FRISCO, Texas -- How did this happen? How did the Dallas Stars move down in the 2021 NHL Draft and steal center Wyatt Johnston with the No. 23 pick? How did that help them land defenseman Chris Tanev too?
It’s a fascinating story that involves the COVID-19 pandemic, the building where the Stars practice and Hockey Hall of Famer Paul Coffey, who is now an assistant for the other team in the Western Conference Final, the Edmonton Oilers.
Johnston, who turned 21 on May 14, led the Stars with 32 goals in the regular season and leads them with seven goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Stars and Oilers are tied 1-1 in the best-of-7 series after Dallas won 3-1 in Game 2 on Saturday.
“I could lie and say I knew he was going to do that from an early age,” Dallas director of amateur scouting Joe McDonnell said Friday, laughing over the phone. “But that’s not the way it works. He’s exceeded [expectations] for sure.”
Johnston had 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists) in 53 games for Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League in 2019-20. Then the pandemic hit. The OHL didn’t play in 2020-21, which meant Johnston didn’t get to play junior hockey in his draft year.
The only hockey he got to play was for Canada in the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championship, which was held April 26-May 6 in Frisco and Plano, Texas. Johnston played seven games, the last three in Frisco at Comerica Center, the building where the Stars practice.
“It was in this rink here where we scouted Wyatt,” Dallas general manager Jim Nill said Wednesday during a press conference in the concourse, with the seats and the ice in the background.
Johnston didn’t necessarily stand out. Canada won gold, led by forward Shane Wright, who had 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in five games, and Connor Bedard, who had 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in seven games. Johnston had four points (two goals, two assists) in seven games in a third-line, checking role.
But McDonnell had seen Johnston in Windsor in 2019-20, and so had Dallas amateur scout Jimmy Johnston.
“I sort of keyed in on him,” McDonnell said. “The hockey sense was off the charts, and you could just see he was capable of playing first-line center on that team. But it was just the coach, that’s where he put him, and he dealt with it, and he was really good.”
McDonnell did some digging.
“We just did a whole bunch of background checks with different people,” he said. “It was just, quality kid, quality individual, was brought up the right way. Parents obviously did a great job.”
For one of his background checks, McDonnell called Coffey.
He and Coffey were defense partners for Kitchener of the OHL in 1979-80. He played in the minors in the Edmonton organization while Coffey played for the Oilers from 1982-84, and they crossed paths with the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-96, with Coffey as a player and he an amateur scout.
It just so happened that Coffey worked with Johnston with the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League from 2018-19.
“I called him to get a little brief history on Wyatt from his coaching,” McDonnell said. “It was sort of funny. I hadn’t talked to Paul since he was in Detroit with us.”
The 2021 NHL Draft was held July 23-24, delayed a month and held virtually due to the pandemic. Johnston was not a hot prospect.
“Nobody was really talking about him for the draft or anything,” McDonnell said. “That’s where I said to Jim, ‘I think we can trade down maybe, and we can get him later in that first round.’”
The Stars had the No. 15 pick.
“I said, ‘Joe, are you sure? Are you sure this is your guy?’” Nill said. “Because we’re going off of limited information. And he was adamant, and his staff was, that this was the guy, and they made the decision and made the right call.”
The Stars traded the No. 15 pick to the Detroit Red Wings for the No. 23 pick, a second-round pick (No. 48) and a fifth-round pick (No. 138). They selected Johnston at No. 23. They took forward Logan Stankoven at No. 47 and defenseman Artem Grushnikov at No. 48.
