2021 NHL Entry Draft: Dallas Stars Thoughts And Observations defendingbigd.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from defendingbigd.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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No matter what happens between now and then, the Texas Stars’ 2021 season will end on May 15th in a road game against the Iowa Wild.
It’s not technically because of the team’s performance thus far, even though they have a losing record on the season and currently sit fifth out of six teams in the AHL’s Central Division. Rather, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cash-strapped league were too much of a problem, leading to the decision to not host a playoffs and reward the Calder Cup for the second straight year.
A great recent example of that is Dallas Stars prospect
Fredrik Karlström, who plays for Växjö in the Swedish Hockey League. And with just how well he has been playing lately, he might even be working his way into his team’s historical lore.
Växjö swept their playoff series against Färjestad, and to say that Karlström (selected 90th overall by Dallas in the 2016 draft) played a huge role would be an understatement. Not only did he score four goals and add two assists in the four-game series, how he picked up most of those points is pretty incredible.
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With only nine picks in their past two entry drafts, the Dallas Stars had to get a little creative to fill up their prospect pool, especially after the recent graduations of Jake Oettinger, Jason Robertson, Ty Dellandrea and others to the big club.
They did exactly that last week, and did so in an interesting way, signing a pair of NCAA free agent teammates from the University of North Dakota: goaltender Adam Scheel and winger Jordan Kawaguchi. Both players signed shortly after their college seasons ended, which happened in a heartbreaking five-overtime elimination loss to Minnesota Duluth.