Dallas Stars: Top 8 prospects worth getting excited about
The Dallas Stars had a very turbulent 2019-20 season.
Despite having a very good team on paper, the Dallas Stars came out of the gate slow and struggled with consistency. Then, in December, the team surprisingly fired head coach Jim Montgomery, which turned out later to be due to alcoholism. Montgomery has since been to rehab and hired on to the St. Louis Blues coaching staff as an Assistant coach.
After the firing, Assistant Coach Rick Bowness took over, and the teams play elevated shortly after. They started off hot in the 2020 Playoffs and continued that play throughout, advancing all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately for them, they were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, but it was an extremely successful season nonetheless.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
Given the young talent they have in players such as Miro Heiskanen and Denis Gurianov, as well in veterans Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Alexander Radulov, they will have a chance to compete for a Stanley Cup again next season. While they don’t boast as great of a prospect pool as some other teams throughout the league, they have a couple of high-end players at the top of list who have a chance to become NHL regulars very soon.
As mentioned in every other top 8 prospects series, any player who has played in more NHL games than any other league in a season, regardless of the season, will not be included on the list.
With that said, here are the Dallas Stars’ top 8 prospects worth getting excited about…
8. Joel Kiviranta
Joel Kiviranta isn’t a prospect who has the potential to come into the NHL and put up high offensive numbers. In fact, he is already 24-years-old and likely would not have been on the list five months ago. However, his performance with the Dallas Stars in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs opened up a lot of eyes and showed everyone how good of a player he is. The Finnish forward put up five goals, many of which came at very clutch moments, and six points in 14 Playoff games. He was a huge reason the Stars advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Related Story. Eight Winnipeg Jets Prospects worth getting excited about. light
Kiviranta played in his first 11 NHL regular season games this year, and followed that up with his 14 extremely impressive postseason games. His performances in the Playoffs will more than likely allow him to start the 2020-21 season with the Stars, and if he plays well he should stick for the entire season. Despite his exploits in the postseason, he won’t be expected to put up big totals, but he is a feisty forward who can provide value to the Stars on either the third or fourth line. The undrafted forward, who had previously spent the last five seasons in the SM-liiga before coming to North America for the 2019-20 campaign, looks like a nice find for Dallas.
7. Riley Damiani
The Dallas Stars made what appears to be a nice late round pick at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft when they selected forward Riley Damiani in the Fifth Round (No. 137 overall). At the time of the Draft, he was coming off a fairly underwhelming season with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL with 19 goals and 37 points in 64 games. The Stars clearly believed that he had potential to grow offensively, and they have since been proven right.
The very next season after being drafted, Damiani popped off with 30 goals and 85 points in just 58 games. Most recently, in his fourth season with the Rangers, he put up a team leading 78 points in 61 games. The 20-year-old has proven he can put up points at the junior level, and will have the chance to prove he can do so at the professional level as well once the 2020-21 season gets underway.