The Dallas Stars made five more picks at the NHL Draft on Saturday, and they made a trade as well, sending goaltending prospect Jack Campbell to Los Angeles for minor league defenseman Nick Ebert. Campbell, the Stars’ first-round pick (11th overall) in 2010, has struggled the past two seasons with the Texas Stars of the AHL. Dallas GM Jim Nill said Campbell, who is a pending restricted free agent, could benefit from a change of scenery.
“He’s a great young man, a great young goalie. Sometimes a change of pace is the best thing,” Nill said. “I had talks with Jack after this season, and we agreed that it is probably best to move on. Goaltending is a long development curve. Jack needs to go somewhere to get playing and get his confidence back.”
In return, the Stars get the 22-year-old Ebert, a Los Angeles seventh-round pick (211th overall) in 2012. The New Jersey native, who is 6-0, 203 pounds, has played with Manchester and Ontario in the AHL the past two seasons, registering 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) and a plus-25 rating in 89 games.
“He’s a right-shot defenseman,” Nill said. “We’ll put him in Texas (AHL), bring him to training camp and see what he does. We’ll go from there.”
Stars add forwards, goaltender and defenseman on day two of draft
The Dallas Stars added three forwards, one goaltender, and one defenseman as they wrapped up the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo on Saturday.
Those picks followed Friday night’s selection of forward Riley Tufte with the 25th overall selection in the first round. None of the six picks the Stars made this weekend are expected to make an immediate impact. They will be put into the prospect pipeline and given time to develop.
“We have to have young kids coming in our cap system. If we get two or three players out of every draft, we are going to be in a good position,” said Stars GM Jim Nill. “We are leaving here happy. It’s going to take a lot of hard work from the players now, a lot of work from our development team. Most of these kids are two, three, four, five years away. You can’t break that chain. We continue that.”
Here’s a look at Saturday’s picks in rounds three through six for the Stars:
Fredrik Karlstrom, center (3rd round/90th overall)
Karlstrom, who was ranked 57th among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting, registered 33 points (13 goals, 20 assists) in 44 games with AIK in Sweden’s top junior league. He recorded 11 points (five goals, six assists) in six playoff games. He’s a left-shot center who is listed at 6-2, 185 pounds.
“Highly skilled guy,” said Joe McDonnell, Stars Director of Amateur Scouting. “He needs some overall body strength. He thinks the game well and his skill level is high.”
“Like his upside and his skill. He’s a real high-end skill guy,” Stars scout Rickard Oquist said. “He’s very smart, competes. Many times you find him one step ahead in the game. Really excited over him.”
The 18-year-old will play in Sweden again next season, most likely starting in juniors.
Rhett Gardner, center/left wing (4th round/116th overall)
Gardner, who was not ranked by Central Scouting this year but was 134th on International Scouting Services’ list, played at the University of North Dakota, registering 18 points (11 goals, seven assists) in 41 games as a freshman. The 20-year-old Saskatchewan native plays both center and left wing and is listed at 6-2, 215 pounds.
“He’s just one of those guys you know is going to play. He does all the little things right,” McDonnell said. “Big body who plays a full 200-foot game. People rave about his character. The coaches just rave about him.”
Gardner picked up an assist as North Dakota defeated Quinnipiac, 5-1, to win the NCAA championship in April.
Colton Point, goaltender (5th round/128th overall)
Point, who was ranked fourth among North American goaltenders by Central Scouting, played for Carleton Place of the Central Canada Hockey League, posting a 2.16 goals-against average and .915 save percentage in 33 games. The 6-4, 219-pound netminder posted a 12-4 record, 1.82 goals-against average and .933 save percentage as Carleton Place won the league championship.
“We love his size,” McDonnell said. “Our goalie guy Mike Valley saw him last week at the Team Canada camp and really liked how he moved in the net. He’s on Team Canada’s radar, which is a really good thing.”
Point, an Ontario native, was in Buffalo to hear his name called by the Stars.
“I stood up and I looked at my mom, and she said, ‘I love you,” and I said, ‘I love you,’” Point said. “It’s the biggest day of my life. I thought the OHL draft was big, but this is huge. It is unbelievable. Being able to shake everyone’s hand and give everyone a hug is an awesome feeling.”
Point will play college hockey at Colgate starting next season.
“He’s going to college next year and the coach there says he is the guy,” McDonnell said.
