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Meet Jack Bar, the prospect the Stars hope will become the next fifth-round steal

Bar — a right-handed defenseman who is currently a freshman at Harvard — was picked at No. 138 by the Stars during the 2021 draft.

BOSTON — In Stars draft history, there’s perhaps no magic like selecting in the fifth round.

Marty Turco and Mike Smith each had a long career in net after Dallas selected them in the fifth round. Jamie Benn and John Klingberg have become franchise cornerstones for the current iteration of the team. Riley Damiani (last year’s AHL Rookie of the Year) and Jacob Peterson (this year’s training camp surprise) seem poised to become part of the future of the Stars.

Jack Bar understands the fifth-round lineage in Dallas but remains focused on his own game.

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“It’s pretty cool to think, but I don’t want to think about it too much,” Bar said during an interview last week at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., where he’s a freshman defenseman. “I just want to go out and try to get better every day and just play my game.”

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Fifth-round picks are far from a guarantee in the NHL. Just look at some recent fifth-rounders selected by Dallas: Nick Porco (2019) wasn’t signed, Colton Point (2016) and Joseph Cecconi (2015) might never make the jump to the NHL, and neither did any of the fifth-rounders from 2011-14.

But, in Dallas, there’s always the inkling of hope that the next fifth-rounder might make it. Bar is one of the lottery tickets.

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The right-handed Bar was picked at No. 138 by the Stars during the 2021 draft.

He was considered a steal for Dallas in the fifth round, since he was ranked as a second- or third-round talent by most draft rankings, including TSN’s Bob McKenzie. NHL Central Scouting had him as the 41st-ranked North American skater in the draft.

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Bar didn’t watch the draft, didn’t want to endlessly wait for his name to be called by some team, at some time. Instead, he, his parents Mark and Sherry, and his two older sisters played cards and board games. They played Spoons and Pictionary and Scattergories until the moment when Bar’s phone lit up.

“I feel like it didn’t really set in for a few days,” Bar said. “I think it actually set in a few days later. I was in bed, just about to go to sleep and my eyes are closed, and I just thought to myself ‘I just got drafted to the NHL, the Dallas Stars. This is insane.’ It is insane.”

Harvard coach Ted Donato said Bar, like many teenagers, is raw “but there’s an incredible amount of upside.”

“I think there’s a lot to be excited about with Jack,” Donato said. “I think he can really shoot a puck. He’s very agile for a big guy, skates well. … He’s definitely has some ability at the offensive blue line. His calling card, I do believe, will be as a really good, all-around defenseman. So we’re excited to see him develop into that.”

Bar profiles as a two-way defenseman in the NHL after serving as an offensive one at his prep school St. Andrew’s and adding some defensive responsibility last year with Chicago in the USHL. Donato said Bar was receiving some reps on Harvard’s second power-play unit.

“I like that I’m not a one-dimensional player,” said Bar, who also played volleyball in high school. “I think that in my own end, I play really hard and I like to be physical. But then I can also move pucks up to my forwards. I can skate throughout the ice, and in the o-zone, I think I have pretty good offensive instincts and mind.”

At 6-2, Bar weighs 195 pounds, and believes there is plenty of room to add size to his frame. (“If I want to play dominant in the corners, then I still need to put mass on.”) Donato estimated that Bar would end up playing around 225 pounds.

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Bar was drafted by the Peterborough Petes of the OHL (the same team his dad played for), but he opted to go the college route instead. His dad understood the importance of education having already gone the major junior route, and his mom is a physical education teacher for first- to third-graders in Ontario.

So going to college was the decision.

At Harvard, students don’t have to declare a major until their second year, but Bar said he was between economics and psychology. Whichever he doesn’t select as his major, he intends to minor in.

Given the importance of education with Bar, does he foresee staying at Harvard and not going pro for a few more years?

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“It all really comes down to how I develop,” Bar said. “If I think that I’m ready to take the next step and the Stars think I’m ready to take the next step in a couple years, then it’ll happen. But it really just depends on if I’m ready, or if I need to stay here for a few years.”

Stars visit Penguins: The Stars close their four-game, season-opening road trip at 6 p.m. Tuesday with a visit to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh has two wins and an overtime loss in its first three games but remains without center Sidney Crosby, who is coming off wrist surgery. Fellow top scorers Evgeni Malkin, who is out long-term, and Bryan Rust also will miss Tuesday night’s game.

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