Why Stars' Jim Nill won best GM two years in a row

Be the general manager of an NHL team long enough and you will have overseen a few different versions of the on-ice product.

Jim Nill, who joined Lou Lamoriello as the only back-to-back winners of the Jim Gregory Award for best GM on Monday, has been at the helm of the Dallas Stars since April of 2013 and been through the ups and downs. Only one player, Jamie Benn, remains from the roster Nill inherited from former GM Joe Nieuwendyk, and there was a period early on when the team had to consider a rebuild.

Nill, with a background in scouting with the Ottawa Senators and as director of player development with the Detroit Red Wings under Ken Holland where he won four Stanley Cups, successfully navigated a re-tool of the team that did not require a scorched earth rebuild -- it did, however, require a little luck along the way.

Under Nill, the Stars have made it to back-to-back Western Conference Finals and reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2020. This past season they won their first division crown since 2016 and are still looking like a team on the rise.

So, with Nill winning the GM of the Year for the second time, we wanted to take a look at what earned him that award, and how he built the Stars into what they are today.

THE START OF THE TURNAROUND VIA THE DRAFT

The Stars made it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in two of Nill's first three years as GM, then suffered a 30-point drop in the standings in 2016-17. The team was at something of a crossroads, with certain veterans such as Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and Ales Hemsky beginning to decline. At the same time, Nill's first couple of drafts at Dallas' table had not produced much promise yet -- first-rounders Denis Gurianov (2015) and Julius Honka (2014) never did break out, while Valeri Nichushkin (2013) only hit his stride after moving to Colorado (famously, Nichushkin scored zero goals in his last season with the Stars).

The only draft pick that really did hit in those early days was Roope Hintz, the 49th-overall pick in 2015 who first broke in with the team in 2018 and today is perhaps one of the most underrated players in the league.

In a piece from Mark Lazerus at The Athletic from May during Dallas' 2024 playoff run, it was highlighted that the Stars had to consider doing a tortured rebuild after the 2016-17 season, but ultimately it wasn't a realistic option for the southern market. Rather than planning on a few years of pain, Nill had to tinker on the go. He kept Benn and Tyler Seguin (his first big trade pick-up in 2013), and from there the first big pivot point for Dallas was the 2017 draft.

Nill hit a few home runs there, starting at the lottery which blew up the most likely order atop the draft. The New Jersey Devils, who had the fifth-best odds, won the lottery to pick first. Philadelphia, which had a 2.4-per-cent chance to pick second, moved up 11 places and into that draft slot. And Dallas, which finished 24th overall that season, moved into the third draft slot with a 6.4-per-cent chance.

Nico Hischier went first overall to the Devils, while projected top pick Nolan Patrick went second to Philadelphia, which left Dallas to nab Miro Heiskanen third overall. It was a game-changing pick for the franchise that locked in a No. 1 defenceman for the foreseeable future. Had the Stars remained holders of the seventh-overall pick after the lottery, they would have been in the range to take someone like Lias Andersson, Casey Mittelstadt, Michael Rasmussen or Owen Tippett instead.

So that was a big moment, but not the only one for the Stars in 2017. At the 2017 trade deadline, Nill moved veteran Patrick Eaves to Anaheim for a conditional second-round pick. The condition on the pick was this: if Eaves played at least half of Anaheim's playoff games in the first two rounds, it would convert to a first-rounder. Eaves played seven of those 11 games.

Dallas ended up with the 26th overall pick from Anaheim and used it to select Jake Oettinger, who was the first goalie off the board. Thirteen picks after that, with their own second-rounder, the Stars nabbed Jason Robertson at 39th overall.

In one fell swoop Dallas got a No. 1 defenceman, No. 1 goalie and a 40-plus goal scorer for the future roster. It was an important pivot point for the organization and put the Stars on a road back to success.

"We started to see a shift in the game and we started to focus a little bit more on the skill side," Nill told The Athletic. "Our scouts really started to hone in on what our needs were and started finding that extra value. They're digging and they're finding the right players that we need."

