Stars GM Jim Nill gives assessment of first half of season

Jim Nill is in his ninth season as Stars general manager. In that span, his teams have a .573 points percentage and have made the playoffs four times. Dallas is currently 23-18-2 and is just outside the cut line to make the playoffs in the Western Conference with 39 games remaining in the regular season.
During the All-Star break, Nill answered some questions from DallasStars.com senior staff writer Mike Heika.

Heika: How do you assess the first half of the season?
Nill: I think the word we all use is inconsistent. There have been some great things and then we've done some things that have been out of character for us. And the most frustrating thing is its inconsistency within games and within stretches of games. We just really haven't been able to be the same team for long stretches, so now we have to find who we are and stick with it. Then, you have to do that over a segment of games.
Heika: Is there anything you see that you can put a finger on?
Nill: We'll get a couple or three of the lines going and we can beat anybody, and then it's a point where one line is going and then we've struggled. We've been fortunate that it hasn't happened as much at home this season, but it has seeped in a little lately. But you can look at our road record and the fact that we're so inconsistent and we've had trouble scoring beyond the top line, that's the reason we were struggling earlier in the season. Hopefully, we got out of that on the last road trip, but when we get back on the road, we have to get points.
Heika: What's the key going forward? It seems like you have players who have the potential to score more points and just perform better overall.
Nill:We're starting to see some of the players who were struggling earlier and now they're starting to come out of it a little. Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov, that was probably because of the long-term injuries and now they're getting back to where they're feeling better. But if you go through our lineup, we've got a lot of guys who are under their previous performances. They don't need to be having career years, but just get back to where you're supposed to be. Everybody's got that, it's something every team deals with, but we just have to have improvement from several players in that department.
Heika: If you look at players like Seguin, Radulov, Jamie Benn, John Klingberg and Radek Faksa, they're all behind their normal scoring pace. How do you get them back to that pace?
Nill: Well, that's the big question. That's the competition in the league, and it changes every game, so it's a matter of players finding their time and place to add a key goal or make a big play. How do we get out of it as an individual, how do we get out of it as a team? I think one thing we've talked a lot about is when we're playing well, we can play with anyone, and that shows you what the potential can be.
Heika: Is that encouraging? It really seems like if you get into the playoffs, your team could be very competitive.
Nill: We know we're a tough team. We're evaluating ourselves and we're evaluating other teams, and I believe we're not a team you want to play against when we do play our game. That's how we've found success in the past, and we believe it's the same thing this year. We just have to go out and do it.
Heika: How do you feel about the goaltending now that Ben Bishop has stepped away?
Nill: Well, individually, I think Jake Oettinger has done a very good job. He's been solid and he's learning, and we know he's going to have ups and downs at his age, but I think he's done a great job for a second-year pro. Braden Holtby has had some injuries, but I think he's done a great job adjusting to us. He's had the same inconsistencies as the team, game to game and even within a game, so he knows there's more for him out there. Then, I think Anton Khudobin has done a good job dealing with everything. He's handled things well, and we might still need him because an injury could happen at any time. We're 20th in goals against (3.02) right now, and we've usually been better than that, both individually and as a team, so it's another area we have to improve on. That comes with being a consistent team.
Heika: How do you look at the schedule and the time remaining before the March 21 trade deadline?
Nill: It's so different this year because it's so much later. We have a lot of games to play before we get to the trade deadline, so a lot can happen there with injuries and how teams are playing. With the schedule we have, we're going to be playing a lot, so we'll know a lot more in six or seven weeks. You look at last season and while we had a condensed schedule, the road trips were a lot easier. We only traveled to a few cities, and we would stay there for two games. This year, we're all over the continent and we still have a condensed schedule, and it's going to be a grind for everyone. The teams that handle that grind will be the ones that succeed.
Heika: You have several potential UFAs this summer in Klingberg, Holtby, Radulov and Joe Pavelski. Do you have any discussions with them during the season or do you wait until the offseason?
Nill:We'll monitor all those situations. We still have a long way to go. Let's see where we are in six weeks. That's going to tell a lot about our team and that'll tell us what we want to do with each of the players.
Heika: How's your relationship with Klingberg? He seemed frustrated earlier.
Nill:Everything is good. We keep in touch, and we talk to the agent. I'm not going to negotiate in the media, so we'll keep all that quiet. But we communicate, and I think the message has always been that if he keeps playing well, good things will happen. It'll either be with us or some other avenue, but that's the best strategy for everyone. I understand where they're at, they understand where we're at, and now we just need to work through everything. Pavelski is in that position, Radulov is in that position, it's the same for all of them. If you play good hockey and the team has success, you'll have the best options.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.