Future of Dallas Stars’ GM swings on team breaking another late-season slump

The future of a local general manager will effectively be decided this week, and as much as people like Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars he put himself in this spot.

If the Stars complete yet another late-season collapse and miss the playoffs again, expect Nill to be fired and for team owner Tom Gaglardi to start over.

With seven games remaining, the Stars are currently in the playoffs, but are again showing the heart, spunk and fire of a loser as they are repeating their proud history of gagging late.

The team has lost four of their last five and begin a four-game road trip on Monday night in Winnipeg. If the Stars win either of their next two games, both will be upsets.

Gaglardi has been patient with Nill, whom he hired in ‘13, to commendable levels, but in the NHL there is zero excuse for a club like the Stars to only make the playoffs in two out of six seasons, which is a possibility if they waste their current spot in the standings.

There are plenty of reasons to believe the Stars will secure a playoff spot, starting with the weak teams that trail them in the standings, and keep the American Airlines Center open for an actual postseason. There also should be no trust with this franchise.

They have done nothing to build faith.

Because what they have built is an improvement, with holes. That starts with a GM who simply has missed on too many draft picks.

In a salary capped NHL, GM’s must hit on young kids to fill out the lines and pairs, and Nill has not done that adequately. The Stars have virtually no depth, which partly explains why they are vulnerable to missing the playoffs again.

If you care enough to look at what truly ails this franchise under Nill, blame the children ... which usually starts with the parents. Although Nill’s track record as an assistant under Ken Holland with the Detroit Red Wings was outstanding, that Red Army-type success did not make the trip down south.

Nill brought his guy, Joe McDonnell, from the Red Wings to oversee this part of the Stars and the results have been akin to drafts run exclusively by Jerry Jones.

Between ‘13 and ‘17 (Nill gets a pass on the ‘18 class, so far), the club drafted 36 players, nine of which have made the big club. That quantity is not bad, the quality is the issue.

The selection of Russian forward Valeri Nichushkin in ‘13 in the first round was bold, and it’s gone bad. He couldn’t deal with then coach Lindy Ruff, turned out to be a slight head case, returned to Russia for two years, and is now with the Stars but is a non-contributor. He has no goals this season, and although he has all of the physical skills he looks like a bust.

Fellow first round pick Jason Dickson has shown something, but nothing elite. The same for Julius Honka, Roope Hintz and Dennis Gurianov.

The only guy who has saved Nill’s fanny in this category is Miro Heiskanen. The third overall pick in ‘17, Heiskanen has been as good as needed, even though in this his rookie year the teenager now finally looks like a tired kid.

Nill has had some hits - the hiring of coach Jim Montgomery out of the college level has been a score. Acquiring Ben Bishop to be this team’s goaltender gives the Stars a chance to win every game. Signing free agent Alexander Radulov two years ago is a success.

Nill’s deal for Tyler Seguin is the franchises’ second-best trade ever, behind the heist of defenseman Sergei Zubov from Pittsburgh for Kevin Hatcher.

The move this year to acquire forward Mats Zuccarello from the New York Rangers in Feb. worked brilliantly; he scored a goal with an assist in his first game, which ended prematurely when he suffered a broken arm.

Zuccarello is the depth scoring behind Seguin, Jamie Benn and Radulov; if Zuccarello can return on time, and there is justified hope he will, he is the depth scoring the teams needs to get in.

The Stars play a playoff-style game, but it’s worthless if they can’t play an actual playoff game.

At this point, with expectations for the Stars not in the sky but at subterranean depths, a playoff berth is a success.

The GM needs it to save his job.

This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 6:30 AM.