Photo: sports.ca.msn.com
Sunday was a big day for the Dallas Stars as even though their season was over, the work was just beginning. The organization announced Sunday that General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk had been relieved of his duties, and later on that evening Stars’ owner Tom Gaglardi went on to confirm that Detroit Red Wings’ assistant General Manager Jim Nill would be the new General Manager of the Stars and that it would be made official Monday.
Jim Nill had spent the past nineteen seasons as a member of the Red Wings’ front office and the past fifteen seasons as assistant General Manager to current Red Wings’ GM Ken Holland, helping form the dynasty that is the Detroit Red Wings. Jim Nill has been coveted by many teams to be their General Manager, but Dallas was the first NHL General Manager job that he accepted.
Nill’s duties as Assistant General Manager of the Red Wings included directing the amateur scouting and representing Detroit as overseer of all draft picks at the NHL entry drafts. Nill is famous for finding late round gems in drafts such as Henrik Zetterberg (210th overall in the 1999 draft) and Pavel Datsyuk (171st overall in the 1998 draft).
A short press conference was held at the American Airlines Center today to announce the hiring of Jim Nill and when asked about the hiring here is what Nill had to say:
“I am honored and very excited at this opportunity to be the Dallas Stars General Manager and I want to thank Tom Gaglardi and Jim Lites for believing that I am the right person for this job. There have been a few other openings out there that have been presented to me in the past, but I was waiting for the right one to take, and coming to Dallas was that right one. I am eager to get started building on the pieces that already exist and helping return this team to the playoffs.”
The first decision for Jim Nill will be what to do with current Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan who just ended the last year of his team contract. The Dallas Stars’ have the decision to pick up the option for a third year or not.