Nicholas Caamano, right wing (5th round/146th overall)
Caamano was ranked 69th among North American skaters by Central Scouting and 67th among all draft prospects by McKeen’s Hockey, an independent scouting service. The 6-1, 185-pound Caamano, who is a left-shot, played junior hockey with the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League, tallying 20 goals and 17 assists in 64 games. McDonnell compared him to Dallas prospect Remi Elie, a second-round pick in 2013 who played with the Texas Stars of the AHL this past season.
“He’s just up and down the wing, skates well, decent size and decent overall skillset,” McDonnell said. “He does all the little things pretty well. He just has to develop.”
Caamano, who is from Ontario, was in Buffalo for Saturday’s draft.
“It’s been filled with a lot of nerves, but definitely a lot of excitement. My mom told me she wasn’t going to cry, but she was bawling her eyes out. They are really excited and happy for me,” Caamano said. “It’s been great for my family, and I can’t be prouder to thrown on that Dallas jersey.”
Caamano is expected to continue to play in juniors.
Jakob Stenqvist, defenseman (6th round/176th overall)
Stenqvist played three levels of junior hockey in Sweden this past season. He registered seven points (three goals, four assists) in 36 games with MODO in the top Swedish junior league. The 6-2, 163-pound will need to bulk up, but the Stars say he is in the mold of highly skilled Dallas defense prospect Niklas Hansson, a third-round pick in 2013 who played in Sweden’s top league last season.
“He’s a very intriguing guy. Raw in many areas. Right-handed shot defenseman who is very skilled,” Oquist said. “Like all these guys, he needs to work on everything. He needs to become a little quicker, work on his skating, getting stronger and all that. But he has things you can’t teach offensively. We are really excited over him, too.”
Stenqvist will continue to play in Sweden next season.
Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill and Director of Amateur Scouting Joe McDonnell concluded the 2016 NHL Draft held at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York by selecting five players on Saturday. Below is a review of all six of the selections from the two-day draft.
Riley Tufte - Left Wing (First Round, 25th Overall)
Tufte, 18, played for both Blaine High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota and for the Fargo Force of the USHL during 2015-16. With Blaine, he posted 78 points (47-31=78) in 25 games played and was named "Mr. Hockey" for the state of Minnesota. At the USHL level, he appeared in 27 games and recorded 14 points (4-10=14) as his 10 goals were tied for fifth on the team. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound native of Coon Rapids, Minnesota represented the United States at the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.
Frederik Karlstrom - Center (Third Round, 90th Overall)
Karlstrom, 18, played at three levels of AIK's system in Sweden during the 2015-16 season. The majority of his time was spent with AIK J20 of the SuperElit League, where he posted 33 points (13-20=33) in 44 regular season games. He added 11 points (5-6=11) in six games played during their playoffs. He also appeared in nine total games with the J18 program, he combined to produce 23 points (11-12=23) in 9 games played. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound native of Sweden also appeared in two games at the Sweden-2 League where he didn't register a point.
Rhett Gardner - Forward (Fourth Round, 116th Overall)
Gardner, 20, completed his freshman season at North Dakota and produced 18 points (11-7=18) and 52 penalty minutes in 41 games played. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound native of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan recorded two shorthanded goals, which were tied for first on the team.
Colton Point - Goaltender (Fifth Round, 128th Overall)
Point, 18, appeared in 33 regular season games or Carleton Place of the CCHL in 2015-16. He recorded a 2.16 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. In 16 playoff contests, he registered a 1.82 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound native of North Bay, Ontario will attend Colgate University in the fall.
Nicholas Caamano - Right Wing (Fifth Round, 146th overall)
Caamano, 17, appeared in 64 games for Flint of the Ontario Hockey League in 2015-16, recording 37 points (20-17=37). His 20 goals were third most on his team and he was fourth in points. The 6-foot, 188-pound native of Hamilton, Ontario has spent the last two seasons in the OHL, appearing in 128 regular season contests and recording 46 points (23-23=46).
Jakob Stenqvist - Defenseman (Sixth Round, 176th overall)
Stenqvist, 18, played at three levels of the MODO Hockey organization in Sweden during 2015-16. In four games at the J-18 Elit level, he posted 10 points (4-6=10). He then recorded 19 points (6-3=19) in 13 games played with the J18 Allsvenskan club. The 6-foot-2, 163-pound native of Sweden appeared in 36 games for their J20 SuperElit club, where he posted seven points (3-4=7).
In addition to the selections, the Stars acquired defenseman Nick Ebert from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goaltender Jack Campbell.
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