panoo

Written by Glen Jackson
06/10/2007

The Dallas Stars accumulated 12 picks leading up to the 2002 NHL Entry Draft in Toronto, including five picks in the second round. With that many quality picks, that draft should have helped pour the foundation to a strong prospect pool, however they managed to land only one quality NHL player in defenseman Trevor Daley. Their first-round pick was a disappointment and was never signed by the team, and is now playing in Europe, as are a number of their other selections that year. Although, four of their 12 picks are still in the system and have the potential to one day play in the NHL.

With Daley having played in 182 regular season NHL games thus far, the average NHL games per pick in 2002 for the Stars is 15.1.

Martin Vagner, D – 1st round, 26th overall
Status: NHL bust
NHL Games Played: 0

After 2001-02 season with the QMJHL Hull Olympiques in which Martin Vagner had six goals and 28 assists as a rookie, the Stars elected to take the two-way defenseman with heaps of promise with their first selection.

That season most of his success came in the first half of the season under coach Guy Lalonde while playing in a system that suited him well, but when Lalonde was replaced the Olympiques changed systems, Vagner began to struggle. It didn’t appear to be an issue at the time of the draft, and so the Stars pick looked like a good one, but in the two seasons following, Vagner’s game would cease to look like that of an NHL prospect, let alone one taken in the first round.

He had only 31 more points in the two seasons combined while the Stars held his rights, and his penalty minutes began to increase. He began to be a source of consternation for fans and his coaches alike as he struggled to regain the form of the start of his rookie campaign. When it came time for Vagner to be signed, talks quickly broke down as would be expected, and Vagner went back into the draft. In 2004 the Carolina Hurricanes took a chance on the former first rounder with their final selection of that draft. At the conclusion of the 2004-05 season the two sides did talk about bringing Vagner to the Hurricanes ECHL affiliate but it did not materialize, and Vagner returned to play in his home Czech league, where it appears he will stay.

Janos Vas, LW – 2nd round, 32nd overall
Status: NHL prospect
NHL Games Played: 0

Vas drew the attention of the Stars while playing in Sweden, and the Hungary native was scooped up early in the second round of the 2002 draft due to decent skill and an aggressive brand of game that appeared possible to be a good fit for the North American game.

The NHL lockout during the 2004-05 season forced Vas out of the Swedish Elite League and onto the Division 1 Halmstad Hammers, and the following season the Stars elected to bring Vas over on a two-way contract. He began the season with the ECHL Idaho Steelheads, but soon found his way to the AHL’s Iowa Stars where he appeared in 35 games and had 11 points in that 2005-06 season. This past season Vas played 72 games for the AHL Stars in the regular season and was ninth in team scoring with 13 goals and 13 assists, along with 42 minutes in penalties.

The versatile winger has one more year left on his contract with the Stars, so there is still a chance he might play in the NHL one day, but at this point he doesn’t appear to be much of an impact player as a North American pro.

Tobias Stephan, G – 2nd round, 34th overall
Status: NHL prospect
NHL Games Played: 0

FULL STORY