Some Further Thoughts on Jim Nill's Extension and the Stars' Final Seven Games

And, of course, on Glen Gulutzan

Screencap from this NHL feature on Nill

First off, thanks to everyone for tuning into the podcast this afternoon. Starting any new project always comes with a bit of uncertainty, but Sean and I had a great time, and I hope it made for a good listen. Elliotte Friedman’s nugget about the types of phones used in the GM group chat genuinely made me chuckle.

(As a reminder, you can also listen to the weekly show as a regular audio podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Pocket Casts, if that’s preferable for you.)

Speaking of podcasts, The Ticket put up their interview with Jim Nill from Tuesday where he talked about the contract extension he signed earlier that day, and he had a couple of interesting quotes in there, including this one about the timing of the two-year extension.

“I wasn’t too worried about it,” Nill said. “I don’t think Tom [Gaglardi] was either. We have a great relationship. He talked about it, I talked about it. We kind of got busy doing our different things we do.”

The two-year deal is interesting both for the Toronto factor of it all, but also because it’s the latest Nill and the Stars have left an extension in his career. Here’s when all of them got signed after his initial five-year deal in April 2013:

Jan. '16: Five-year extension through 2023
Sep. '22: One-year extension through 2024
Jul. '23: Two-year extension through 2026
Mar. '26: Two-year extension through 2028

This is the first time Nill has gone into the season without a contract for the following year—and in fact, he went 74 games into it. But to hear him tell it, it was never really in doubt.

“Actually, I met Tom over at the Olympics,” Nill continued. “He was over there. I was over at the Olympics, and we talked a little bit more. It really wasn’t something either party was worried about.”

Gaglardi’s language was effusive in yesterday’s press release, as you’d imagine.

“Jim has established himself as one of the most respected general managers in the NHL,” Gaglardi said. “Through his roster management and talent evaluation, he has positioned our franchise to be amongst the best teams in our League in both the present and future. I’m thrilled that he will continue to guide the Stars.”

Mike Heika’s excellent piece today further spells out just how fortunate the Stars have been under Nill’s leadership. To further highlightt that fact, it even sounds like the very contract itself completed primarily to make life easier on everyone else.

“Everybody was gonna get inundated with phone calls,” Nill said. “Tom was gonna get inundated. His phone was going off the hook. So we said, ‘Let’s announce it.’”

By doing the deal now, it takes away any whispers of drama around the Stars’ GM of the last 13 years.

“I really just want the focus on the team here,” Nill said. “We’re getting ready for a big playoff run here, and I just wanted to focus on that. So we thought, let’s just get this out of the way.”

It’s still possible there were other factors at play for why the extension was left as late as it was, but for now, we have Nill’s word to go on, and it sounds like he was always planning to finish his career in Texas.

“We’ve got a great team here,” Nill said. “I’ve got a staff that works unbelieveable. I talked about the ownership. Brad Alberts, our president. We got a good thing going here, and it’s become home. This is year thirteen for myself, my wife, and our family. It’s become home. We love the area. Hopefully I can finish my career here. That’s what I anticipate.”

This wasn’t all, though. Nill went on to answer a question about Glen Gulutzan, and he said the returning Stars coach has exceeded expectations, particularly in the way he’s worked with players.

“I just am really excited about how he handles personalities, and how he handles players,” Nill said. “The younger guys make some mistakes, and they’re not stapled to the bench. He gives them opportunity, helps them to grow. He engaged with our veteran players, uses their voices a lot. I just think he’s a great voice in that dressing room, and a great representative of our organization.”

Granted, this is a GM talking about the coach he’s hired, so naturally you’d expect him to be complimentary. Still, I don’t think Nill is choosing those qualities at random. The progress of players like Mavrik Bourque, Nils Lundkvist, Justin Hryckowian, and Lian Bichsel has been undeniable this year. The resurgence of Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn has been crucial, particularly during that outstanding quarter of the season when the Stars set multiple franchise records for wins and point streaks.

But as critical as those players have all been, Nill finishes the interview by pointing to some unheralded players as crucial parts of the team’s progress this year.

“Our bottom group has really done a great job,” Nill said. “You look at all our injuries we’ve had, and kind of the bottom six, nine guys have really stepped up their game, and it’s really changed the way we play, and the identity of our team.”

That 20-game proof of concept from mid-January to mid-March looks especially important right now, given the Stars’s struggles lately. They’re 3-5-2 in their last ten games, and the injuries are mounting. Even players like Miro Heiskanen are looking slightly off, and you have to think the heavy schedule and heavier workload after the Olympics has been a part of that for some of them.

But Nill’s balanced perspective has always been a trademark of his, whether during the team’s late-season skid last year or during the prior ‘23-24 season, when Chris Tanev came in and solidified a team that never lost three games in a row until the Western Conference final.

Yes, the Stars need to stop the bleeding and grab a few wins out of their final seven games, both to keep everyone level-headed and to build some positive habits going into the postseason. But another thing that has been consistent about Nill’s teams, come playoff time, is that they always tend to make things tough on their first playoff opponent.

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It may not be outright switch-flipping, but there are a host of teams around the league who would kill for the first-round track record the Stars have since 2013.

Three times, Dallas has been a Wild Card team in the West under Nill: In 2014, when they sneaked in as an 8th seed but came back from a 2-0 series deficit to nearly force Game 7 against Anaheim; in 2019, when they downed Nashville in six games before nearly getting past St. Louis in the following series; and then again in 2022, when Jake Oettinger dragged the team to overtime of a Game 7.

Even when they’ve had no business making things tough, Nill’s group tends to be ready to go, come playoff time. And in each of the five times Dallas has finished in a top-three spot in the division under Nill (2016, 2020, 2023, 2024, 2025), they’ve always advanced to the second round.

This year, Dallas will once again be a divisional seed when they face (almost certainly) Minnesota to start the postseason. The Wild will be a tougher out than they were when Dallas knocked them out in 2016 and 2023, and their desire to finally get a leg up on Dallas has only grown since their inception in 2000.

Nill can’t make any more trades to help with the playoff roster at this point. All he can do is hope for better health and more positive trends. These final seven games might not mean all that much compared to the seven that will follow them, but Dallas needs to quiet the noise a bit, injuries or no. Momentum is a fickle thing when it comes to hockey, but there’s no denying that Minnesota would be feeling pretty good about themselves if they went on enough of a heater (and Dallas enough of a sag) to wind up playing Game 1 in St. Paul.

Dallas doesn’t need to win seven games in a row, or even six to guarantee home ice. With a 34-26 advantage in regulation wins, Dallas just needs to get 10 of its remaining 14 points to get to 110, which is the max Minnesota can collect.

It gets trickier in Game 79, when Minnesota visits Dallas. Before then, the Wild play Vancouver, Detroit, Ottawa, and Seattle. If Minnesota can go 3-1 (or 2-0-2) in that stretch while Dallas continues their skid at something like 1-2, the Wild could come to Texas on April 9 just two points behind Dallas with a chance to draw level (though with Dallas still holding the tiebreaker), making the final three games a whole lot more tense than they need to be.

For everyone’s sake, the Stars need to snap out of their funk in at least two of the next three tilts against Winnipeg, Colorado, and Calgary. If they can win just two of their next three games (i.e. get four of six points), the math gets a whole lot tougher for Minnesota and kinder for Dallas, regardless of how April 9 shakes out. And any kindness the Stars can show themselves right now seems like a good idea.