EVERYTHING’S BIGGER IN TEXAS

DALLAS, TX — The Dallas Stars are in the thick of things in the Central Division and the battle for that top seed is going to be a dog fight between them, the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets until the final days of the regular-season.

As the Avs and Jets loaded up ahead of last Friday’s NHL trade deadline, the Stars were content making one move – an impact addition in the form of defenceman Chris Tanev.

With a now-stable defensive corps, a deep forward group, and stellar goaltending, the Stars are poised to make another run at a Stanley Cup Final appearance.

Dallas GM Jim Nill was calculated in his decision making. With plenty of salary cap space to play with, he could have easily added a couple more pieces to his lineup. But with the emergence of rookie Logan Stankoven and youngster Mavrik Bourque waiting in the wings, landing Tanev was not only Priority No.1, it was the lone item on his to-do list.

“We thought (Tanev) was a perfect fit for us,” Nill told me in an exclusive interview on Thursday. “We talked about we wanted to build our forward group up and get our top four lines set as much as we could. And we had a couple of young defencemen coming in Thomas Harley and Nils Lundqvist, we wanted to see how they were going to be, you know, were they ready for primetime or not? And it turns out that both of both played really well. So, really, we only had to add one defenceman to add depth and Tanev being the right shot, game me plays, kind of the perfect fit for us.

“We’ve got some high-end puck movers and Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, Lundqvist. Now, we could add a little bit of kind of the size and the defence awareness, much like Esa Lindell brings, so it was a right fit for us.”

With a healthy Tyler Seguin in the lineup – and he’s expected to return to action in the near future – the Stars boast eight players in their top-nine with 40+ points. No other team displays that much offensive depth up front, though the Avs are the only club ahead of the Stars in goals-for per game. Now add Stankoven, who has eight points in 10 games, to date, and the rich get richer without having to dish out any extra assets.

“The forwards up until the trade deadline have been playing very well. We’ve got lots of depth,” Nill said. “And as you mentioned, the emergence of Stankoven, Bourque, we knew we had some players that are ready to come up right away. Logan’s already done it, Mavrik’s gonna get his chance here eventually. So, we knew we had that depth. And I don’t think I could find anything better on the trade market than what I have there internally.”

Nill and his staff weren’t overly concerned with the moves teams like the Avs, Jets, Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers made leading up to deadline day. While he admitted it is “very important” to be cognizant of and recognize what the competition is going, he also explained they cannot be reactionary to what other clubs are doing.

“You know, we’re in a competitive business. Everybody wants to win. And we’ve got we got eight great teams in the west here. You know, it’s a battle. There’s two or three battling for the wildcard. So that competitive juice is in everybody,” Nill said

“You have to know what were the needs of Dallas Stars. That was my job. I can’t worry about what the other teams are doing. They’re great teams, they are good teams. We are too, and I just needed to make sure I took care of my business. And our depth came into play. You know the Stankovens, the Bourques. Oskar Back I got the minors. Matej Blumel. I’ve got a lot of pieces down on the minors. I’ve got Lian Bichel coming back from Sweden here as soon as they lose out in the playoffs. I know I got lots of depth, lots of pieces here and I know they’re good players; that takes the pressure off too. Anytime you want to do something, you’re given up assets and you got to be careful. That’ll catch up to you eventually.”

The Stars are comfortable with their roster and that confidence has spread throughout the team. Despite losing their last two games, Thursday’s 6-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils was a nice wakeup call, a reminder that if you take your foot off the gas, any team in the League can bury you.

Dallas has a relatively easy schedule the rest of the way – nine of their last 14 games of the season are against non-playoff teams. It’s easy to think too far ahead, but that doesn’t seem to be their mindset, especially after last night’s game. The Stars are itching to compete and Nill believes they can still take their game up a notch.

“The biggest focus (now) is getting our team playing the right way,” Nill conveyed. “We’ve had a good season, I’m not going to complain, but I think there’s still another level we can go to. And it’s finding that balance of offence and defence; playing that type of playoff hockey you have to play to have success. And that’s really what the coaches’ focus is now. It’s really just getting fine tuned, getting our game going what has to be here.”

Winning has ripple effects and those transcend the arena. In an expanding hockey market – a state where talk of a second NHL franchise has been a focal point for the last few years – the Stars have continued to leave their market in communities all across Texas.

Nill is all for Houston entering the NHL in due course, and until that happens, he feels the Stars are more than happy to take on the responsibility of developing the game in this part of the United States.

“Well, it is really growing,” he said. “First of all, the team and you’re winning, that always helps. That’s a big part of it. But we’ve done a great job down here. We now have seven arenas down here, double rinks. And youth hockey, women’s hockey, girls’ hockey, it’s just booming right now. And it’s so exciting to see these young kids out there. You know, they got the Mike Modano program where you come in for a month to get your free equipment and free sticks and skates, give hockey and go for a month and see if you like or not. And it’s really taken off, and you just see it everywhere you go. You’re seeing more and more names come over here at the Draft. You know, the biggest one so far has been Seth Jones (from Arlington). Blake Coleman (from Plano). And you’re seeing guys get to college now. More and more players are coming out of here. The game has really, really grown.”

And the game will continue to grow.

Expansion is on the horizon. As I’ve reported numerous times this season, the NHL will evolve into 34 teams in the not-too-distant future. Utah is next, as I’ve also reported, and that seems like a formality at this stage. Atlanta will likely be Team 34, followed by interest from Houston, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Quebec City, San Diego, and so on.

