Dallas Stars to pick eighth in the NHL draft

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — Nothing changed with Tuesday night's NHL draft lottery. The New York Islanders, who had the greatest chance of winning it, did and everybody else's draft order stayed the same. That means the Stars will hold the eighth overall pick in this summer's draft.

"We're going to have a very good draft pick this year," Stars co-GM Brett Hull said Monday as the team held season-ending meetings with players. "I think you see a lot of teams that are having success now and it's because of the picks they've had in the past."

This will be the Stars' first top ten pick since 1996, when the team used the 5th overall pick to take defenseman Richard Jackman. That wasn't a particularly strong draft year, but this one is considered deep.

The 2009 NHL Entry Draft will be held June 26-27 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The first round will take place on the evening of June 26 and rounds two through seven will take place on Saturday, June 27.

The order for the first round will look like this:

1. NY Islanders

2. Tampa Bay

3. Colorado

4. Atlanta

5. Los Angeles

6. Phoenix

7. Toronto

8. Dallas

9. Ottawa

10. Edmonton

11. Nashville