Jim Nill has shown that he is a general manager who is not afraid to make bold moves. While much of the media seems to hyperfocus on the Stars' goaltending situation, Nill understand that the club has inter-related issues with spotty team defense as well as inconsistent goaltending. For the Stars to take the final step to being a true Stanley Cup contender, both area need improvement so as to not drag down the other when it matters the most.

It will be interesting to see what the team does come July 1. The decision to trade Alex Goligoski's rights to Arizona rather than ponying up a long-term contract extension at unrestricted free agent market price was an indication that the blueline is going to be reshaped this summer. Meanwhile, most rumors center around what the Stars will do in lieu of another year of the Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi tandem, which worked out fine through New Year's and not so great in the second half and playoffs.

Draft weekend itself was fairly quiet. The Stars organization pulled the plug on former first-round pick Jack Campbell, trading the 24-year-old goaltender to the LA Kings organization for 22-year-old AHL defenseman Nick Ebert. Ebert figures to spend next season in Cedar Park wit the Texas Stars.

During the draft, the Stars selected Minnesota (Blaine) high school player Riley Tufte with the 25th overall pick of the first round. It's a high-risk, high-reward pick, as the usually the case with U.S. high school players chosen in the first round. Tufte is a forward with outstanding tools -- size, speed, puck skills -- but who will require a protracted development cycle at the collegiate level to potentially be NHL-ready.

The Stars have not gotten much NHL return in the 2010s with their first-round picks but that outlook could change soon.

Dallas is waiting for 2013 first-rounder Valeri Nichushkin to build on his promising rookie season of 2013-14. Jamie Oleksiak is still struggling to get his NHL footing. Radek Faksa, selected in the first round in 2012, finally cracked the Dallas NHL roster this past season and had some good games. Promising offensive-minded defenseman Julius Honka, selected in 2014, is knocking on the NHL door. Russian forward Denis Guryanov, selected in the first round in 2015, is being brought along gradually by KHL team Lada Togliotti (Tolyatti). Campbell is now an LA reclamation project and Scott Glennie was a bust.

The Stars had six picks in the seven-round 2016 Draft. They used to picks to add size to the prospect chain, one selection at a time.

After selecting Tufte, the Stars did not have another pick until the third round (90th overall). They used the 90th pick to select Swedish forward Fredrik Karlström, a 6-foot-2 center who is growing into his frame and working his way up from AIK Stockholm's J20 SuperElit squad to push for a spot on their senior team in Allsvenskan. He played two games for the senior team this season season and had a strong second half and postseason for the J20 team.

In the fourth round, 116th overall, the Stars added 6-foot-2, 200-pound two-way forward Rhett Gardner, who posted 11 goals and 18 points for the Frozen Four champion University of North Dakota in his freshman season. An older prospect at 20 years old, Gardner can either center or play left wing.

In the fifth round, 128th overall, Dallas selected Colgate University commit Colton Point, a big-framed goaltender (6-foot-3, 219 points) who played in the CCHL for Carleton Place this past season. Central Scouting ranked him as the number four goaltender on its final North American draft list. McKeen's ranked him 92nd overall.

With their latter fifth-round pick, the Stars chose 6-foot-1, 185 pound right winger Nicholas Caamano, a bright spot on the troubled Flint Firebirds (Ontario Hockey League) team this season. In his first OHL campaign, Caamano produced a 20-goal season. Born Sept. 7, 1998, he was one of the youngest players in this year's draft class. While he was unranked by ISS, TSN (Bob McKenzie), Craig Button and The Hockey News, McKeen's ranked him 67th.

The Stars used their final selection, the 176th overall (sixth round), to take Modo J20 defenseman Jakob Stenqvist. The rail-thin (6-foot-1, 168-pound) 18-year-old progressed from Modo's J18 to J20 team over the course of the 2015-16 season. He is said to be a good puck-mover with some two-way upside as he adds much-needed strength.

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