The architect: How Jim Nill has cultivated a new era of Stars hockey

There’s nothing like the beginning of a new hockey season. The blank canvas. The seemingly limitless potential. The magnitude of the journey ahead. Every team sitting at 0-0-0 and being theoretically as close to winning the Stanley Cup as the next. It’s a tremendous feeling.

But while the focus is largely on what’s ahead, it also offers one last chance for teams to reflect on the previous season before putting it to rest for good. How did it end? Was the offseason beneficial? Are you better here in October than you were back in June? What is the next rung on the ladder?

Immersed in the thick of these questions is Stars General Manager Jim Nill. And while it may seem like a chaotic task, the GM feels much more comfortable this time around than he did 11 years ago.

“It was a complete blur,” Nill said with a hearty laugh.

On April 27, 2013, the Stars wrapped up a lockout-shortened season with a 3-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. They were on the outside looking in at the playoffs for the fifth straight year, and the need for change was overdue. As the game ended, reports surfaced that the Stars were moving on from GM Joe Nieuwendyk and replacing him with Nill.

“You’re coming into a situation here where I knew some of the people, but didn’t know a lot,” Nill said. “But you’re coming in, something is wrong, and you’re being brought in to fix it. It’s a blur business-wise and because my wife and I are moving down while our kids stayed up in Michigan. It’s the whole package. But in the end, I found out there were some great people here in Dallas. I didn’t have to make as many changes as I thought and it turned out well.”

So well that Nill, now 66, is embarking on his 12^th season in Dallas. He’s the third-longest tenured GM in the NHL and the longest in franchise history. To say it’s been an eventful stretch would be putting it lightly, but there have been plenty of valuable lessons.

“I think the biggest thing is just having patience,” Nill said. “I say that I have a lot of patience but I also like to get things done quick and check the boxes. But I’ve learned that it doesn’t work that way in this business. The other thing is being flexible. I consider myself very organized and I’ve got an organized staff around me. It’s amazing how many times you go into Plan A and you think it’s the plan but end up in Plan F. You have to be flexible that way because things happen.”

He’s been practicing that patience and flexibility for the better part of 35 years. After nine years as an NHL player, Nill hung up his skates in 1990 and embraced the pro hockey front office life. Jim Devellano, the longtime Detroit GM, gave him his first coaching role with the AHL’s Adirondack Red Wings. Following that, Nill was hired by former teammate Mel Bridgman to be a pro scout for the expansion Ottawa Senators.

And then Ken Holland gave him a ring. Another former teammate of Nill’s, Holland had just been promoted to assistant GM in Detroit and wanted to bring his buddy back to Detroit to be his head scout.

“I knew everyone there, so I went back, continued my scouting career and Kenny worked his way up from assistant GM to GM,” Nill said. “I had been there for four or five years at that point and then I became assistant GM. The rest is history.”

History is one way of putting it. Nill became a core part of one of the NHL’s greatest dynasties as the Red Wings would go on to make the playoffs in 25 straight seasons and winning four Stanley Cups.

“It was like going to Hockey University,” Nill said. “First off, you’ve got Scotty Bowman, one of the winningest coaches and hockey people in the business. He’s a great man and great mentor. Then Jim Devellano, who is now in the Hall of Fame, was the GM for many years and the president. Then Kenny Holland followed in his footsteps and I was following right behind. To be around those three guys and witness what they did and how they built teams, there was nothing better. You rolled up your sleeves, went to games and learned from them. There was no better education.”

It was the perfect setup for Nill and his family.

“I might have sacrificed an opportunity to go somewhere else, but we had a good thing going,” Nill said. “My family was really comfortable there. My wife was going through some health issues, so I was leery about moving. The Ilitch family was very good to me. We were just kind of one happy family in the whole organization and it showed.”

But in 2013, everything changed. Through support from his wife, Bekki, and Stars president at the time, Jim Lites, who Nill had befriended in Detroit, Nill took a leap and became the Dallas GM.

