from Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News,

The Stars will wear uniforms with a new shade of green this season.

But underneath those sweaters the red will run deep.

Red Wings red.

If you can’t beat ’em, copy ’em.

That’s the blueprint the Stars sought when they signed Jim Nill as their general manager. Nill spent 19 seasons in the front office of the Red Wings as their director of amateur scouting. His drafts helped shape a team that would win four Stanley Cups.

The Red Wings were among the first and best to cultivate Europe and the old Iron Curtain countries for talent. In 1995, for the first time in NHL history, Detroit lined up five Russians together on the same shift. All five would go on to become Stanley Cup champions with the Red Wings, four would become all-stars and one — center Sergei Federov — an NHL MVP.

Not surprisingly, Nill’s first draft pick as GM of the Stars was a Russian (Valeri Nichushkin).

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