How The Dallas Stars Were Built

Tracing the roots of each player in the Dallas Stars organization is a little more complex than it is with the Cowboys, but I wanted to do it anyway.

The reason, of course, is that in the NHL, the draft precedes the player to the NHL by a few years (usually).  And for that reason, we have to wait to credit for picks and it can often be difficult to distinguish a clear view of things from GM to GM.

But, here you go.

The top green portion is Jim Nill.  Then, White is Joe Nieuwendyk, Grey is Les Jackson/Brett Hull, and the bottom Green is the remainder of Doug Armstrong.

There are no Armstrong players left, but he did oversee the 2007 draft which many attribute credit to Les Jackson for, but it was before Jackson was actually the GM.  Confused?

So, even though each draft is put in with the next season, Armstrong deserves credit for Jamie Benn's draft - despite not really credited with very good drafts during his tenure.

YEAR	DRAFT PICKS	FREE AGENTS	TRADES
2015-16	Denis Guryanov	Antti Niemi, Johnny Oduya	Patrick Sharp, Stephen Johns, Kris Russell
2014-15	Julius Honka	Patrick Eaves, Ales Hemsky	Jason Spezza, Jason Demers, Mattias Janmark, Travis Moen
2013-14	Val Nichushkin, Jason Dickinson,		Tyler Seguin
2012-13	Radek Faksa, Esa Lindell, Devin Shore	Antoine Roussel	Cody Eakin
2011-12	Jamie Oleksiak, Brett Ritchie	Jordie Benn, Vern Fiddler	Alex Goligoski
2010-11	Jack Campbell, Patrick Nemeth, John Klingberg		Kari Lehtonen
2009-10	Curtis McKenzie
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07	Jamie Benn, Colton Sceviour
Totals	9 via Draft	7 via Free Agency	9 via Trades

Also, if you are going to do this chart, you better recognize one particular date - November 18, 2011 - when Tom Gaglardi bought the Stars.  Before that, they were being run by the NHL for quite a while and a real financial mess - which is any general manager's worst nightmare.  And before that, were several uninspired years of Tom Hicks trying to sell the team and not spend a dollar more than he had to spend.

Regardless, it is fun to look at how this team has been assembled as it grows from a league joke to a league power in short order.