It was opening day of Dallas Stars training camp in 2019 when I got the call that my mother was on a ventilator after suffering a seizure and head injury and was not expected to survive. It’s a weird thing to feel numb about what should have been one of the more devastating losses a person experiences in life when said parent hadn’t been a big part of yours. I took to my personal social media page to talk about how I was processing the complicated emotions surrounding her death, as well as to help normalize talking about the messy side of life we’re all so hesitant to put out there (but we all experience in some way or another).
Fast forward a few weeks. Walking the concourse on my way to the Stars locker room post-game, like normal, I passed by general manager Jim Nill. Not an unusual thing; most times, it’s a nod and and a “hey, how are ya?” greeting in passing.
But this time was different.
Nill stopped me to let me know that he had read what I wrote about my mother’s passing and to pass along his condolences. He remarked about how wonderful of a job my father did to raise me to be the woman I am today. He then gave me a warm hug, and told me what a great job I was doing.
That’s Jim.
“It’s never been said, ‘be a good human’. It’s expected and it’s the way this organization has carried itself since I’ve been here, and it’s a reflection of him,” Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood said.
Anyone you talk to around hockey likely has a story about a time that Nill asked them how their family was or how he asked them how they were doing with a genuine desire to hear their story, or how he went out of his way to congratulate them on a personal or professional accomplishment or comfort them in a tough time.
For Nill, how he treats people, no matter who they are or how big or small a part they play in his team’s success, is the ethos he has used to build the Stars to be Stanley Cup contenders. “The biggest thing is just treating people the way they should be treated: properly. Like you would in your every day life. That’s the biggest thing,” Nill said. “Now, the tough part is making sure that it does go through the organization. That’s why you hire good people and stick to your values. Like I said, I think it’s just important to treat people — everybody’s equal, everyone deserves a voice.”
Establishing a culture throughout a hockey organization starts with the makeup of the locker room in the type of personnel the general manager drafts, signs, or trades for, not only for the on-ice contribution but also for the off-ice fit into the broader vision of the team. For Nill, his vision was always one that saw the team being perennial playoff teams that had the tools necessary to go on deep runs, not just as a team that would show occasional flashes of contention.
One of the first moves he made to shape the Stars to get to that status was a trade for Tyler Seguin, the young budding superstar from the Boston Bruins that was rumored to be on the outs with his team. The trade, which included a swap of seven players total between the two organizations, was one of the largest deals the Stars have done in recent history and delivered a cornerstone for the roster to be molded around. In it, he wasn’t afraid of taking on someone that didn’t have the best public reputation at the time.
“You’re going to come in here some times with character traits that need to be altered a little bit, and I think that’s where Jim doesn’t get worried. If you come in here and you have a little bit of, not issue, but a little bit off, this is the right room to go into and get the right footing in a good direction and leaving that ego at the door. I was one of the first guys to come through it,” Seguin said. “I came in with a big chip on my shoulder, which was great in one aspect and in the other aspect, I needed to get humbled in a way — I think that happens in a trade — and really figure out the league.
“I started my career in Boston but I grew up here in Dallas, and that’s a big part of Jim being who he was and getting close to Jamie [Benn], early on especially. It’s the perfect place to grow up as a man, and the perfect place to come here if you’re on a stopover for a year or if you’re trying to establish yourself more in the league.”
Though the trade for Seguin might be one of the most transformational moments in Nill’s tenure as general manager of the Stars, Nill has also backed that move up with a good body of work when it comes to supplementing drafted and traded players with free agent signings. When the team was in bankruptcy, it was often reported that Dallas was on many no-trade lists (understandably, with the direction of the team’s future unknown.) Now, the Stars are a destination connected to some of the biggest names that become available.
“Pretty much every single free agent that we’ve brought in here in the summers, the ones we’ve signed — and even the ones that didn’t sign — have talked very highly about Jim Nill and how great a person he is, such a great hockey mind,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “Guys want to play for people like that.”
“Just a direct, honest, unbelievable human being. [He provides] guidance for us as far as how to be a husband, a father, a religious man,” Seguin said.
