You would never know it now, but before John Klingberg, Stars fans had an optimistic outlook of their blueline. Jamie Oleksiak and Patrik Nemeth were part of a Calder Cup winning Texas Stars squad, and fans said that the kids were...not bad.
Fast forward to 2017 and both were afterthoughts; fodder for the expansion draft. Expendable assets, as an 80's action star might say. More than that they were symbols of Jim Nill's awkward attempt at rolling with eight defensemen - a move considered by many to be a mistake, creating discontent among the young blueliners at best, stunting their development at worst.