DALLAS -- Jim Nill won the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award each of the past two seasons, and you could argue he should win it again.
NHL GMs vote for the award after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Dallas Stars have made the Western Conference Final for the third year in a row and feel they’re better than they were a year ago, when they lost to the Edmonton Oilers in six games.
They’ve added superstar forward Mikko Rantanen, who leads the playoffs with 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in 13 games, and get a rematch with the Oilers, starting in Game 1 at American Airlines Center on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“I think Jim’s a tremendous general manager,” Oilers GM Stan Bowman said Tuesday. “You know, I’ve known him for a long time, back to when he was in Detroit with my dad.”
Nill was part of the Detroit Red Wings front office from 1994-2013, winning the Stanley Cup in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008, before becoming the Stars GM in 2013. Bowman’s father, Scotty, was the Red Wings coach from 1993-2002 and in their front office from 2002-08.
“You knew that one day [Nill] would get his chance, and he was very patient waiting to become a general manager, and now you see the job he’s done here,” Bowman said. “It’s been remarkable, the team that has built, and he keeps adding new pieces to it, so hats off to him for that. Dallas has been a strong team for a number of years, and I’m not surprised to see them here again.”
Nill took the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020. After back-to-back conference final appearances in 2023 and 2024, he had to read and react to adversity and opportunities this season. He’ll be the first to say he got lucky too.
Dallas made offseason changes. Out went goalie Scott Wedgewood, defensemen Ryan Suter and Chris Tanev, and forwards Ty Dellandrea, Radek Faksa, and Joe Pavelski. In came goalie Casey DeSmith, defensemen Mathew Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and Brendan Smith, and forward Colin Blackwell.
The Stars came to training camp knowing it would be months before they could get back to what mattered most: the playoffs.
“Nobody cares what you did the previous year, so you start all over again,” Nill said.
The schedule was a grind, with a trip to Finland in November for the NHL Global Series. Forward Tyler Seguin went down with a hip injury in early December, and defenseman Miro Heiskanen went down with a knee injury in late January.
Looking back now, those injuries were blessings in disguise.
“Because of those situations, we had to make some trades,” Nill said. “We were leaking oil. You lose Miro. We lose ‘Seggy.’ Now we’re looking to add something to our team. I need to add something to support the players.”
The Stars acquired forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 1. Meanwhile, defenseman Thomas Harley took on a greater role, got to play for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off and raised his level of play.
Granlund has seven points (four goals, three assists) in 13 playoff games, fifth on the Stars. Ceci is averaging 21:56 of ice time in 13 games, third on the Stars, and has been a key part of an excellent penalty-killing unit. Harley leads Dallas with 26:37 of average ice time and has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 13 games, second on the Stars.
“Thomas Harley probably isn’t who he is right now if Miro doesn’t get hurt,” Nill said. “Now, at the time, Miro getting hurt was a disaster. But what good can come out of that? Boom. Thomas Harley got better.”
Rantanen was an unexpected opportunity, and Dallas took advantage of it. He was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. The Colorado Avalanche traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24, and after the Hurricanes couldn’t sign him, they made him available. The Stars acquired him on March 7 and signed him to an eight-year, $96 million contract.
“If you had told me back in October Mikko Rantanen would be available for trade and you’d have a chance to get him, I’d say, ‘What are you smoking? What are you doing? What are you on here?’” Nill said. “Well, because of circumstances, he gets traded out East. I figure, ‘Well, he’s out East.’ Boom. Now you start to hear rumblings towards the deadline that they can’t sign him, and you get a phone call a week before the deadline. ‘Hey, we’re looking at different options.’ And it worked out.”
That’s an understatement.
Meanwhile, Seguin returned for the regular-season finale, and Heiskanen returned for Game 4 of the second round against the Winnipeg Jets. Heiskanen looked like himself again in a 2-1 overtime win in Game 6 on Saturday, with an assist in 23:40 of ice time. While others are tiring at this point in the playoffs, one of the Stars’ best players is fresh.
“We’ve got more depth than we’ve had,” Nill said. “There’s a little bit of luck involved. We were injured all year. Now we’re healthy, so we’re better.”
Bowman said the Stars can beat you a few different ways.
“I think there’s not just one way that they succeed,” Bowman said. “At this time of year, you have to have some versatility if you want to be able to win. Each round’s a little bit different. You try to build off the previous round, but each opponent plays a different way, so I think you have to be able to adapt your game. I think Dallas has shown that, and it’s going to be a challenge.”
Nill said you never take making the conference final for granted, especially three years in a row. After losing to the Oilers last year and the Vegas Golden Knights in six games the year before that, the Stars have gone through growing pains.
“We’ve got a hardened group,” Nill said. “We’ve got a very resilient group, and they want more of this. They’ve learned from it each time they’ve gone, and let’s see if this is one of the last steps.”
