. He played junior hockey in Sweden, registering 20 points (1 goal, 19 assists) in 38 games. He led his team in defenseman scoring.

Here’s a scouting report from International Scouting Services:

One of, if not the most improved player in Sweden between this year and last! Nemeth has really gained a level of comfort in his big body and has learned how to use it to his advantage.  Punishing, Nemeth can dish out contact and receive it just as well and very rarely gives up his position.  He can manhandle most players to the outside and can be a very intimidating player around his own crease while managing to stay within the rules.  Nemeth makes good decisions on both sides of the puck even when under heavy pressure.  He is consistent, disciplined and reliable and can lead the rush or hang back and support if needed.

Red Line Report:

Huge beast is a dominating physical presence. ... He’s very raw, but there’s a lot to like: great size/strength, skates well forward with and without the puck, and has tremendous tools. He’s a long way from putting it together. ... A work in progress but tempting.

Campbell tidbits

Here are some tidbits from today on Jack Campbell, the Stars’ 1st round pick in this year’s draft.

Bob Duff of the Windsor Star has a nice article on Campbell today. Campbell is expected to play for the Windsor Stars next season. The article is here.

Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas talked to Stars goalie coach Mike Valley about Campbell and you can read that here.

Durrett, who is in LA for the draft, talked to Campbell and you can find the video of that interview here.

The good folks at The Goalie Guild, sent me a link to interview with Jack Campbell on his experience at the World Junior Championship and you can listen to that here. 

Thoughts on Campbell

Let me say I liked the pick of Jack Campbell. Based on some of the reaction I have been reading the past couple hours, I am likely to be in the minority.

But I do believe when the Stars made the pick they took the best player available. And I don’t think it’s a stretch for the Stars to believe that behind Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, Campbell was next in line when it comes to potential to be an impact player in the NHL. He’s shown himself to be a big time difference maker so far in his young career. He comes up big in key games. He wins. He does it in high pressure situations against elite competition at his level. How this all translates going forward, who knows. He’s just a kid. They’re all kids and time will tell how they all pan out. But all indications are that Campbell has the ability and attitude to be a great goalie.

It’s an important position and he looks like a guy who can play play it. If you’ve got a chance to take a player like that take him. If it’s a first round pick, then it’s a first round pick. You don’t pass on it You can never have enough goalies in the pipeline. They needed one in this year’s draft and they got the guy at the head of the class.

I think there were some good defensemen out there and couple more became available when Brandon Gormley and Cam Fowler dropped to where the Stars were selecting, but I wasn’t exactly blown away by this group. It was a solid group and there was some good depth in the draft overall. Chances are the Stars passed on guys who are going to be good players, but I don’t know if they passed up on a great one. Again, time will tell.

Of course, there’s the issue of the Stars needing help on defense. First, nothing they do in this year’s draft is going to help them in regards to the current roster. Anyone they take this weened is a few years away. If they are going to make adjustments to the current blue line that is going to have to be done a different way. It won’t be accomplished via 2010 draft picks.

There is, however, that pesky issue of the Stars being thin on defense prospects. Nothing has changed there. They don’t need elite prospects, good ones will do. But Saturday is another day and they can still get defense prospects. Still, it’s pretty dry when it comes to the blue line pipeline right now and it’s not going to get refreshed quickly, even if they had used Friday’s pick to take one.  The simple fact is the organization’s lack of defense prospects is what it is right now. The issue was not going to get solved with one pick Friday night and it isn’t going to get fixed overnight. The draft is one way to refill the pipeline There are others.

But the Stars did get one of the better prospects in this year’s draft Friday night. We’ll see how things play out Saturday and beyond. 

Jack Campbell video

Chris Dawson, who shoots video for The Hockey News and others, sent me sent a few minutes of Jack Campbell from last August’s USA World Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, New York.

Turco on Jack Campbell

Jack Campbell is a big fan of Marty Turco, and Turco thinks the Stars were smart to pick Campbell. Richard Durrett has Turco’s thoughts on Campbell here. 

Quotable: GM Joe and Bernhardt

Here are a couple of quotes on the Stars’ selection of Jack Campbell in tonight’s draft:

GM Joe Nieuwendyk on taking Campbell even after defenseman Brandon Gormley and Cam Fowler dropped and were available at the 11th pick:

“Our guys felt most strongly about picking this kid. After (Taylor) Hall and (Tyler) Seguin the next guy on the list that had a chance to be a franchise, impact player was Jack Campbell. He was the No. 1 guy right from the start and when he was there at No. 11 we took him.”

Stars Director of Amateur Scouting Tim Bernhardt on Campbell:

“There’s some special qualities about his kid. He’s a special kid, He’s a winner. He’s been able to win. He wants it as bad as any kid I’ve ever seen. And usually those high achievers achieve what they want.”

Campbell interview

Here’s an interview with Jack Campbell from the Stars video channel:

Quotable: Jack Campbell

When asked if he had any idea the Stars were going to take him:

“It’s one of the teams that I talked to a little bit more. It’s a team that I really wanted to go to. Marty Turco has been my idol my whole life. I’ve been working with the Dallas Stars goalie coach (Mike Valley) a little bit.
You know to be drafted by Dallas, it’s such a first-class organization, it really is a dream come true.”

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