The Dallas Stars, parent club of the AHL’s Iowa Stars, announced on Wednesday that the club signed center Jussi Jokinen to a two-year contract; left wing Loui Eriksson, goaltender Tobias Stephan and defenseman Niklas Grossman to three-year deals; and defenseman Dan Jancevski to a one-year contract.
Per club policy, no financial terms were disclosed.
“We are now starting to see the benefits from the extra draft picks we acquired over the past three seasons,” said Stars general manager Doug Armstrong. “Our organization believes these prospects will make strong contributions to the overall depth of our hockey club starting in the 2005-06 season.”
Jancevski, 24, appeared in 80 games with the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs last season, collecting six goals and 20 assists for 26 points with 163 penalty minutes. He was one of two players to play in all 80 games with Hamilton and ranked third on the team in penalty minutes. In 310 career AHL outings, he has tallied 12 goals and 60 assists for 72 points with 645 penalty minutes.
The 6-foot-3, 212-pound defenseman was the Stars’ second-round pick (66th overall) in the 1999 Entry Draft. He was selected to play in the 2004 AHL All-Star Classic in Grand Rapids, and enters the 2005-06 season having played 212 consecutive AHL games since Dec. 14, 2002, the longest active streak in the league.
Jokinen, 22, spent the 2004-05 season with Karpat Oulu of the Finnish Elite League and posted 23 goals and 24 assists for 47 points with 24 penalty minutes in 56 games. He led the team in goals and points, and ranked second in assists for the regular season and playoff champions. Among league leaders, he ranked tied for fifth in assists, tied for sixth in points and eighth in goals.
Jokinen appeared in seven games with Finland at the 2005 World Championships in Austria, posting one assist. Jokinen was drafted by Dallas in the sixth round in 2001.
Eriksson, 20, appeared in 39 games with Frolunda in the Swedish Elite League, tallying five goals and nine assists for 14 points. He also played in 12 playoff games as Frolunda captured the Swedish Elite League championship. The 6-foot-1, 183-pound left wing played in six games for Sweden at the 2005 World Junior Championships, posting two goals and three assists for five points.
Dallas’s second-round pick (33rd overall) in the 2003 Entry Draft, Eriksson also played for Sweden at the 2004 World Junior Championships as well as the U-18 Worlds in 2003, where he led the club in scoring with seven points (5-2-7) in six games.
Stephan, 21, has played the past three seasons with the Kloten Flyers of the Swiss National League. In 2004-05, he posted a 19-20-5 mark with a 2.82 goals-against average and four shutouts. During the 2001 U-18 World Championships, Stephan captured the Best Goaltender award as he represented Switzerland.
Dallas’s second-round pick (34th overall) in the 2002 Entry Draft, Stephan also played for Switzerland at the 2002 U-18 Worlds and the 2002 and 2003 World Junior Championships.
Grossman, 20, appeared in 31 games for Sodertalje of the Swedish Elite League in 2004-05, registering two assists and 14 penalty minutes. Dallas’s second-round pick (56th overall) in the 2004 Entry Draft, Grossman served as the captain for Sweden at the 2005 World Junior Championships.
