Scott Wheeler’s latest rankings snub Emil Hemming and the entire Dallas system, fueling fears that a shallow talent pool threatens the franchise's long-term championship window.
On Tuesday, the Athletic's Scott Wheeler released his latest prospect rankings and the list leaned heavily toward players who are still chasing their first NHL game action.
Toronto's Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick in this year's draft, sits atop the list, trailing him is San Jose's Ivar Stenberg, who came off the board one selection later. Interestingly, draft position didn't dictate everything here.
Seattle's Chase Reid dropped to seventh overall on draft night, a slide that surprised plenty of evaluators, yet Wheeler still views him as the fifth-best prospect in hockey, trailing only McKenna and Stenberg among 2026 draftees. Philadelphia's Porter Martone and San Jose's Michael Misa, both products of last year's class, round out the top four at third and fourth respectively.
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That shutout tracks with a bigger warning sign Wheeler raised earlier this year, when he ranked Dallas's entire farm system 31st out of 32 teams, second-worst in the league, with Hemming essentially standing alone as the one asset worth genuine excitement.
Compare that to Detroit, which had six prospects make Wheeler's list, and the disparity in organizational depth becomes hard to ignore. For now, general manager Jim Nill can lean on an established, still-young core, names like Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley, to keep the Stars competitive.
But rankings like this one raise a fair question about what the roster looks like once that core starts to age, and whether Dallas has done enough behind the scenes to be ready for it.
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