Hungry to Win

Sometimes in the National Hockey League you end up getting what you need even if you started out looking for something else.
And so it is that the Dallas Stars began the free agency period Saturday looking for some help along the wings and ended up with a man many consider one of the best two-way centers in the game.
Free agency is funny that way.
"I'm really, really, really happy right now," said Martin Hanzal from his home in Ceske Budejovice, about two hours south of Prague, not long after he signed a three-year deal with the Stars worth an average of $4.75 million per year.
Up until last March, the former 17th overall pick in the 2005 draft had played his entire career with the team that drafted him, the Arizona Coyotes.
Now Hanzal is becoming the master of moving as he chose the Stars over a couple of other teams that had enquired about his services once the market opened Saturday afternoon.
"I believe this is a winning team," the 30-year-old said.

At the trade deadline last March the Minnesota Wild acquired Hanzal for a first, a second and a conditional fourth-round pick (Minnesota also obtained a fourth-round pick and Ryan White from Arizona).
The belief was that Hanzal would add the kind of center depth that could carry the Wild on a long playoff run. And after a slow start in Minnesota Hanzal ended up with 13 points in 20 regular season games with the Wild. But the playoffs ended really before they began with the Wild bowing out to St. Louis in five games in the first round.
Hanzal had one goal in the series and admitted during Saturday's conference call that it was a different experience, not playing as much as he had in Arizona and not being on the power play, not to mention having to join a new team for the first time with a little more than a month to go in the regular season.
But after talking to Dallas head coach Ken Hitchcock, Hanzal is optimistic about what awaits him in Dallas.
Hitchcock talked to him about playing "heavy" minutes "just like I did in Arizona," Hanzal said.
He's expecting to play some power play time, where his 6-foot-6 frame will be expected to provide an imposing net-front presence. He'll also be expected to match up most nights against opposing teams' top offensive units.
This challenge as a premier shutdown center is a challenge that appeals very much to Hanzal.
"It's a great challenge I like to accept," he said.
One NHL coach familiar with Hanzal's game said he likes the fit especially as a third line matchup guy.
"Good on faceoffs," the coach added.
Since the start of the 2011 season, Hanzal has won 54.1% of the 5,852 faceoffs he's taken making him one of the most reliable centers in the league over that time.
Hanzal's longtime coach in Arizona, Dave Tippett, thinks Hanzal will thrive in Dallas.
"I think he will be a good fit," the former Dallas head coach said Saturday.
"Likes to have a defined role and likes detail," Tippett added. "I think it will be a good match with Hitch. Very solid two-way center."
Former NHLer Tyson Nash has watched a lot of Hanzal in recent years as a broadcast analyst with the Coyotes. He echoed the sentiments that Hanzal's size and skill set should be a boon to the Stars.
"He can play any situation," Nash said. "He's very versatile."
When a coach looks down the bench and sees Hanzal, "it puts a smile on your face because you know you're always going to be safe with Martin Hanzal on the ice," Nash said.
The downside of a player who plays such a physical, demanding game has been durability.
"The downfall of Martin Hanzal is his ability to stay healthy," Nash said.
The 71 games Hanzal played between Arizona and Minnesota last year were the most he's played since 2009-10.
Because he plays such important minutes when he's been out of the lineup the Coyotes really felt his absence, Nash said.
"It was a big issue with him," he said. "He just couldn't stay healthy."
The good thing for Hanzal is that given the Stars' depth, especially down the middle, he doesn't have to be anything he's not.
At the outset of free agency the team's depth at center had GM Jim Nill looking for veteran help along the wings. But things didn't turn out that way.
Justin Williams ended up in Carolina on a two-year deal worth $9 million.
Former Star Patrick Sharp went home to Chicago on a steep hometown discount, which will see him paid $1 million by the Blackhawks.
Alexander Radulov was reportedly in the mix as well and may yet be.
But when it became clear Hanzal was interested in playing in Dallas, Nill felt the opportunity was too good to pass up especially with a manageable $4.75 million cap hit and acceptable three-year term.
"He can play any type of game you want to play," Nill said Saturday.
The Stars now match up against anyone in the league with their depth down the middle, Nill said.
And with Hanzal joining incumbents Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza and Radek Faksa, whom Hanzal played with at the World Cup of Hockey, along with young pivots Devin Shore and Mattias Janmark also in the mix, it gives Hitchcock all kinds of options even if it means at some point moving one of the team's abundance of centers to the wing.
In the coming days perhaps Nill will add some help along the wings. But if not he's happy with where his roster sits. Meanwhile, Hanzal, the father of two children, a boy and a girl aged 5 ½ and 2 ½, will make plans to check out houses and schools and plan for a new start in a new city with a new team.
It can't come soon enough for him. Or for the Stars for that matter.
"I'm just really hungry to win," he said.
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. You can follow Scott on Twitter @OvertimeScottB.