Ex-Wing Nill shines with Stars
Upon his return to Joe Louis Arena, Jim Nill was involved in more glad handing than a campaigning politician.
“It took about an hour just to get downstairs, there were so many people I hadn’t seen since I left,” said Dallas Stars general manager Nill while standing outside the hallway to the visitors’ dressing room at Joe Louis Arena, where his new team rallied Thursday for a 4-3 overtime verdict over his old employers, the Detroit Red Wings.
“When I got hired back in May we had to keep everything very quiet,” Nill said.
“Things happened very quickly and I was over in Sochi, Russia, actually at the Under-18 world championships when a lot of this took place.
“And then because of the situation and the season was still going on and the playoffs where going to start up, it had to happen fast and we had to stay quiet, so I never had an opportunity to come back here just to see the staff, the players.”
During his 18-year tenure as assistant GM of the Red Wings, Nill, 55, was approached several times by NHL teams in the market for a GM.
He always said no until this occasion, but the change of heart had nothing to do with Stars being aligned.
It was a much higher calling than that.
Nill’s better half, Bekki, was the one who insisted that now was the time to make the move.
“My wife and I sat down,” Nill explained.
“She was the one that said, ‘We’ve got to go.’
“She was ready for it. She had some type of calling and said, ‘This is it. Let’s go.’ I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And she said, ‘Yup.’ “And away we went.” A once-mighty team in the midst of a major rebuild, Nill was impressed with the Dallas approach.
“I liked what their vision was, which was important,” Nill said.
“I liked where their team was at and it was just a gut feeling.
“It was just the situation and the timing. You think you’re ready for things, but it was the right time because I knew I was ready.”
At the same time, Nill knows he’s got much work ahead to make the team from the Big D a big deal again.
“We had lots of changes to do in Dallas, so the summer was very busy for us,” said Nill, who hired Lindy Ruff as his coach and made a major deal with Boston to acquire former Plymouth Whaler Tyler Seguin to anchor his top line.
When he relates his own vision for the future of his new club, Nill reflects into the rear-view mirror.
“The Red Wings are the team that everybody follows,” Nill said.
“We all want to become them and that’s my challenge down in Dallas.
“My goal is to make the Dallas Stars like the Detroit Red Wings.
“It’s not going to be easy to do, because they’ve done a great job here, but that’s where we’re headed.”
“THE RED WINGS ARE THE TEAM THAT EVERYBODY
FOLLOWS.”
JIM NILL
As he talked, Nill’s mind recycled his many Detroit memories — the significant stuff like the four Stanley Cup wins, and the emotional moments, such as the day he picked up a 19- yearold Pavel Datsyuk at Detroit Metro Airport to bring him to his first development camp.
“When I went to talk to ( Detroit owners Mike) and ( Marian) Ilitch when I knew that I was leaving, we had some good laughs and some cries, but we said the good thing is if we meet it’s going to be in the finals,” Nill said.
“That would be a nice way to do it.”
A Detroit-Dallas Stanley Cup final?
Nill wouldn’t mind that one bit.
Neither would the Wings.