Draft day: Stars staying prepared for anything as 2026 Draft kicks off

The Stars scouting staff has a tough challenge this year.

But it’s not like they haven’t been through this before.

Dallas has just one pick in the first four rounds of the 2026 NHL entry draft Friday and Saturday, but the scouts will prepare their mock draft as if they had a selection in every round.

“You have to, that’s the job,” said Joe McDonnell, the Stars Director of Amateur Scouting who will help run the draft. “You just never know, so you prepare and see what Jim [Nill] does, and you’re ready to go if things change direction.”

The Stars have been very active at the trade deadline for the past few seasons as they continue chasing a Stanley Cup. So, to get players like Mikko Rantanen, Michael Bunting, Mikael Granlund, Cody Ceci and Chris Tanev, some draft capital has had to go the other way. Two summers ago, Dallas had just three of its seven draft picks. Last year, they traded away their picks in the first two rounds.

“It’s the price of doing business,” said GM Jim Nill. “These are hard decisions, but we’re at a place where we have to make them.”

As a longtime scout, the decisions are extra tough on Nill. He and McDonnell go way back to their days in Detroit, so he’d love to give his good friend every opportunity to mine some great prospects. That said, neither man is giving up.

“You never know where you can find a player,” said McDonnell. “So you put the work in and you prepare just like you have the picks. That’s the best way to go about it.”

The scouting stays in the organization, so it could actually help later if a player is put on waivers or becomes available in trade. And, this year, with the contract uncertainty around All-Star winger and pending restricted free agent Jason Robertson, there still is a chance that Nill could make a huge trade and create a draft pick or two in the first round.

Right now, Dallas is scheduled to pick 59th, 155th, 187th, 197th and 219th.  On the good side, the organization has some of those players on the current payroll, including Matthew Seminoff (sixth-rounder in 2022) and Remi Poirier (sixth-rounder in 2020). Even better, the Stars have traditionally found some impressive players in the fifth round, including Jamie Benn and John Klingberg.

So there is always hope.

Asked if the experience of setting up a mock draft and looking at it years from now could be fun, McDonnell chuckled.

“I wouldn’t call it fun, really,” he said of a potentially frustrating experience. “But it is interesting, and it is necessary, so we put a lot of work into it.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.