Tales From The Clipped: Minnetian gets hyped on the national broadcast, while Taylor and Martino make their AHL debuts

Stars prospects are still playing meaningful games, so let's have a meaningful report.

Now we’re done with the prospect reports for the year.

Don’t get me wrong. I love writing these, and the little cauldron of readers who engage with it makes it worth it. But with Clarkson (Ayrton Martino and Trey Taylor), Cornell (George Fegaras), and Boston College (Aram Minnetian) all closing out their seasons, that leaves just the Barrie Colts (Emil Hemming and Brad Gardiner), Medicine Hat Tigers (Niilopekka Muhonen), and the Texas Stars still left playing meaningful games (yes, I know I’m missing some).

Again, we’ll still talk about the prospects through the rest of the year. But just no more dedicated articles to all the going-ons among Dallas’ other Stars. Looking back, it’s been a good year. Again, the framing — Dallas does not have a good prospect pool and these are not NHL-projectible players. However, not being projectable is not the same as not having a chance at all. In fact, what follows will be a good amount of hype.

And that’s part of the fun. Dallas’ prospects, wherever their careers take them, have shown development. At the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for out of a prospect. Are they getting better? Are they developing new skills? Are they sharpening old ones? Are certain weaknesses beginning to disappear, etc?

Today we’re only gonna be looking at three prospects. It’s not about merit. Hemming just had a three-point night in Barrie’s blowout of Niagara. But the following three players — Minnetian, Taylor, and Martino — have had the most interesting transitions with Minnetian playing in the NCAA Championships this weekend, and the latter two transitioning into the AHL. Especially Minnetian. In fact, Minnetian — Dallas’ only right-handed shot defender with any real potential in their system — is the main reason for today’s article.