Dallas Stars Top 5 Draft Busts in Franchise History
By Ryan Ritchie
Dallas Stars Top 5 Countdown: Biggest Busts in Franchise History (1993-Present)
Dallas Stars are the next team in a series dedicated to the top five draft busts in franchise history. Over the next while, we plan to explore all 30 teams (in alphabetical order) big misses on the draft floor since their inception.
For those expansion teams from the early and late 1990s into 2000, their franchise draft history is obviously skewed in comparison to older teams. Even with a limited sample size to choose from, each and every franchise has been victimized by the imperfect art of selecting 18-year-old prospects.
For this specific countdown, we have chosen to only consider those years on the draft floor representing the state of Texas (1993-present).
With the exclusion of notable Minnesota North Stars, names such as Warren Babe (12th overall in ’86) and David Quinn (13th overall in 1984) narrowly miss the spotlight.
Honorable Mentions:
Michael Ryan – 32nd overall in 1999
Picks after Ryan: Mike Commodore (NJ) – 42nd overall, Jordan Leopold (ANA) – 44th overall, Adam Hall (NSH) – 52nd overall
Jason Bacashihua – 26th overall in 2001
Picks after Bacashihua: Dave Steckel (LA) – 30th overall, Derek Roy (BUF) – 32nd overall, Tim Jackman (CLB) – 38th overall, Fedor Tyutin (NYR) – 40th overall, Mike Cammalleri (LA) – 49th overall
Mark Fistric and Johan Fransson – 28th and 34th overall in 2004
Picks after Fistric: Mike Green (WSH) – 29th overall, Dave Bolland (CHI) – 32nd overall
Picks after Fransson: Justin Peters (CAR) – 38th overall, Bryan Bickell (CHI) – 31st overall, Blake Comeau (NYI) – 47th overall, Carl Soderberg (STL) – 49th overall, Brandon Dubinsky (NYR) – 60th overall, Alex Goligoski (PIT) – 61st overall, David Krejci (BOS) – 63rd overall
Ivan Vishnevskiy – 27th overall in 2006
Picks after Vishnevskiy: Nick Foligno (OTT) – 28th overall, Michal Neuvirth (WSH) – 34th overall, Jamie McGinn (SJ) – 36th overall, Nikolay Kulemin (TOR) – 44th overall
Dallas Stars Top 5 Draft Busts
5. Martin Vagner, Janos Vas, and Tobias Stephan – 26th, 32nd, and 34th overall in 2002
The Dallas Stars managed to miss on three of nine picks between 26th and 34th in 2002. Worst of all, they watched a few significant names come off the board through the 2nd and 3rd round.
Between all three misses, Stephan was the only one with NHL experience – if you can even call 11 games experience? Sadly, the Stars finally hit on their 4th pick at 43rd overall in Trevor Daley.
Picks after Vagner, Vas, and Stephan: Jarret Stoll (EDM) – 36th overall, Josh Harding (MIN) – 38th overall, Matt Greene (EDM) – 44th overall, Duncan Keith (CHI) – 54th overall, Matt Stajan (TOR) – 57th overall, Jiri Hudler (DET) – 58th overall, Johnny Boychuk (COL) – 61st overall, Tomas Fleischmann (DET) – 63rd overall, Gregory Campbell (FLA) – 67th overall, Frans Nielsen (NYI) – 87th overall, Valtteri Filppula (DET) – 95th overall
4. Jason Botterill – 20th overall in 1994
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Expectations were sky-high for the former Michigan Wolverine product as he entered the NHL in 1997-98. He was coming off a highly successful NCAA career, and was a standout for Team Canada on the World Junior stage over several years.
Jason spent the majority of his first two pro years in the IHL with the Michigan K-Wings. He saw a four game NHL stint with Dallas in 1997-98, and 17 games in 1998-99. After two short years, Dallas gave up on the former college standout sending him to the Atlanta in the summer of 1999.
After four months with the Thrashers, Botterill was traded once again, joining the Calgary Flames. He spent one more year with Calgary before signing with Buffalo in 2002-03. Jason would play three more seasons (mostly with AHL Rochester) before being forced out of the game in 2004-05 after only appearing in eight games that year.
Picks after Botterill: Dan Cloutier (NYR) – 26th overall, Rhett Warrener (FLA) – 27th overall, Stanislav Neckar (OTT) – 29th overall, Deron Quint (WPG) – 30th overall, Ryan Johnson (FLA) – 36th overall, Curtis Brown (BUF) – 43rd overall, Mathieu Dandenault (DET) – 49th overall, Richard Park (PIT) – 50th overall, Patrik Elias (NJ) – 51st overall
3. Jack Campbell – 11th overall in 2010
Might be safe to chalk this one up as a miss.
After seeing an increase in time down in the ECHL in 2015-16, it seems Jack Campbell’s play has progressively gotten worse over the course of his pro career.
His AHL numbers in 2015-16 were reflective of those from his rookie season, which was not good enough for one of the American Hockey League’s most dominant teams this past season.
Picks after Campbell: Cam Fowler (ANA) – 12th overall, Jaden Schwartz (STL) – 14th overall, Vladimir Tarasenko (STL) – 16th overall, Nick Bjugstad (FLA) – 19th overall, Riley Sheahan (DET) – 21st overall, Evgeny Kuznetsov (WSH) – 26th overall
2. Scott Glennie – 8th overall in 2009
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At the time, Glennie screamed star NHL potential after tearing apart the WHL in scoring for the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Unfortunately, he never managed to pan out and the Dallas Stars were forced to cut ties with him following the 2014-15 season.
In a recent April interview, Glennie reflected on what happened over his short tenure, suggesting he wasn’t prepared for the mental grind of being a professional hockey player.
Scott took the 2015-16 season off to recover from shoulder surgery, but is hoping to extend his hockey career in the near future.
Picks after Glennie: Ryan Ellis (NSH) – 11th overall, Calvin de Haan (NYI) – 12th overall, Dmitry Kulikov (FLA) – 14th overall, Nick Leddy (MIN) – 16th overall, Chris Kreider (NYR) – 19th overall, Marcus Johansson (WSH) – 24th overall, Kyle Palmieri (ANA) – 26th overall
1. Richard Jackman – 5th overall in 1996
Ric Jackman impressed scouts with 43 points from the blue line as a OHL rookie for Sault Ste. Marie – enough that Dallas felt compelled to select him 5th overall. A year later, he managed to increase his point total to 47 with the Greyhounds, followed by an astounding 71 points in is final year of junior.
Jackman made the jump to pro in 1997-98 suiting up for IHL Michigan K-Wings. After more than two seasons in the minors, Ric saw time with the big club in 2000-01 posting three points in 22 games for Dallas. He played 16 more games the next season before being traded to Boston in the summer of 2001.
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Ric Jackman was traded a total of five times during his career, spending time with Boston, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Florida, and Anaheim between 2001 and 2007. He appeared in 231 NHL games (77 points) before leaving North America in 2007-08 to play in Europe.
He has since spent time in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, and Slovakia, but most recently suited up in 2015-16 for Braehead Clan of the EIHL in England.
Picks after Jackman: Boyd Devereaux (EDM) – 6th overall, Ruslan Salei (ANA) – 9th overall, Derek Morris (CGY) – 13th overall, Marty Reasoner (STL) – 14th overall, Dainius Zubrus (PHI) – 15th overall, Marco Sturm (SJ) – 21st overall, Daniel Briere (PHX) – 24th overall