The Tampa Bay Lightning used five drafts in the span of seven years to acquire cornerstones Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Andrei Vasilevskiy. It's scary good.'īuilding through the draft and developing that talent is how teams win in the NHL. There is not a word to describe three guys of that caliber. Even if they didn't get Oettinger and just got Heiskanen and Robertson, that's still a rock-star draft. 1 defenseman who can run a power play, a starting goaltender and a top-six forward in one draft. 'We're hoping we can get one or two guys in each draft that can just play for us and be serviceable and good players,' one NHL amateur scout who works for another team told ESPN. They found a franchise defenseman, a franchise goaltender and a franchise forward in one draft when they used their first three picks to select defenseman Miro Heiskanen, goaltender Jake Oettinger and wing Jason Robertson. They didn't find just one franchise player. Now you're starting to understand what made the 2017 NHL draft a defining moment for the Dallas Stars. But to draft and develop the type of players who could potentially become franchise cornerstones? That can be a painstaking process that might take several years to master, with the sobering realization it might never happen. How Dallas Stars used one draft to build foundation of a Cup contenderįront offices throughout the NHL are willing to invest what amounts to a miniature fortune on travel so their amateur scouting staffs can find the players they believe can help them have a brighter future.Īnd that's not even including additional scouting costs such as salaries or the investment that comes with eventually trying to develop those draft picks into NHL players.Įvery front office knows there's an art to drafting and developing.

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