Stars general manager Jim Nill finished third in voting for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year award, the NHL announced before Game 4 of the Western Conference Final on Saturday night.
Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello won the award, and Lightning GM Julien BriseBois finished second. Nill received eight of the 40 first-place votes, and his 61 total points were one point ahead of Colorado GM Joe Sakic.
The award was voted on by the league’s GMs and a panel of NHL executives, along with print and broadcast media. Voting was conducted after the second round of the playoffs, and four of the top five finishers are GMs of teams still playing.
The Stars are in the Conference Final for the first time since 2008, and Nill has been the main architect building the Dallas roster.
Nill also had to navigate firing Jim Montgomery in December, install Rick Bowness as the interim head coach, plus steer the Stars through the challenges the Winter Classic and coronavirus pandemic brought. Last summer, Nill made a big splash in free agency by signing Joe Pavelski to a three-year contract and his signing of Anton Khudobin the previous summer is paying dividends in his postseason.
“Jim is very good with the players, and I know he has a ton of respect from every player in that room,” Bowness said. “It’s great to see him walking around through making sure everyone is OK. Jimmy is a great human being.”
Nill was included on 17 of the 40 ballots cast. Voters selected three GMs per ballot.
Hanley sticking: Stars defenseman Joel Hanley remained in the lineup for Game 4 against Vegas despite Taylor Fedun being ruled healthy to play. Hanley filled in for Fedun in Game 7 of the second round, and played the first three games against the Golden Knights on the third pairing with Andrej Sekera.
Game 7 against Colorado was Hanley’s first NHL game since Nov. 13. During the first month in the Edmonton bubble, Hanley was a healthy scratch.
“That’s a hard thing to do, mentally and physically, every day to just come to the rink and work, work, work, and hopefully you get a chance to play,” Bowness said. “We’ve integrated them into our morning skates just to make them feel part of the team.”
During the regular season, Hanley played minimally with Sekera (1:30 total at 5 on 5), but have had to acclimate to each other in the high stakes of the playoffs.
“He’s a veteran guy, and plays a really, solid, steady game,” Hanley said. “Just been able to talk off the ice and helping me with the d-zone stuff, and the way Dallas has been playing. So far, it’s been pretty good. I’m thankful to have him, being able to play with him. It’s been good so far.”
Fedun took part in warmup on Saturday but was a healthy scratch.
Bad penalties: For Bowness, there are good penalties and there are bad penalties. The Stars have been taking bad ones.
In the first three games of the Western Conference Final, the Stars gave Vegas 14 power plays. By comparison, Dallas only had five power plays.
“When you’re chasing the game, you end up taking penalties,” said Bowness, who added that the Stars would keep preaching discipline to their team.
Among the four teams remaining in the postseason, the Stars have spent the most time on the penalty kill (121:11), entering Game 4 on Saturday.
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September 13, 2020 at 07:32AM
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