Thursday, June 4, 2009

Thursday Morning Cupcheck - We Wish To Welcome Our New Toronto Maple Leaf Overlords

By Todd Maternowski

Howdy, hockey hombres: here's hoping Detroit's shockingly mediocre play in the first three games of the Stanley Cup Finals hasn't got your Russia mafia bookies eyeing your knees longingly while they reassure you with kind words. Last week we broke down both teams' pathetic weaknesses in a totally new avant-garde way: this week, I was planning on releasing the details of my new self-shot reality show, In Pavel's House (episode one: Peeing in the Fridge), but was forced to put that on hold for now as world-shaking news hit Stars fans on Sunday.

Yes, we have a new GM! And it's only one guy this time!

Financial maverick Tom Hicks made it official Sunday: former Dallas Star and longtime fan favorite Joe Nieuwendyk has replaced Voltron co-GM Lesbrett Hulkson, the two being mechanically separated and given other roles in the organization. We all know who Nieuwendyk is: three Cups, three teams, three decades, Conn Smythe, etc etc blah blah. But is this a good move for the Stars?

We left your room just like you left it, Newy

Or is it a great move for the Stars?

First, a little love for the men he replaced: while my thoughts on Hull are pretty cut-and-dry, I use far too little ink describing what I truly feel about Les Jackson. The man was a hell of a GM, despite last season's catastrophic results, and I maintain that had not Jackson been amazingly competent and passionate about his job and his role in the organization, last season could've been far worse.

To begin with, when Hicks jumped the gun on the Austin AHL affiliate and the Iowa Stars bailed, the pro club's minor league call-up system was completely destroyed. Jackson had to step in, sending every Stars prospect and vet to five different AHL teams. That already put the Stars at a huge disadvantage before the season even started: the upper levels of the minor leagues are critical to a hockey team's success. Injuries are inevitable, and the game is built more and more on young guys coming up to prove themselves. Without a 'feeder' team to the bigs, the Stars couldn't bring up and send down guys like the other 29 NHL teams. And the team's cohesiveness on and off the ice suffered for it, initially. That Jackson was able to keep track of all these players and get them on (sometimes competing) AHL teams is a testament to his drive and ability.

But it goes far beyond that: Jackson may not be much of a rah-rah-win-one-for-the-Gipper-type leader, he is amazingly skilled at putting out fires. When the Stars were letting in 2-3 soft goals a night early on, Jackson got Brian Sutherby --for practically nothing-- to replace the huge gap Stu Barnes left as checking forward. When the three young d-men were clearly suffering through three sophomore slumps, Jackson traded Philippe "Damaged Goods" Boucher for lockerroom presence and mentor Darryl Sydor. When the Stars had three of their top four centers down with injury late in the season, Jackson picked up Brendan Morrison for literally nothing, when other GMs around the league were sending top prospects for centers who were awesome in 1996. And when speedy checking center Toby Petersen went down to injury, Jackson got speedy checking center Steve Begin from the Canadiens for an 8th round pick.

Those are not minor patch-up type deals: Sutherby is now signed for two more years, while Begin and Morrison had decent if unspectacular stints with the Stars. And Dallas' single most glaring problem last season --the Sean Avery debacle-- was handled efficiently, with the Stars dumping Avery and half his bloated contract despite having absolutely no bargaining leverage whatsoever.

Perhaps more importantly, Jackson's true strength --drafting-- has paid off huge dividends since the lockout. despite not having a first-rounder in 2003 or 2007, Jackson's picks for those years are pretty impeccable: every first-round draft pick (and more than half the second-rounders) of the Stars from 2004-2007 has played with the club, with newest addition Ivan Vishnevskiy surprising everyone with his play at the end of last season. Not wasting any of your high draft picks is crucial in a sport with a salary cap and early free agency, and Jackson has proven to be a Ken Holland-esque master of his domain in that regard.

The Stars' youth movement is really paying off

And even going back to last year, Jackson made a huge splash when --realizing that all successful Cup-contending teams have two scoring centers-- he snagged an All-Star and recent Conn Smythe winner for a backup goalie, a third-line center and a shootout specialist. While we'd love to have Mike Smith back (the lack of a clear backup to Turco is the only real blemish on Jackson's record last year), Smith isn't leading the Stars to within two wins of the Cup Finals in his first year.

Ironically, the player the Stars hoped Richards would most closely resemble is now the GM: the similarities between Nieuwendyk and Richards are pretty obvious, although Richards could take some pointers from Nieuwy on winning faceoffs (something the Stars have not done well since Joe was traded).

Personally, everyone who has met or interacted with Niewy on a personal level has said the same thing: he's a stand-up guy, incredibly intelligent and well-spoken (even for an Ivy Leaguer), and a proven winner in every endeavor he's ever participated in. He wins Cups wherever he went as a player, and as a GM was considered a rising up-and-comer.

Although it's tough to look at a few years' worth of work as an Assistant GM and pinpoint obvious results, Nieuwendyk's record with Florida and Toronto is apparently an impressive one: evidently Joe was tasked with scouting and signing the top talent in college hockey this past year, and the result was that two of the top three college prospects signed with Toronto. That's a good sign for Stars fans, who are no doubt looking forward to the team re-signing Joe's former teammates Sergei Zubov, Jere Lehtinen and Darryl Sydor to fair, non-bank-breaking contracts this summer. You want your GM to be a shrewd, but fair, negotiator.

Perhaps even more importantly is Nieuwendyk's relationship with a certain Jay Bouwmeester. While he's probably out of the Stars' price range (although so was Hossa when he signed with Detroit last season), J-Bo would certainly be just the right puck-moving defensive force to replace an aging Zubov. J-Bo has often expressed his desire to sign with a team not in the public spotlight, and probably 70% of Canadians can't even find Texas on a map, despite its being half the size of Canada.

Time will tell if it's a good move or not. Also, I will tell: it's a great move. And having Jackson concentrate on scouting --particularly when the Stars have their highest draft pick since the railroad was invented-- should prove to the nay-sayers that Hicks still knows what he's doing when it comes to making tough sports decisions.

That's it for this week's Cupcheck: tune in next week when I chastise the new regime for not signing Tony Hrkac and Benoit Hogue to long-term contracts.

Related stories

• Thursday Morning Cupcheck - Dallas Stars Hockey Horoscope (Sept. 17, 2009)
• Thursday Morning Cupcheck — Epic Fail in the Eastern Conference (Sept. 3, 2009)
• Thursday Morning Cupcheck - Gary Bettman on the State of the NHL (Aug. 20, 2009)
• Thursday Morning Cupcheck: The Curious Case of Mr. Sergei Zubov (July 16, 2009)
• Thursday Morning Cupcheck — 2009 free agents: Victory or triumph? (July 9, 2009)

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