In 2019, Dallas used its first-rounder (18th overall) on Thomas Harley, a defenceman who broke out in a big way for the team this season as an electric playmaker who averaged over 23 minutes a night in this spring's playoff run. In 2020, when they got back to the Stanley Cup Final, they drafted Mavrik Bourque 30th overall and he just finished as the AHL's leading scorer this past season.

But their next big draft was...

THE 2021 DRAFT

After reaching the 2020 Cup Final largely on defensive play, the Stars stepped back a little again in the 56-game 2020-21 season and missed the playoffs, just outside of the temporary Central Division's top four.

Rather than picking high, or even in the middle of the round, Nill traded back to get the player he wanted. Dallas moved its 15th-overall pick to Detroit for picks 23, 48 and 138. The Red Wings selected Sebastian Cossa, whom they planned to be their future No. 1 netminder, while the Stars got Wyatt Johnston 23rd.

After the season he just had, every hockey fan is aware of who Johnston is now, a 32-goal, 65-point, 21-year-old centre who looks to be a core piece of the team. With one year left on his entry-level contract, Johnston will be eligible to sign an extension in July and the Stars must be weighing the cost certainty of locking him in long-term ASAP.

At 47th overall in that 2021 draft, Dallas picked Logan Stankoven, who was leading the AHL in scoring before his mid-season call-up, but showed so well the team couldn't send him back down. Stankoven scored 14 points in 24 games this season and could be Dallas' next big breakout candidate. Artem Grushnikov, picked by the Stars with the 48th overall-selection acquired in that trade with Detroit, was one of the pieces sent to Calgary this season in the Chris Tanev trade.

KEY SIGNINGS

Joe Pavelski: Initially signed as a free agent in 2019 out of San Jose, Pavelski was a smashing success on and off the ice for the Stars. On the ice he remained a productive player into his late-30s, scoring 107 goals over the last four seasons. Pavelski's first deal with Dallas came with a $7-million cap hit, but that was reduced to $5.5 million and $3.5 million the last two years when he signed one-year extensions. Off the ice, Pavelski was integral in making the young up-and-comers feel comfortable and welcome. It appears to be the end for the player now, though, after he solidified his place in the Hall of Fame in those last few years with the Stars.

Ryan Suter: The Minnesota Wild are still paying dearly for buying out both Suter and Zach Parise in 2021, but the Stars swooped in and signed the big-minute defenceman for four years and a $3.65-million cap hit. Now 39, Suter has taken more of a back seat to the emerging talents on the blue line (Heiskanen, Harley, Esa Lindell) but he helped them bridge the past few years and was still a reliable player to start in the defensive zone.

Matt Duchene: Nill took advantage of the misfit market again last summer when he signed Duchene to a one-year contract and a cheap $3-million cap hit after the Nashville Predators bought out the final three years of his contract. Duchene scored 25 goals and 65 points for the Stars and now there's talk of extending him if the right number can be found.

WHY DID HE WIN IT THIS SEASON?

In 2023 Nill won the award after Dallas improved from an eighth seed in the West and a first-round exit to fourth in the West and a run in the playoffs to the third round. He dismissed Rick Bowness and hired Peter DeBoer as head coach after DeBoer failed to reach the playoffs in his last season with Vegas. Nill won last year's GM of The Year Award because of his decision on the head coach, but also because he had completely built such an emerging team.

He's won it again in 2024 because, somehow, more keeps coming from Nill's build. Johnston's breakout is a game-changer, and the signing of Duchene allowed the team to shelter the 21-year-old a bit since it gave them such a presence down the middle between those two and Hintz. Harley took a massive step in his first full NHL season. And, to put the cherry on top, Nill didn't have to overpay to land Chris Tanev, the best defensive defenceman available on this season's trade market.

So much goes into how we measure the work of a GM that it simply cannot be a one-year award. If drafted players keep emerging, signings keep over delivering and the team improves, you should be a candidate for the award. Getting "good goaltending" for a year does not make a GM of the Year.

And that's what Nill has done with these Stars, who are regarded as one of the deepest teams in the league. With plenty of young players still coming, Nill built this contender on the fly. The fact it's been sustainable has secured his place as one of the best GMs in the NHL today.