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Stars owner Tom Gaglardi talks team’s youth, Jim Nill’s track record and 2022-23 success

Gaglardi reflected on Pete DeBoer’s first season as head coach, his relationship with Dallas’ pro sports team owners and Luka Doncic’s status as a hockey fan.

Stars owner Tom Gaglardi — a Vancouver, British Columbia, native with North Texas ties — spoke at The Real Estate Council’s first speaker series luncheon of the year on Monday at the Fairmont Dallas hotel.

He discussed sports betting, the team’s tenure at American Airlines Center, rising interest rates and the booming valuation of his hockey franchise.

Oh, and his first-place NHL team.

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Gaglardi, president of Northland Properties Corp., reflected on the Stars’ 2022-23 success, the team’s young core, Dallas’ recent coaching change and more. Here are his takeaways on the Western Conference-leading Stars and their future:

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Is this Stars team the best yet under Gaglardi’s tenure as owner?

First, the long-story-short response to that question.

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“I don’t know yet,” Gaglardi said.

Fair answer. Maybe it’s best to check back in with him after the Stanley Cup playoffs.

He does know this much, though.

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“It’s probably the best team we’ve had in terms of young guys being our best players and driving things,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve ever had that before to this extent … our teams that were good over the past decade or so were highly driven by veterans.”

That young core — including forwards Roope Hintz (26 years old) and Jason Robertson (23), defenseman Miro Heiskanen (23) and goaltender Jake Oettinger (24) — have helped the Stars (28-13-8) to the top of the Western Conference standings with 64 points. An overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Monday lifted the Stars one point ahead of the Winnipeg Jets for first place.

Robertson (64 points, first on the Stars), Hintz (45, second most) and Heiskanen (39, fifth most) are three of the five highest point-scorers for a team that ranks fourth leaguewide in goals scored. Oettinger ranks third in the NHL with a 2.22 goals-against average.

With a points percentage of .653, this year’s Stars are second to only the 2015-16 team (.665) that went 50-23-9 and lost in the second round of the playoffs in that statistical category since Gaglardi acquired the team in 2011. It’s on pace to post a better regular-season record than the 2019-20 team that lost in the Stanley Cup Finals, too.

“It’s a different team, and it may well be the deepest team we’ve had,” Gaglardi said.

About that young core ...

Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) celebrated his goal with center Roope Hintz (24) during...
Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) celebrated his goal with center Roope Hintz (24) during the third period of an NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets at American Airlines Center on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, in Dallas. The Stars defeated the Jets 4-1.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)

A core doesn’t mean much without retention. The Stars (up to this point) have shown a level of commitment to keeping theirs together.

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Hintz is signed through 2031, Heiskanen through 2029, Robertson through 2026 and Oettinger through 2025. All but Heiskanen, who signed his eight-year, $67.6 million extension in 2021, were inked to extensions in 2022. The combined annual salary of the four are worth 28.2% of the Stars’ total cap hit in 2022, per capfriendly.com.

“Teams are about cores,” Gaglardi said. “To the extent that these guys are our core, we plan to keep them. There’s a lot of planning that goes into these things. A guy like Robertson, who comes off [his contract] in four years, if he’s somebody that we believe in, we’ll be looking at a long term, likely very expensive deal for him. He’s quite a talent, and we’ll have the room to do that.”

Gaglardi alluded to the potential of money that may come off of the books by the time Robertson and Oettinger’s respective contracts are up. Forward Jamie Benn’s eight-year, $76 million contract expires in 2025, while forward Tyler Seguin’s eight-year, $78 million deal will be up two years after that. Seguin and Benn, respectively, have the first- and second-highest contract average annual values on the team in 2022.

“Jamie [Benn] and Tyler [Seguin] are two of the biggest earners on the team, and their contracts will be up in the future,” Gaglardi said. “They’ll either re-up here, or their money will go to the next guy.”

