Dallas Stars Conference Call: Jim Nill Coverage
By Josh Clark
At around 10 AM this morning, the Dallas Stars added another crucial piece to their 2015-2016 lineup in hopes of producing a long Stanley Cup run this coming year.
They signed free agent defenseman Johnny Oduya to a two-year, $7.5 million deal. He will become one of the starting six defensemen for the Stars opening night and will be a major boost to a blue line that clearly struggled last season.
Next: What Johnny Oduya Brings To Dallas And Where He Fits In
Just moments after the signing was announced, the Dallas Stars held a conference call with Oduya as well as GM Jim Nill. We have full coverage of the Nill interview below. To see the Oduya portion, click here.
Jim Nill:
How much was it about getting a veteran d-man to go with the rookies on the blue line:
We went back in spring time and were doing our evaluation of the team. We knew we needed to be strong in the back end. The main thing was when we lost Trevor Daley. That was a big hole. He is going to be a great fit in Chicago and to lose him in the trade made a big hole for us. Johnny was one of the top free agents we looked at and targeted. Once I knew we were going to make that trade losing Trevor Daley, I knew that was something we wanted to look at. We were comfortable going into the season as we were, but anytime you can add a player of Johnny’s stature, somebody that has won and a guy that does everything right, you can’t go wrong.
Did he talk with Johnny Oduya before the Trevor Daley trade:
We touched base at the start of free agency, and his agent basically said that he didn’t know what was going to be happening but that they wanted to stay in touch. We had an interview just before July 1st so we kept in touch. We had some interest and just went from there.
What he plans to do with the eight defenseman system:
We are very comfortable where we are at right now. From the start when we were putting our team together for next season, we knew we would probably need a defenseman. With all the travel you have to do, the more defensemen you have the better. At the start of last year, we immediately lost Sergei Gonchar and Patrik Nemeth in one week of the season. You can never have enough defensemen. We like where we’re at and we look forward to the competition in training camp.
How he came to building the current defense:
We are very excited about our potential. Potential is just a word until you do it. As we’ve seen with John Klingberg, nobody knew who he was this time last year. All of a sudden he came in and made the all-rookie year. We feel like we have two or three other guys who are in the same mode as that. We’re trying to be patient. You can’t rush the young defensemen and that is why it is so important to have the Oduya’s, Goligoski’s, Demers’, and Jordie Benn’s. You have to have those guys in place. We feel that we have a real good young core of defensemen coming up, but we just have to be patient. That’s where the Oduya’s and Goligoski’s are so important. Our expectations are to win, but we still have to develop and there is a fine line between those.
Who the two or three guys are that are in the same mode as Klingberg was:
Esa Lindell played for the Finnish national team in the World Championships. We just played against him and I just saw him. He’s 21 years old and was one of the top defensemen for the Finnish team. We’ve got Julius Honka who was a first round pick. He’s 19 years old and knocking on the door. We made the trade with Chicago for Stephen Johns. He was the main part of the trade. Patrick Sharp was the main piece, but I wasn’t doing the trade without getting him. Then we’ve got Mattias Backman that we got from Detroit. So we’ve got four young guys knocking on the door in the minors. Then we’ve got the Oleksiak’s, Nemeth’s, Jokipakka’s, Klingberg’s up top here. We think we’ve got a lot of different options and a lot of potential, but we just have to be patient. You can’t speed this process up and that’s the path we’re on.
Do you feel complete this offseason after signing Oduya:
Johnny [Oduya] was really the last piece of the puzzle. It was important to get one more experience guy if we could. He was on top of our list and he’s an important piece for us. He’s a steady influence and what I love about Johnny Oduya is the way he lives his life. You heard him on the phone and he said he was just going to come in and play the way he is supposed to play. By doing that, Johnny Oduya does all the right things. He prepares right, he’s a fitness fanatic, his preparations and his workouts. I know that is going to be huge for our guys in the dressing room. Anytime you have someone of that pedigree, and it’s not him coming out of his box it’s just him being himself, that’s the most important part for me.
What part of the winning and building cycle are the Stars in:
We think we’ve got to start moving up. Jamie Benn won the Art Ross Trophy this year, Tyler Seguin just turned 23 and he’s starting to come into his own. Cody Eakin just had success over in the World Championships. Jason Spezza was top forward at the championships. Our players are now between the Jason Spezza’s who have been around and done it and the next group of core players coming in. They’re at that spot where they will start making jumps in their careers. We are in the beginning to where we should start making the jump.
How much influence the pedigree of players has on if he acquires them:
That’s a big part of it. I’ve been fortunate to work in the Detroit organization and anytime you can have players who have won, it’s great. To win you have to know how to win, and that’s a process. We’ve got a core that is young and they’re going to be like sponges and feed off of this.
How to balance the youth and older players:
You need to have those older guys. I think the mix is the most important part. If you’ve got the leadership and the veterans there that know how to do it, and you’ve got the young legs and hearts of the guys that are coming up, that’s the best mix you can have. You can never have enough experience, and that is a big part of winning.
On how Nemeth and Klingberg can learn from fellow Swede Oduya:
First of all, Patrik Nemeth and Johnny Oduya work out together, so they have a great connection there. Klinger is a young guy who will look up to Oduya. He has played for Sweden in the World Championships and Olympics. These young guys look up to those players. That’s what excites me about Johnny Oduya. I’ve been lucky enough to know Johnny since my scouting days in Detroit back when he was 17 and 18 years old. All the word we got on him is that he lives and breathes being a hockey player. He represents himself right. He is well spoken, and that’s what we’re trying to build here. We want to be where Chicago is, we want to be where Detroit’s been. How do the get there? They do things right. I can’t do things right. The guys in the dressing room have to do it right. The more guys you get like that, the more success you’re going to get.
Who the top defenseman is on the depth chart right now:
I think there are four of them. I don’t really look at the depth chart and see who my number one and number two are, and I don’t think the game is that way anymore, though some do. The teams that have Shea Weber and [Drew] Doughty yes, but there are only six or seven of those guys in the game. When you look at our team and our top four, you see that [John] Klingberg and [Alex] Goligoski were a great pair. Now we have Johnny Oduya that can work with Jason Demers. Jordie Benn has also been around a long time, and we have a bunch of young kids coming in. It’s going to be more about depth, and potentially down the road John Klingberg could become the next Erik Karlsson. We think he’s heading in that direction and if he continues to improve, I think he will be that type of player. We’re sitting good. We have some good, young pieces coming. Like I said, potential is just a word. But history has shown that some of these guys get better and become better than you have ever dreamed of. One of these days, we are going to wake up with a pretty solid core of young defensemen.