DALLAS -- Joe Nieuwendyk has dealt with a lot of tough decisions since being named Stars general manager in May 2009, but you would think firing the very coach he hired in just two seasons would have been the toughest. Not so. "It's never easy, but I knew it was best for the team, and so you just have to make a decision and then do what's necessary," Nieuwendyk said of his decision to fire Marc Crawford after last season. "I think once you understand the team and the organization are above everything else, you see things pretty clearly."
If anything has defined Nieuwendyk's reign so far, it's that he is not afraid of the tough decisions.
He decided not to re-sign good friends Sergei Zubov and Darryl Sydor in his first summer on the job. He let go of Stars icons Mike Modano and Marty Turco the next summer. He cut loose coaching veterans Dave Tippett and Rick Wilson right off the bat, and then fired Crawford and Charlie Huddy just two seasons after he hired them. Earlier this month, he let go Tim Bernhardt, the director of amateur scouting, who had been with the organization for 18 years.
"He's pretty decisive when he makes up his mind," said Fox Sports Southwest analyst and former teammate Craig Ludwig. "When you look at what he does, he doesn't mess around. He weighs the situation, and then he moves."
A new era arrives
And two seasons into this adventure, Nieuwendyk has moved the Stars a ton. He started with a team that still was hanging onto a decadelong culture of loading up on veterans, and he now has moved into a world where 22-year-old forward Jamie Benn might be his best player and 40-year-old Glen Gulutzan will get his first chance to coach in the NHL.
"There was a time when it was sustainable to reload with veterans and win. They did that here for a very long time," Nieuwendyk said. "But I think with the new culture of the NHL, teams sign their own players and they sign them long-term. That means that it's really difficult to go and get those big names in free agency."
And that's a realization Nieuwendyk has accepted with on-the-job training. When he fired Tippett and hired Crawford, he did so because the Stars had a veteran team and he wanted to win immediately.
"You look at Mike Modano and Marty Turco and the players we had, and those are strong personalities," Nieuwendyk said. "I felt I needed a strong personality to coach those players and to win. ... I always want to win."
But Nieuwendyk also understands that there is a subtle finesse in trying to win every season and trying to build a team for the future -- and some of his moves display that balance.
Unearthing gems
When pushed to find Turco's replacement, he didn't lay out big money for a veteran free agent. He decided to try a reclamation project, Kari Lehtonen, who was injury-prone, out of shape and seemingly on the outs with the Atlanta Thrashers. Nieuwendyk got him for prospect Ivan Vishnevskiy and a fourth-round draft pick.
Now, Lehtonen is in the best shape of his career, played the third-most games in the NHL last season and appears headed into a very good stretch in his career at age 27.
Nieuwendyk did the same thing when he was looking for a puck-moving defenseman. While there were plenty of 30somethings who could be had at a high cost, Nieuwendyk found 25-year-old Alex Goligoski, who was playing a secondary role with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Stars had to move two good, young players in James Neal and Matt Niskanen to make the swap, but Goligoski averaged 26:04 in time on ice in his 23 games with the Stars last season and tallied 15 points. Projected over 82 games, that would have put him in the top 10 among NHL defensemen.
And the Stars now could have his potential ascent for the next decade.
With the free-agent departure of Brad Richards in the off-season, Lehtonen and Goligoski are part of a new core that is in place as the Stars begin their season Friday at American Airlines Center, hoping to end their three-season absence from the playoffs.
"You look around the room, and you definitely like the players who are here," said captain Brenden Morrow. "It's tough to lose friends, but when you see players who are younger and bigger, you feel good about where we're going."
Modano said he likes the direction, especially considering that Nieuwendyk has been handcuffed by the Stars' muddled ownership situation. Ownership has been in limbo since Tom Hicks defaulted on $525 million in loans in 2009. The team hopes to emerge from bankruptcy with a new owner in November.
"You certainly understand the business side of it and what Joe is up against, and I do think they're a better team now," said Modano, who recently announced his retirement after spending his final season in Detroit. "When you think about how his hands have been tied and what he's had to deal with as far as ownership, I don't think he fully understood all of that when he took the job. But, yeah, I think he's done a good job and will continue to do a good job."
Overcoming emotions
That doesn't mean it's easy, though.
"He's an interesting guy in that he is emotional and he does have empathy, and you can see when you watch him that he understands how painful some of these things are," said interim Stars president Tony Tavares. "But once he has processed the decision and rationalized the decision, then he moves forward with real purpose."
And those are traits that Tavares says will serve Nieuwendyk for years to come.
"I've been around him and been able to watch him in a lot of situations, and I've been so impressed," Tavares said. "I don't think he's just going to be a good GM, I think he's going to be a great GM."
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