The Dallas Stars have always had a way with either acquiring great goalies, or developing young netminders into future stars. After all, the Stars drafted goalies like Marty Turco (5th round, 124th overall, 1994), Mike Smith (5th round, 161st overall, 2001) Dan Ellis (2nd round, 60th overall, 2000) and Jason Bacashihua (1st round, 26th overall, 2001), to name a few.

They acquired goalies Brent Krahn and Matt Climie to lead their farm team, the Texas Stars, to a surprising run to the Calder Cup Finals this past season.

Jack Cambell

The Stars’ only Stanley Cup was won behind the great goaltending of Ed Belfour in 1999.

All of these Stars draft picks or acquisitions ended up being above-average goaltenders in their own leagues, but strangely enough, these goalies have mostly gone their separate ways. Turco is now an unrestricted free agent without a job while Ellis and Smith are now the tandem in Tampa Bay. Bacashihua is now a minor leaguer with the Colorado Avalanche who made appearances with the Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears this past season.

But there seems to be a trend that the Stars’ goaltending scouts know what they are talking about and know what they are looking for. So who was it that the Stars picked with the 11th overall selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft?  A goaltender. Specifically, Jack Campbell, the gold medal-winning American hero of the IIHF World Junior Championships in Saskatoon. The promising 18-year-old netminder was the number-one ranked goaltender in the 2010 draft as a result of the USA Hockey National Development Team Program. This program has produced some great American hockey stars like Patrick Kane and Erik Johnson, two first overall picks in their respective drafts. Read More→