Never one to stay quiet for long, Brett Hull remembers the moment he was left speechless.
One day in November, Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks wanted breakfast with Hull, owner of 741 goals and the man whose goal brought the Stars the Stanley Cup in 1999.
The meeting was after an overtime loss to the Kings, in which the Stars blew a four-goal lead in the third period and left them a woeful 7-7-3. Such meetings were not unusual, however, because as special assistant to Jim Lites, the club's president, Hull was a sounding board for Hicks.
But Hicks wanted more than advice. He wanted Hull.
The Stars needed a jolt, Hicks told him that day. Lites and General Manager Doug Armstrong were out, said Hicks, who wanted Hull and Les Jackson as co-GMs.
"It came right out of left field," Hull said. "I had no idea."
No one is more surprised to see Hull in the role of a buttoned-down executive than the future Hall of Fame winger himself. The rumpled shirt and loosened tie he wears while watching his team take a surprising 2-0 first-round series lead over the defending champion Ducks suggests he is more cold beer than fine wine.
But the changes Hull and Jackson put into play have helped lift Dallas, which heads into Game 3 tonight at the American Airlines Center.
Management wasn't a consideration when Hull retired in 2005. Now, in his crash course of running a team, he leans on Jackson, a veteran of the Stars' front office who prefers to work behind the scenes.
Hull, with his quick smile and quicker wit, handles the public role, even starring in a Stars marketing campaign as the self-proclaimed "ambassador of fun." He is serious, however, about winning.
"The ideas on how you run the scouting department and how you run an organization, he's had in his mind for a long time," Hull said of Jackson. "I think I almost learn something new every day."
Having watched Dallas surge into first place into the Pacific Division, the two acquired former playoff MVP Brad Richards, the centerpiece of a five-player deal at the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
Richards, 27, struggled down the stretch, but no matter. He has had an impact in these playoffs, collecting an assist in the Game 1 win and a key insurance goal in Game 2.
"We got Brad Richards [from Tampa Bay] to be the next Mike Modano," Hull said. "Mike is 37 years old. Mike Ribeiro is [28] years old. We needed a guy that was as talented as Mike Modano, just at a younger age.
