2 weeks Ago
DALLAS — Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill has not shaved his trademark mustache in decades. Would he shave it if it meant the Stars win the Stanley Cup this year? "In an instant, yes,” Nill smiled. “You might not recognize me, but that's not a bad thing either, maybe.
” Nill’s humility is as consistent as his results. The back-to-back winner of NHL GM of the Year — with a strong case for a third honor this season — has built an annual Cup contender with a vision rooted in balance: competitiveness in the present without sacrificing the future . “I want this team to be good right now.
.. but I also want it to be good three, four, five years down the road,” Nill explained.
“That’s the balancing act. That’s the tough part.” Before he was hired as Stars GM in 2013, Nill spent 23 years with the Detroit Red Wings front office — a stretch in which the Wings won four Stanley Cups.
“It is one of the hardest trophies to win,” said the 67-year-old ex-NHL player. “You’ve got to stay healthy..
. It's a war of attrition. It is a battle.
” Why is he confident this year's Stars team could do it? “We've been building for this for a while," Nill replied. "You have to go through the wars. You gotta go through the battles, the good times, the bad times.
" Adversity struck the Stars before the playoffs began. Leading goal scorer Jason Robertson is week-to-week with a lower body injury that will cause him to miss most, if not all, of the Stars' first round series versus Colorado. "We got good depth," Nill said.
"So, when we do get injuries, I think we can overcome them. I hope we do." The Stars' depth is a credit to Nill, who made a big slash this season when he traded for star forward Mikko Rantanen and signed him to a contract extension.
"In a [salary] cap world, you have to have a plan," Nill noted. "That's something our staff talks about all the time..
. I think it's just important to be organized, have that vision, stick with it, but be willing to sway from it." Would he ever trade a 25-year-old Jason Robertson for a 32-year-old Mark Stone? Nill pleaded the fifth on that one.
But when asked if he could ever imagine the Stars' home crowd chanting "Fire Jim" — the way some Dallas Mavericks fans have for GM Nico Harrison — his response was quintessential Nill. “It may come someday, you never know," Nill chuckled. "That’s the business.
.. I understand the world that’s out there.
.. But if you go around worried what people are gonna think all the time, then I’m in the wrong position.
” Nill's track record speaks for itself. He's earned the benefit of the doubt, thanks to a dozen years of savvy moves that have set up the Stars for short-term and long-term success. The Stanley Cup Playoffs have begun, and the Dallas Stars have as good a shot as any to win it all, thanks to the man with the decades-old mustache.
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