2025 NHL Draft Hypelist: Defensemen the Dallas Stars could or should target

Could Dallas draft the next Stephen Johns and John Klingberg?

Yesterday we looked at forwards Dallas could draft.

But let’s face it. Forwards are a little less likely to be on the Stars’ radar. Dallas has some interesting defenders in their system. But they don’t need someone interesting. They need someone that can graduate and contribute. They need that ‘sure thing’ — anything to avoid spending money on the Matt Dumbas and Ilya Lyubushkins of the world.

I know what you’re thinking. “Their first pick is at 94!” I call BS. I’m not ignoring the reality about what happens to third and fourth round picks. This is patently obvious. But today is my counterargument to that. The following nine players are — I would argue — the kind of value adds that any team would be lucky to draft and ultimately develop.

Again, the focus here is looking at players that are most likely to be available in the third and fourth rounds. For example, Liam Pettersson is a defender expected to be available in this range, but he profiles a lot like Tristan Bertucci, and he’s left-handed. Handedness is not a disqualifier here. In fact, a few of the following names are, in fact, left-handed defenders. But we’ll be looking at defenders with a profile I’d expect to attract Dallas’ needs. Thankfully this draft has a diverse mix of very interesting longshots from the blueline.

(Copy and paste) Like yesterday, you’ll see a lot of cribbing from Mitch Brown and Lassi Alanen’s tracking project, as well as Will from Scouching for more data and film analysis. An assist from Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler at The Athletic obviously. And of course — EPRinkside’s 2025 Draft Guide. It’s not quite Proust, but it’s just as massive.