After a rather uneventful lottery, the Dallas Stars are heading into the offseason knowing they hold the No Chris Cooper Pet Jersey. 14 overall pick for the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. It may not have been the outcome Jim Nill wanted, but it still gives the Stars a relatively high pick. And Nill knows all about needing to make those picks count:here uncertainty everywhere, but I truly do believe you need your first-round picks to make it, Nill said. ee had misses in the first round, and theye hurt, but I feel good about our ability in recent drafts to get players to come through, and I do think you see that on our roster. f course, complicating this year draft is the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out hundreds of junior hockey games (the OHL didn even play this year). That makes identifying the best players much trickier than usual:t going to be a different year, Nill said. t wide open. I think when you look back on this five years from now, it going to be a great study. In a normal year, kids change a lot between December and the draft, and we didn have that this year, so itl be interesting to see how the scouts have adjusted and who will be a surprise out of this class https://www.denverproshoponline.com/Drew_Lock_Pet_Jersey-410. ou can read more from Mike Heika here. Stars StoriesJason Robertson might not win the Calder Trophy, but Riley Damiani has won the AHL Rookie of the Year:His 1st pro season keeps getting better Riley Damiani has been selected as the winner of the AHL's Dudley (Red) Garrett Memorial Award. Read: 1Speaking of Robertson, he has been one of the team best players at this year World Championship:More love for J-Rob today, as he and Team USA advance to the semifinals at the Worlds. 1Around the LeagueLast night treated us to a pair of overtime hockey games:The Boston Bruins took the series lead over the New York Islanders with a 2-1 win in Game 3. [Stanley Cup of Chowder]Meanwhile the Carolina Hurricanes avoided going down 3-0 on the series with a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. [Canes Country]The verdict is in: Mark Scheifele has been suspended four games for his hit on Jake Evans:Winnipeg Mark Scheifele has been suspended for four games for Charging Montreal Jake Evans. 1One would hope such a hit and the subsequent punishment will deter players from making similar decisions in the future:Wee seen it enough times to never want to watch it again. Hopefully, the suspension given to Scheifele will deter another player from making a similar decision that could lead to something even worse than a concussion. (By EricEngels)1Every year, people suggest the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to blow things up, and every year we see that it won happen:Penguins GM Hextall Committed to Keeping Core TogetherThe penguins had an earlier exit from the post-season than expected, but Ron Hextall isn't ready to blow things up just yet: 1What have we learned from the NHL playoffs so far Greg Wyshynski takes a crack at it:Evening reading on ESPN+- My 10 takeaways from the Stanley Cup Playoffs so far- The Kadri Appeal- Winners and losers of the week- Puck Headlines and more! Thanks for reading! 1All eyes are on the NHL draft this offseason Nigel Bradham Pet Jersey, but it worth keeping an eye on the junior leagues drafts as well:Future Watch: 20 Prospects to Watch at the OHL DraftThere has never been a harder year to be an OHLHockey draft prospect, but the selection process must still go on. Here are StevenEllisTHN 20 names to , as the draft happens online this weekend: 1The NHL still hasn given up hope on letting the North Division winner stay in Canada for their semifinal home games: think the people we're dealing with . . . understand that we need to be making those decisions sooner rather than later.
