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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.
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After a strong OHL career that saw him become an effective two-way center and eventual team captain of the Kitchener Rangers, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that
Riley Damiani was going to have no trouble adjusting to life in the AHL as a member of the Texas Stars.
But to see the 2018 Dallas Stars fifth-rounder leading all league rookies in scoring 12 games in, with 15 points? That’s not something that anyone would have expected, even in their most generous projections.
Yes, it has been quite an eventful month and a half for the 20-year-old native of Mississauga, Ontario (his 21st birthday comes in a few days, on the 20th). He picked up two goals and one assist in his AHL debut on February 5th and hasn’t really slowed down since, producing points in eight of the next 11 games.