Into The Weeds: Ranking the Dallas Stars prospects according to what a selling team might want

Measuring the 'Grushnikov Index.'

It’s been said that the Dallas Stars don’t have assets. I mean, they don’t. But one person’s trash, another’s treasure, et cetera.

Thing is: this sentiment always assumes that hockey GMs have a community college’s worth of departments all cross-referencing the analytics, the scouts, and raw analysis to get the best deal they can on any single trade. And yet we know that’s not true. Did Calgary really get the best deal for Chris Tanev two years ago? Did Steve Yzerman get the best deal in giving away Jake Walman (and a second round pick!) to San Jose only for San Jose to turn Walman into a first round pick?

In this light, I don’t think Dallas is without assets. They have a 2027 first rounder, a 2026 second rounder, and a host of prospects with different profiles. Looking for a two-way shooter with size? Here’s Emil Hemming. Looking for a scoring specialist? There’s Cameron Schmidt. Got interest in a two-way power forward? See Brandon Gorzysnki.

The rest is a mixed bag, but that' doesn’t make it a bad one. There are goaltenders in the system between Swedish netminder Måns Goos, the German prospect Arno Tiefensee and Remi Poirier have combined to make an otherwise tepid AHL team playoff caliber. There is a mix of interesting defenders far more capable than Artyom Grushnikov, who was the highlighted prospect in the Tanev trade: here I’m talking about puck mover George Fegaras, a modern defensive prototype in Tristan Bertucci (it can’t be emphasized enough that he’s only 20), and hybrid blue liners like Aram Minnetian and Trey Taylor.

I’m missing a lot of names — names I’ve discussed as darkhorse picks like Matthew Seminoff, Angus MacDonell, Niilopekka Muhonen, Charlie Paquette, and 18-year old center Atte Joki, who is playing professionally in the Liiga. It doesn’t always take the best player. Sometimes it just takes the ‘right’ player. And whatever your mileage is of these prospects, Dallas has a strong reputation as an elite drafting team, with well-respected scouts, giving these players a little extra value. And they have a lot of questions that said prospects can help answer, as I wrote yesterday for D Magazine.

So what follows today will be a ranking according to who I think teams are more likely to want, and which NHL players (discussed and not discussed) they have potential to bring back. Along the way we’ll talk a little about where Dallas’ prospects are in their development, and if we should be excited at the prospect of keeping or not keeping them.