Grade your GM

[BigG44]

I gave him a C+.

Summer of 2018, I would have given him a D- at best. I was pretty pissed off by alot of his moves up until then (goaltending issue, questionable free agents, another playoff-less season) and I hated his drafting (which admittingly was clouded by the pure rage of the Guri pick and the absolute waste of a draft in 2014). I think his drafting on paper has improved since then, his cap management/signings has generally been good and the last 1.75 seasons the results have been there on the ice, thus the "improvement" to C+.

I think the 2017 draft is going to be Nill's coupe de grace. Miro/JRob/Otter is an outstanding draft and I believe JRob and Otter will be impact players along with Miro. I wasn't crazy about the Dellandrea pick when it was made but we'll see where that goes. Harley was an outstanding pick.

I think the 2017 draft panning out is pretty much what is going to make or break the Stars for the next 10 years and ultimately will be Nill's legacy with the team when he's gone.

Don't sleep on 2015 ... that's turning into a pretty important draft as well. It's not just Hintz and Gurianov. Cecconi is the only other player left from that draft, but he has pretty good potential. He plays a similar game to Stephen Johns, and he's always been a guy that succeeded playing with high end defensive partners (Werenski and Quinn/U of Michigan). He's on Texas' top shutdown pair right now as a rookie. You have Lindell-Klingberg and it's starting to look like you have something in Heiskanen-Johns (honestly could be better than the first). There's definitely some potential for a Harley-Cecconi pair.

One or both of Gardner and Caamano could salvage the 2016 draft, but that overall is not great year.

 

[Smelling Salt]

Don't sleep on 2015 ... that's turning into a pretty important draft as well. It's not just Hintz and Gurianov. Cecconi is the only other player left from that draft, but he has pretty good potential. He plays a similar game to Stephen Johns, and he's always been a guy that succeeded playing with high end defensive partners (Werenski and Quinn/U of Michigan). He's on Texas' top shutdown pair right now as a rookie. You have Lindell-Klingberg and it's starting to look like you have something in Heiskanen-Johns (honestly could be better than the first). There's definitely some potential for a Harley-Cecconi pair.

One or both of Gardner and Caamano could salvage the 2016 draft, but that overall is not great year.

2015 will always be sullied for me by not picking Connor/Barzal/Chabot. Guri is having a nice year, but he's gonna need to become an automatic 30 goal man to make up for that. But you're right, it's not bad even with Guri only becoming a 20 goal dude and Hintz doing the same.

Cecconi I really don't understand the hype by some. Seems like a dime a dozen NCAA player. I have zero expectations.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Seems like he does better in odd number years. And, with so few picks this year, 2020 probably won't be a banner year for Stars drafting.

It did seem that the scouts got enamored with speed and size with the Tufte and Guri picks (Hintz, too, who was a great second round value, many had him ranked first round, not unlike Robertson now). While I get the speed and size, I think its important to pick players who actually have used those skills to produce points at lower levels. Seems like he has learned his lessons?

 

[BfantZ]

I agree on every count. The thing about being a better team is all relative though. Luck plays a larger role in the playoffs than most people care to admit, and we were literally an inch of luck away from the Conference Finals.

Nill recognized that last year’s team could’ve gone all the way. So he went out and made this year’s team even better. He got lucky, too (e.g. Johns returning). But the team is better than they were a year ago. St. Louis is arguably better as well, but they also aren’t on a ridiculous tear now. If anything, we are. Since November, I feel comfortable saying we’ve played better hockey than any other team in the West.

So who knows. We’re comfortably in a playoff spot and should feel content with our chances there. I don’t think there’s much more we can ask for right now.

You forgot about the rule where you have to add something at the deadline regardless of how set your roster was at the start of the year .