The Arizona Coyotes are figuring out their arena situation and a public auction is set for mid-June on a piece of land Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo is hoping to secure to build the team’s next permanent home. The NHL remains optimistic this will happen. Relocation is the last resort and something the NHL has continuously avoided for this franchise. And while I don’t get the sense that has changed, the League has evaluated its options if it comes to that.

Utah is a preferred expansion destination, though they’d welcome a team tomorrow if they could. Atlanta doesn’t have the necessary facility to accommodate relocation, despite two groups vying for an NHL club. Houston would still need some work and I continue to hear that Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is not interested in being the sole owner of an NHL franchise, but a main player in an ownership consortium – and I’ve gotten push back on whether he truly wants another big tenant sharing the Toyota Center. And Kansas City has the T-Mobile Center, though some upgrades would be required, to also house an NHL team tomorrow.

What I find most interesting about K.C. is how quiet the Hunt family, who own the NFL’s Chiefs, among other entities, has been. That’s probably by design, though speaking to those in the know in that market and around the Hunt family, there is a desire to own an NHL franchise. How far along they are in the exploration phase is uncertain.

But with expansion coming, Nill and others throughout the League are ready to embrace it.

“Well, I’m biased because I’m in the business and the game’s been great to me,” Nill said. “You know, as a player, and in management, scouting and everything else. I think we got the best sport there is, you know. If you can get people into the rink, watching your sport, I think we have the best sport there is. So, I think people are starting to realize that. TV coverage just got better and better.

“I was fortunate to play in Salt Lake City. That’s where I started my pro career – great city, great hockey market. There are so many hockey markets out there that are dying to have a team, it’s great. Gary (Bettman) and his staff have done a great job in a way our game has grown. Gone through some tough times with COVID and all that and we kept our head above water. That’s really a recognition to everybody involved in the game, how we’ve come out of this and really our game has taken right off.”

The allure of owning an expansion team is how competitive the club should be right out of the gate. Vegas was an anomaly, making the Stanley Cup Final in Year 1 – but fast forward to 2023 and they have a championship under their belt. Seattle went to the second-round in Year 2.

Expansion draft rules will remain similar and as Bettman told us on The Hot Stove on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio last month, allowing new teams to play competitive hockey right away is important in growing the game in a new city.

But what about the current 32 clubs? With all this expansion talk, are teams being forced to plan ahead a little sooner than we first expected?

“We eventually will, but we’ll wait for a while,” Nill said chuckling. “Let’s see how many years it is. But it’s funny you say that, we were just talking about that the other day – who’s your goalie, who’s your core, but it’s a good thing. It’d be a good problem to have.”

HERE AND THERE

• One other nugget left by Nill was his desire to keep Tanev beyond this season: “Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping. Whenever you make a move for somebody you like, and you’ve done your research on, and I’ve seen Chris Tanev play a lot, heard all the stories about him, and now we get to live it and stuff. And he has everything we’ve heard, living up to the billing, so we think he’s a great fit for us. Let’s get the games going, let’s get the playoffs going. And but he’s definitely a guy that if we can make it work, we’d love to bring him back here.”

• The Ottawa Senators laid plenty of groundwork ahead of the trade deadline for potential moves this summer. As teams knocked on the door for some of their players, like Jakob Chychrun, Sens GM Steve Staios is expected to revisit a number of those discussions after the season and around the NHL Draft. They want to be active.

• Speaking of Chychrun, I’m expecting teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings to circle back on him this off-season, too.

• The Los Angeles Kings are focused on the playoff stretch, but GM Rob Blake is going to be analyzing off-season moves over the next several weeks. He explored the possibility of acquiring players like Tyler Toffoli and Reilly Smith ahead of the deadline and was engaged in Linus Ullmark talks with Boston. Now, depending on who you talk to, those Ullmark talks could have gone either way. We are led to believe a substantial offer was there and I expect those conversations to resume at some point after their season wraps. But the Kings also like Juuse Saros, whom they tried to acquire a couple of years ago. Nashville will listen this summer, and the Kings will call.

• There’s already talk of a Sidney Crosby extension coming in July. The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t going through a rebuild. Not yet. They’ll be active this summer trying to retool on the fly. I do wonder, though, if the mandate from current ownership to remain competitive has anything to do with whispers that Fenway Sports Group is gauging the market for the team. Hmm.

• More on Houston... The NHL wants to be in that market, that much is clear. But Fertitta balked at the expansion fees in the past and with the expansion cost now hovering north of $1 billion, I can’t imagine he’s suddenly going to change his mind. If can pool together enough partners together, he’ll jump in. But he’s not prepared to dive in headfirst.

• The Coyotes will deny it publicly ‘til the cows come home, but Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith discussed a major offer, believed to be around $1B offer, to buy the team and relocate them to Salt Lake City – understanding the need to cover the NHL’s relocation fee, as well. I first reported this on Feb. 7. The attempt was rejected, and I don’t think talks escalated beyond that, but an offer was made in some fashion.

• The day after Anson Carter’s group announced they’ve formally entered the expansion process, Vernon Krause, who is leading the other group trying to bring the NHL back to the Atlanta region, announced ASM Global as the operator of its 18,500-capacity arena. ASM Global operates Crypto.com Arena and T-Mobile Arena, among other facilities. The development team for The Gathering at South Forsyth, the entertainment district that will house the arena, is holding a public participation meeting on Tuesday, March 19.

• With Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish up the middle, the Ducks plan on keeping Trevor Zegras on the wing after he returns from a broken ankle suffered on Jan. 9. How much longer he remains in Anaheim, however, is an interesting question. He’ll be the subject of much trade talk this off-season.