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Tom Gaglardi (left), owner of the Stars hockey team and president of Northland Properties...
Tom Gaglardi (left), owner of the Stars hockey team and president of Northland Properties Corp., responded to questions from The Dallas Morning News managing editor Amy Hollyfield (right) at the Fairmont Dallas hotel on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. This conversation was part of a Bank of Texas Speaker Series with The Real Estate Council.(Liesbeth Powers / Staff Photographer)

After five coaches in nine years, Gaglardi reaffirms trust in Jim Nill

Despite Dallas’ somewhat revolving door on the bench, which has included five head coaches since Jim Nill’s hiring in 2013, Gaglardi doubled down on his support for the Stars’ general manager.

“A 10-year GM is very common in the league, it’s not a job that flips over very often,” Gaglardi said. “When you get a really stable, smart, seasoned balance decision-maker like Jim Nill, there’s really no need to [change things].”

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A recap: Nill hired Lindy Ruff as the team’s seventh head coach in 2013. After four seasons (and the team’s first playoff appearance since 2008), the Stars announced Ruff would not return for the 2017-18 season. Dallas then hired Ken Hitchcock, who lasted one season. Hitchcock’s replacement Jim Montgomery coached Dallas from 2018-19, but was fired in December of 2019 for “unprofessional conduct.” Montgomery later announced in 2020 that he had checked into rehab to deal with alcohol abuse.

Montgomery has since worked as an assistant for the St. Louis Blues (2020-22) and was hired as the Boston Bruins’ head coach in June. The Bruins (37-5-4) have the NHL’s best record in Montgomery’s first season.

“[Montgomery] is now in Boston and they’re the No. 1 team in the league,” Gaglardi said. “Jim was right to hire him. He’s a heck of a coach. ... I’d say before that, Ken Hitchcock was only ever going to be a one- or two-year guy. People will say that wasn’t a good decision to bring him in; I’d argue [against] that. ... [Hitchcock] was brought in on a one-year deal, and he changed our identity in one year. And that’s an identity that’s served us very well. It got us to the Stanley Cup Finals; it’s brought us into first place now.

“This identity does not exist without Ken Hitchcock.”

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Rick Bowness replaced Montgomery, led the Stars to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, and stepped away from his position after Dallas’ loss in the 2022 playoffs with his contract set to expire. Nill hired Pete DeBoer, one month after his dismissal from Las Vegas, in June 2022.

“We wanted to score more, be more offensive,” Gaglardi said. “That was the role we asked Pete to do, and he took that and he looks like the perfect fit.”

Nill, 64, has worked in NHL front offices since the early 1990s. Gaglardi said that whenever Nill does retire, he hopes his replacement is an internal one.

In a landscape of well-known owners, where does Gaglardi fit in?

When Gaglardi purchased the Stars in 2011, he received a call from Rangers owner Ray Davis. It went, as Gaglardi recalls, something like this.

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“I haven’t seen you in a long time,” Davis said.

“Oh, OK,” Gaglardi responded.

“You know we went to the same college together?” Davis said.

Gaglardi, nearly 30 years younger than Davis, was confused — until Davis referenced LeTourneau University in Longview, which Gaglardi’s father Bob attended.

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“Mr. Davis, you mean my father,” Gaglardi said with a laugh.

Gaglardi said the two have become friends and have met for lunch several times. As for his arena-mate Mark Cuban, the Mavericks governor, Gaglardi said he has an ongoing, working relationship.

“He’s Mark,” Gaglardi said. “We’d need another session to talk about Mark.”

Gaglardi said he’s gotten to know Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones well and has done a real estate transaction with him.

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Will Luka Doncic become a Stars fan?

The Mavericks' Luka Doncic watched the Stars play the Los Angeles Kings in the second period...
The Mavericks' Luka Doncic watched the Stars play the Los Angeles Kings in the second period at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. (File Photo/Staff)(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

It wouldn’t be a Dallas sports get-together without a Luka Doncic reference.

Asked if the Mavericks’ 23-year-old superstar was — or will become — a fan of the Stars, Gaglardi was unsure.

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“Some Cowboys come to our games, some Rangers,” Gaglardi said. “I have not met Luka.”

Even still, the All-NBA guard (who entered Tuesday sharing the NBA lead in points per game at 33.6) is a head-turner.

“What a ball player, though,” Gaglardi said. “Holy cow.”

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