Tom Hicks said he has listened to Brett Hull tell him for two years that the Stars need to go out and get a scoring winger.

"So the first thing I told him was, 'Now you know what your first job is,' " Hicks said with a laugh Wednesday at the news conference that named Hull and Les Jackson interim co-general managers of the Stars.

The move was surprising and has plenty of challenges for both men, but Hull, 43, and Jackson, 54, said they can make the two-headed GM work.

"I know one thing," Hull said. "Now I have to put my money where my mouth is and go out and do the things I've been telling everybody else to do. It's a challenge, but it's a great challenge. It's something I'm really looking forward to."

Hull admits that he really doesn't know how to be a GM. He said he will defer all primary trade talk and communication with other teams to Jackson, who has been either a coach or administrator at the NHL level for the last 22 years. Jackson said he too understands the delicate balance it will take to get the job done.

"It won't be easy," Jackson said. "There are a lot of things that we have to learn, a lot of things that we need to talk through. But I believe in Brett, and I believe in what we have assembled here, and we'll take it one game at a time."

The duo has 65 games (64 after Thursday night's 4-3 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks) to prove they can do the job.

Hicks said he will leave the current structure in place for the remainder of the season and evaluate in the summer. If this is an audition, neither man seems to be panicking.

"We can't just come in and change things immediately," Jackson said. "We have to take our time and we have to assess the situation. There are things I think we both would like to look at, and some things are easier done than others, but we still need to think things through."

Jackson mentioned that he wants a team with speed and young legs. The Stars currently have Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist in the minors, and it would be easy to imagine that Jackson, who has overseen amateur scouting for the Stars, would like to get those players back to the NHL level.

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Jim Lites has been president of the Stars since the team moved to Texas in 1993.

"The game has changed," Jackson said. "It's a young man's game."

Jackson and Hull said they will form a team philosophy together. Both expect it to be a mix of aggressive offense and solid team defense.

"The teams I've played on that were good, were good defensive teams," Hull said. "There's nothing that says you can't be both."

He added: "We have the same philosophies, but we are going to have to be on the same page with what we say, what we think and how we do it. I really don't see a problem with that."

And if that page leads to a goal-scoring winger, well, that would be just fine, Hull said.

"Oh, I'll admit it, I'm going to be excited about that first transaction," he said. "We want to make sure it's a good one."