Tales From The Clipped: Who is Dallas' latest NCAA free agent signing, Trey Taylor?

And what can the left-handed defenseman from Clarkson University do?

I know I said we were done talking about prospects, but Dallas finally made it official the other day. Ayrton Martino is now officially a Stars prospect, signed to two years on an entry level deal. That’s gonna be a nice boost to an injured Texas Stars squad in Cedar Park. We are fans of Martino here. But we’ve talked about him ad nauseum. Dallas also signed Martino’s teammate out of Clarkson University, 6’2 left-handed defender Trey Taylor, who led Clarkson’s defenders in points with 29. In other words, Dallas’ just signed Clarkson’s leading forward scorer, and their leading scorer on the blueline.

Taylor made EPRinkside’s 2025 NCAA Free Agency Guide top 10. While that might not speak to Taylor’s value as an NHL projectable talent, it does speak to the value Dallas is getting out of bringing in this particular college talent.

Dallas, after all, has emptied their cupboards and lined them with yellow tape. For now, there’s nothing left. And that’s okay. The cupboards are what brought them here in the first place. The cupboards — Logan Stankoven flipped for Mikko Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston, Lian Bichsel, Thomas Harley, etc — are still feeding the victory green machine, and will for a long time. But right now they’re empty and will be for a long time.

That leaves the scavenger’s path, which isn’t a bad path. When I wrote about Dallas potentially looking into the top college free agent Luke Haymes, I cycled through the undrafted players that came out of college and into the NHL. It’s a solid list. So who is Taylor, and what kind of potential does he provide as a prospect? Much more than you’d think.