The Dallas Stars began their rebuilding process a year ago by cleaning house from top to bottom. Enter Jim Nill, long time assistant to Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland.

Nill brought in Lindy Ruff as his head coach as a no-nonsense veteran bench boss that is known for getting the most out of his players. Ruff is as animated in the pressroom as he is behind the bench and brought a wealth of experience with a proven track record of success.

The first order of business was to revamp the roster. After five consecutive seasons of watching the Stanley Cup playoffs, Nill sought to inject some life into a team that had only two losing seasons since their move to Texas, but annually underachieved or just plain collapsed.

Exactly a year ago today (July 4, 2013) Nill made his first blockbuster trade, sending Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser and Joe Morrow to Boston for Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley and Ryan Button. The trade was mutually beneficial for both clubs, with both Seguin and Smith enjoying breakout seasons. Eriksson, the primary piece for Boston struggled throughout the season with injury and failed to live up to his normal standard.

The Stars returned to the playoffs after sitting half a decade on the sidelines. Led by captain Jamie Benn, Seguin and goaltender Kari Lehtonen, the Stars were a handful for the second seeded Ducks before bowing out four games to two in the first round.

Heading into the offseason, the Stars needed to give their top line some support. With a huge disparity between the Seguin-Benn line and everyone else, Jim Nill did just that acquiring center Jason Spezza and Ludwig Karlsson from Ottawa for Alex Chiasson prospects Nicholas Paul and Alex Guptill and a second-round draft pick in 2015.

With his second blockbuster deal in two years, Nill managed to get leadership and talent to immediately make the Stars better in the center-heavy Western Conference. Spezza’s best days may be behind him but the disgruntled former Senator still has some tread on the wheels and will be a difference maker for Dallas immediately. Later in the day the Stars signed free agent Ales Hemsky, who was a teammate of Spezza in Ottawa after the trade deadline.

Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray did the best he could in the deal but was never going to get equal value for a player who made it known that he wanted out of town. Chiasson has the potential to be a top six forward, while the prospects may well have been throw ins.

Dallas and their sophomore general manager certainly won the trade with Ottawa if for no other reason than they had the odds stacked in their favor. If Spezza fails to impress, Dallas is only on the hook for the final year of his contract. Should the Stars stumble next season, (hint, they won’t) Spezza could be a trade deadline mercenary.

There are sure to be more deals made as the madness of free agency leaves many teams with the realization that they still have a lot of holes to fill. Don’t expect to see many more deals that are as one-sided as the Spezza deal.