“Jimmy got a hold of me and I just thought that if I’m ever going to do it, it was probably the time,” Nill said. “I knew there was a lot of work to do, but it turns out it was a good fit and we absolutely love Dallas.”

He hit the ground running. In his first five months, he hired Lindy Ruff as head coach, made a blockbuster trade for Tyler Seguin and brought in a strong group of NHL veterans like Rich Peverley, Shawn Horcoff and Sergei Gonchar.

“We just banked on experience and guys that play the right way,” Nill said. “That’s what we tried to do until some pretty good [prospects] started coming in here. Joe Nieuwendyk doesn’t get enough credit.”

He also named 24-year-old Jamie Benn captain in a move that continues to pay dividends for the team over a decade later.

“I’ve got so much respect for Jamie,” Nill said. “First of all, there aren’t too many guys that play the game like he does anymore. He’s one of the most respected and feared players in the game. He can play any way you want. But the other part is that he’s a good human being. He’s a good guy, he cares about people and all he wants to do is win. It’s about the team and not about personal success.”

Benn shares similar feelings about his GM.

“Right from day one, he’s been a great human and a class act,” Benn said of his GM. “He really turned this organization around. You ask anyone around this League and there’s not one person that will say something bad about the guy. He treats people how he wants to be treated and that’s with respect and kindness. He’s a great reflection of someone to look up to and just an all-around great person.”

That sentiment has been shared by other players during their stops in Dallas as well. From Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp, to Ben Bishop and Joe Pavelski, some of the most successful NHL players of this generation have called Dallas home during Nill’s tenure.

“The culture that he, the players, and the coaching staff have created down here is world class,” said defenseman Matt Dumba, who signed a two-year deal with Dallas this offseason. “I feel like I’ve played on this team for a couple of years already and we haven’t even started.”

“We started to create the right culture and a great atmosphere, and a lot of that credit goes to Jamie Benn because he’s the one on the ice that leads it. Players knew they had a chance to win here and that’s like fertilizer in the garden. It starts to grow more and more. I think we’ve created that culture now, which is really important.”

The GM finds himself as the chief cultivator.

“It starts with him, and all of the amazing people here,” Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said. “That makes it so much easier to get here and feel comfortable. Everyone treats you great and it makes it so much easier, especially when you have the guy at the top being the one picking guys up from the airport. It sets the tone.”

Johnston, a first-round pick by the Stars in 2021, is one of a handful of home run selections by Nill and his staff. The 21-year-old has 56 goals and 106 points in 164 career games, including a team-leading 32 goals last season. He credits the team culture with helping him quickly assimilate to NHL life at age 19.

“You can tell that he really cares about you as a person,” said Johnston. “He asks how your parents are doing and how your family is doing. He’s a great guy and the forefront of what I love about the organization. He’s the guy that drafted me and brought me here, and I’m really thankful for that.”

He's also engineered a winning product on the ice. Since Nill took over, the Stars’ 54 playoff wins are tied for third-most in the NHL. They’ve won the Central division twice and been to the playoffs in five of the past six years. On a personal note, Nill has won the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year award in two straight seasons.

The 2023-24 campaign is arguably the most successful to date. The Stars posted 52 wins, the second-most in franchise history. They were the deepest team in the NHL with a franchise record eight different 20-goal scorers and defeated the League’s two most recent champions to open the playoffs.

But there’s still one big box to check on the to-do list. And that might be what has Nill most excited about the upcoming season.

“What I like the most is that we’ve got a good mix,” Nill said about the 2024-25 Dallas Stars. “We’ve got hardened veterans that have been through it, we’ve got guys that are just entering their prime and we’ve got some young guys coming up that give us energy and the sky is the ceiling for them. But I know we’ve got a good chance [to win], and that’s what you want.”

There isn’t much more a GM could ask for in their dozenth season at the helm.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.