The Stars' chances of "winning" the draft lottery are worse than they were last season, but they weren't that great in 2017 and the payoff was huge.
Dallas had a 5.8 percent chance of moving from eighth to the first pick overall last season, but the lottery balls lined up to push them to third overall and they were able to take Miro Heiskanen in the draft. Heiskanen could quickly become the best defenseman in the system.
"History shows it makes a very big difference to be able to move up into the top three," said Stars general manager Jim Nill.