In the first presentation of the first day of 2017 Prospect Development Camp, Dallas Stars player development coordinator J.J. McQueen took a moment to recognize Niklas Hansson, who’s about to make the transition from the Swedish Hockey League to the AHL.
Then he invited up everyone who helped the 23-year-old defenseman reach that plateau – from trainers and coaches to the hockey-operations staffers who arranged his travel to Texas. Scott Burnside described the scene this way:
Soon, it's so crowded at the front of the meeting area it's hard to see Hansson at all.