It was one of the reasons defenseman Ryan Suter was drawn to Dallas after being bought out by the Minnesota Wild two summers ago.
“When you talk to Jim, he’s a straight-shooter. It was ‘this is how it’s going to be’ and I’m like, ‘ok, I get it, and I want to be a part of that’,” Suter said. “Dallas is a great place to live. Great locker room, great GM that treats you with respect. You have the whole thing, and it’s awesome. Happy to be a part of it.”
This summer, Nill made arguably one of the most impactful signings in the league when he signed Matt Duchene after the Nashville Predators bought him out of his contract, turning the 32-year-old into a hot free agent for teams looking to shore up their scoring depth at forward. As Stars coach Pete DeBoer put it, you don’t get the caliber of players like a Matt Duchene without being known as an organization that does things the right way.
That starts with Nill.
“Jim’s one of the people in the game that has an impeccable reputation. There’s not many,” DeBoer said. “It’s really hard to work in the league for 40, 50 years as a player or coach and not have anyone say a bad word about you. That’s Jim Nill, and he’s earned that. He treats everybody with respect, he does everything the right way. He’s a class act.”
Once players get to Dallas, they’re very open about how easy the transition for them and their families have been both at the rink and in the community. “We’ve always had a very open locker room and make sure to make guys comfortable and at home when they first get here,” Seguin said. “We take a lot of pride in players coming in and saying how great it is here and how easy of a transition it is. That’s pride in leadership and captain and Jim [Nill], and just wanting to have that culture.”
Culture is one of those words that often gets thrown around in hockey without any real definition of what it means. For the Dallas Stars, you can probably summarize their culture in the three words most commonly used to describe Nill himself: professional, straight-forward, and class.
“First and foremost, the culture is you have to be a good person to be here. There’s not one bad person in this room,” Stars forward Mason Marchment said. “Everyone cares about each other, and I know that’s something Jim I’m sure envisioned and brought to the surface.”
You never hear about teams winning the Stanley Cup without hearing how close they are in the locker room and how much of a family the team became. That’s partially a byproduct of four rounds of best-of-seven playoff series, but is truly built over the course of the 82-game regular season grind just to make it there.
“When I signed, I had 10 people tell me that he might be the best person in hockey just as a human being,” Stars forward Matt Duchene said.
When you talk to Stars players, those are words that come to the forefront when describing this team and this locker room this year.
“We’re a welcoming organization. We’re a family. We’re expected to win,” Wedgewood said. “We expect excellence, we expect professionalism. And when you look at [Nill], talk to him, it’s the exact same: his character, his views, the way he walks around and carries himself.”
That family aspect extends beyond the locker room, too. Nill is always asking players how their families are doing. He understands that these are human beings with families and considerations outside of the office that they contend with.
“The culture of how to be a Dallas Star starts with him, and how he and his wife approach daily life. Always being around the family room and getting to speak with him and his family. He always wants to meet parents and establish that family culture,” Seguin said. “It starts with him and we just kind of absorb it and go from there.”
In Duchene’s eyes, the way Nill comports himself has translated to the team’s 21-9-4 record that has them in the thick of the Central Division title hunt this season — and, hopefully, a long run after that.
“Early in the year, I remember walking out with him after a tough loss at home, and it was just like another day. Just an even-keeled kind of demeanor, it bleeds through the lineup. We never panic, we never look out of sorts, and we bounce back after tough losses,” Duchene said. “We put multiple games together of wins, and I think we bounce back after bad periods. We’re always resilient that way. I think that even-keeled-ness bleeds through from him to the coaching staff to us.”
Much like when Nill won the general manager of the year award last season, this year feels like a culmination of all of the work he’s done to make this team a true contender. It’s the second straight season of high expectations for his club, which comes off the backs of a Western Conference Final appearance last year and a run to the Stanley Cup Final in the COVID bubble of 2020.
“I think if you get to know Jim Nill, he’s a pretty special person,” Benn said. “Very kind, cares about players and families, and everyone that’s in the organization. He started way back then, it’s been, what, 10 years or so — over 10 years — he started building what he thought could win a championship.
“We’ve come close, but I think this year might be the year for him.”