problem is Nill is great at scouting forwards, not so hot on scouting D and goalies
its evident in the moves he has made as well. Oduya and Hamhuis are terrific dmen, in the right situation. Problem is thats not the situation in Dallas
The net issues have long been addressed at this point
Dallas has "nice" young dmen in Johns, Lindell, Honka, but nothing with VERY promising upside
Unfortunately Dallas might be resorted to trying to outbid the FA market moving forward to improve the blue line
I guess it depends on your definition of very promising. In most definitions, Honka is that. He was asked for by NYR in the Talbot discussions but that's when Nill walked away the first time. Knowing what Edmonton ended up paying, I consider it a big failure that Nill wasn't able to work a deal. He valued his picks too highly and thought it was better to hit the free agent market instead. I wonder if that mistake plays a roll in his decision making this time around.
I know there were a few on the Stars page not on board with acquiring Cam Talbot and they like to downplay the reality, the reality that it was a mistake by Jim Nill to bail on trade talk, and the reality that Talbot would have solved our goaltending issues and this thread wouldn't even exist.
As for our defense, there's no doubt that Jim Nill likes what he has personnel-wise, meaning he has high hopes for the kids we're discussing, Hamhuis and Oduya are stop-gaps until these kids are mature and can hopefully become those legit NHL defensemen teams pine for. I almost want to say he expected the growing pains and a little slide, though not this big one with every other problem compounding things. I'm not sure he desires to throw big $$ around to fix holes back there, ie 6-7 mill for a Kevin Shattenkirk.