from Bob Duff of the Windsor Star,

In this salary-cap era where teams are focused on building through the draft and maintaining long-range development plans, you could argue that the Stars are bucking that trend.

Since he took the reins in Dallas in 2013, you could call Nill Trader Jim if you wanted. He’s pulled the trigger on three blockbuster deals, adding Spezza from Ottawa, Seguin, the NHL’s leading scorer, from Boston and this past summer, forward Patrick Sharp and defenceman Johnny Oduya from the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.

Nill simply believes he capitalized on a series of fortunate circumstances, one of them being they were a team rich in prospects.

“Our scouts had done a good job,” Nill said. “We had a lot of assets and we had cap room.

“It’s no secret when you look around the league that there are teams that are going to be in cap trouble. We just happen to have the right pieces to the puzzle that those teams needed and we made it work for us.”

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