Back to the Dallas Stars Newsfeed

Heika: How wanting to be overripe shaped Jim Nill's career, helped him turn Stars into a rising power in the NHL

David Woo/Staff Photographer

Jim Nill, center, was introduced as the Dallas Stars new general manager by Dallas Stars owner Tom Gaglardi, left, and President and CEO Jim Lites, right, on Monday, April 29, 2013, in Dallas at the American Airlines Center. (David Woo/The Dallas Morning News)

Overripe.

It's one of Jim Nill's favorite words.

The Stars general manager pushes to have his prospects "overripe," so that when they do step into the NHL, they can do so with relative ease. It's a theory that was proven by players like Stephen Johns and Radek Faksa when they were each called up late last season after long stretches in the AHL.