{"id":442552,"date":"2024-06-10T21:51:12","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T01:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=442552"},"modified":"2024-06-10T21:51:12","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T01:51:12","slug":"stars-manager-wins-general-manager-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/10\/stars-manager-wins-general-manager-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars Manager Wins General Manager of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill<\/a> is the NHL’s General Manager of the Year for the second straight season.<\/p>\n

\n

Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars is the winner of the 2023-24 GM of the Year Award! ?\u2728<\/p>\n

This is the second year in a row that Jim Nill has won the honour of the top general manager in the NHL. pic.twitter.com\/CQYEXIZwzG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

General Manager of the Year Winners<\/h2>\n

Nill is just the second general manager to win<\/a> the General Manager of the Year Award in consecutive seasons since its introduction in 2010, joining New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello (2020, 2021). Here are the winners in that time span:<\/p>\n

2024: Jim Nill, Dallas Stars
\n2023: Jim Nill, Dallas Stars
\n2022: Joe Sakic<\/a>, Colorado Avalanche
\n2021: Lou Lamoriello, New York Islanders
\n2020: Lou Lamoriello, New York Islanders
\n2019: Don Sweeney<\/a>, Boston Bruins
\n2018: George McPhee<\/a>, Vegas Golden Knights
\n2017: David Poile, Nashville Predators
\n2016: Jim Rutherford<\/a>, Pittsburgh Penguins
\n2015: Steve Yzerman<\/a>, Tampa Bay Lightning
\n2014: Bob Murray<\/a>, Anaheim Ducks
\n2013: Ray Shero, Pittsburgh Penguins
\n2012: Doug Armstrong, St. Louis Blues
\n2011: Mike Gillis<\/a>, Vancouver Canucks
\n2010: Don Maloney<\/a>, Phoenix Coyotes<\/p>\n

Nill’s Background<\/h3>\n

The Stars hired<\/a> Nill from the Detroit Red Wings front office in 2013. He spent 19 seasons with the Red Wings organization, taking several positions that included general manager of the team’s AHL affiliate and directing the NHL club’s scouting, prospect development, and draft strategy.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings won four Stanley Cups during Nill’s tenure with the team and developed many prospects into notable NHL players, including<\/a> Tomas Holmstrom<\/a>, Henrik Zetterberg<\/a>, Pavel Datsyuk<\/a>, Petr Sykora<\/a>, Niklas Kronwall<\/a>, Jiri Hudler<\/a>, and Valtteri Filppula<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His approach in Dallas has continued to display his expertise for development as several of the current roster’s other budding stars are home-grown. Nill drafted<\/a> eleven players on this season’s final playoff roster, and others he selected were on opposing playoff rosters.<\/p>\n

Chasing a Championship<\/h3>\n

After putting together a roster that defied preseason expectations by reaching Game 6 of the Western Conference Final in 2022-23, Nill received his first General Manager of the Year Award.\u00a0 But, there were improvements to make, so he set out to add pieces to push his team to the next level.<\/p>\n

By the time the season came around, he declared that the team was ready to chase a championship.<\/p>\n

Nill’s approach to the 2023 offseason consisted of a myriad of one-year contracts. Through that strategy, he retained young players like Ty Dellandrea<\/a> and added veterans who were chasing a Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

He took a risk on Sam Steel<\/a>, a former first-round pick who had sputtered early in his career. The risk paid off as Steel became a crucial component of Dallas’ fourth line and turned in his second-most productive offensive season. The year may have set up Steel for a follow-up deal to return to the team.<\/p>\n

Craig Smith<\/a> joined Dallas on a one-year deal and provided veteran leadership on the third and fourth lines throughout the season. While he found himself fighting for playing time at the end, he did what he was asked to do.<\/p>\n

The most significant signing came in the form of forward Matt Duchene<\/a>. The former All-Star had been questioned in Nashville but found a home on Dallas’ second line. His veteran leadership<\/a> was a huge factor, but he proved he still has what it takes to excel on the ice, often putting the team in situations to capitalize on chances due to his skill and hockey IQ.<\/p>\n

General Manager of the Year: Roster Management<\/h3>\n

Nill wasn’t done after the season started. It took continuous roster management to get the Stars as far as they did, especially with injuries.<\/p>\n

Despite positive results in the standings, Dallas had a glaring defensive issue that needed to be fixed. Nill, as a General Manager of the Year should, addressed the issue by acquiring veteran defenceman Chris Tanev<\/a>. Once Tanev joined the team, it seemed the defensive effort picked up almost immediately, sparking a late-season run to clinch the Western Conference and a No.1 playoff seed.<\/p>\n

Dallas pushed past the most recent two Stanley Cup Champions (Vegas and Colorado) and returned to the Western Conference Final. Yet, allowing Edmonton to win Game 5 on the road proved to be Dallas’ downfall as its defense struggled against a potent offensive attack.<\/p>\n

While the season ended up in the same place, Nill’s efforts resulted in an unforgettable year for the Dallas Stars and have solidified the team as a contender in the West. Those results will usually come with awards like General Manager of the Year.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill is the NHL’s General Manager of the Year for the second straight season. Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars is the winner of the 2023-24 GM of the Year Award! ?\u2728 This is the second year in a row that Jim Nill has won the honour of the top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5167,"featured_media":442557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,4547,34,4548],"tags":[565,1722,6105,6104,1575,766,491,5683,2007,1640],"class_list":["post-442552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stars","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-chris-tanev","tag-craig-smith","tag-dallas-stars-analysis","tag-dallas-stars-news","tag-jim-nill","tag-matt-duchene","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-player-development","tag-sam-steel","tag-western-conference-final"],"modified_by":"Tommy Bennett","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}