[SuperMatt18]

At the end of season press conference today there was mention made of the Dallas model. So then I became a bit curious as to what the true "Dallas Model" was, and how the Stars built their roster.

Draft:
Benn (2007 129), Hintz (2015 49), Roberston (2017 39), Faksa (2012 13), Johnston (2023 23), Stankoven (2023 47), Heiskanen (2017 3), Lindell (2012 74), Harley (2019 18), Oettinger (2017 26)

Trade:
Seguin, Dadonov, Tanev, Lundkvist, Wedgewood

Signed:
Marchment, Pavelski, Duchene, Smith, Suter, Hakanpaa,

When looking at that roster some potential comparables do start to stand out a bit:

Benn = Backlund
Seguin = Huberdeau
Pavelski = Kadri
Lundell = Andersson
Oettinger = Wolf

But I think the issue is the hardest pieces to acquire aren't in the Flames organization yet. Let's take a look at the Flames roster if we look towards the 2025-2016 season and who is under contract / RFA.

Huberdeau - ??? - ???
Zary - Kadri - Pospisil
Coleman - Backlund - Coronato
Pelletier - ??? - ???

Honzek, Klapka, Lipinski, Stromgren, Suniev as potential NHLers.

???? - Andersson
Miromanov - Weegar
Kylington - Brzustewicz

Pachal, Poirier, Morin, Grushnikov, Kuznetsov as potential NHLers.

Wolf
???

When I look at the depth chart and then look at the "Dallas Model" what I think stands out is:

I don't see a young dman in the organization that resembles Heiskanen. It's possible that Brzustewicz could become a Harley type and they do have Weegar, Andersson, and Kylington which probably fill more the Lindell, Suter type roles for this team longer term. So they have the depth but are lacking the top end piece that Heiskanen represents.

Forwards are the biggest hole because I'm not sure I see a Hintz, Robertson or a Johnston in the organization. We lack the top end talent that is going to be required to have a quick retool. Centers are a desperate need and I see them trying to trade for a young center this offseason (I wonder about Kotkaniemi if Carolina wants to clear cap). The Zary, Pospisil, Pelletier, Coronato, Honzek group could provide strong NHL depth but lacks top line talent.

At goalie Wolf remains a top 3 prospect at the position, but think they likely will use a top 90 pick on another young goalie either this year or next year.

Of course you will have all the picks and assets the organization has yet to make to add to this group. Plus potential assets for Markstrom, Mangiapane, Kuzmenko, Sharanovich (if they don't re-sign him), Andersson (if they decide to move him), etc. So they have the opportunity to fill those gaps. The key with any rebuild, retool, or whatever you want to call it is that you have to draft well, and you have to draft well in more than just the first round.

But remember even for Dallas their big draft where they got Heiskanen, Oettinger, and Robertson was in 2017, which is already 7 seasons ago.

So even if they have an amazing draft this year...it's not a 2 season turnaround, it's still probably a 4-5+ season turn around. There is no such thing as a quick fix in the NHL IMO.