Stars execs voluntarily take 50% pay cuts

Dallas Stars president Jim Lites and general manager Jim Nill have agreed to trim their salaries in half during the pause in the NHL season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Nill told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski on Wednesday.

"As soon as this virus hit and we started to see where things were going, we knew it was going to hit (Stars owner Tom Gaglardi) hard, as he's in the hotel and restaurant business," Nill said. "And that it was going to hit all of us. We just thought this was the right thing for our organization to do."

The pay cuts are voluntary and not connected to any club staffing reductions, according to Wyshynski.

On Tuesday, ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported the NHL is temporarily decreasing league office employee salaries by 25%.

Several clubs are also taking cost-cutting measures. The Montreal Canadiens are temporarily laying off 60% of their employees as of March 30. The New Jersey Devils, meanwhile, had planned to trim full-time staff salaries by 20% before co-owner Josh Harris reversed course and apologized.