Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Prior to 1993, the team was known as the Minnesota North Stars.

Dallas Stars
File:DallasStars.png
Conference	Western
Division	Pacific
Founded	1967
History	Minnesota North Stars 1967 - 1993 Dallas Stars 1993 - present
Home arena	American Airlines Center
City	Dallas, Texas
Team colors	Green, Black, Gold, and White
Media	FSN Southwest KDFI (My 27) WBAP (820 AM)
Owner(s)	Tom Hicks
General manager	Brett Hull (interim) Les Jackson (interim)
Head coach	Dave Tippett
Captain	Brenden Morrow
Minor league affiliates	Iowa Stars (AHL) Idaho Steelheads (ECHL)
Stanley Cups	1998-99
Conference championships	1998-99, 1999-00
Division championships	1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2005-06

1967-1993: Minnesota Years

The Minnesota North Stars were founded as an expansion team in 1967, playing their games adjacent to Metropolitan Stadium at the newly-constructed Metropolitan Sports Center (the "Met Center") in Bloomington, Minnesota. Initially successful both on the ice and at the gate, the North Stars fell victim to financial problems after several poor seasons in the mid-1970s.

In 1978, they were purchased by the owners of the also struggling Cleveland Barons (formerly the California Golden Seals), the influential Gund brothers, George III and Gordon, and the NHL permitted the two franchises to merge. The merged team retained the name Minnesota North Stars, but assumed the Barons’ old place in the Adams Division. The merger brought with it a number of talented players, and the North Stars were revived, making the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981, but they lost in five games to the New York Islanders. However, by the early 1990s, declining attendance and the inability to secure a new downtown revenue-generating arena led ownership to request permission to move the team to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1990. The NHL rejected the request, and instead agreed to award an expansion franchise, the San Jose Sharks, to the Gund brothers. The North Stars were sold to a group of investors that were originally looking to place a team in San Jose, although one of the group's members, Norman Green, would eventually gain control of the team.^[1] In the following season, Minnesota made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, only to lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

1993: Relocation to Dallas

In 1993, amid further attendance woes and bitter personal controversy, Green obtained permission to move the team to the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, where they were renamed simply the Stars. The NHL, to quell the controversy, promised to the fans of Minnesota to return in the future with a new franchise. (That promise was fulfilled in 2000 when Minnesota was awarded the Minnesota Wild as an expansion franchise.)

In the 1994 playoffs the Stars lost to the cinderella-story Vancouver Canucks. Green would later sell the team to Tom Hicks.

In 1999 the Stars won the franchise's first Stanley Cup, versus the Buffalo Sabres in six games. Dallas returned to the Cup Finals in 2000, but would lose to the New Jersey Devils. For 2001-02, the team moved to a new arena, the American Airlines Center.

Despite initial reservations about the move to Texas, the Stars have enjoyed success both on and off the ice. On top of their 1999 Cup, they have won two Presidents' Trophies as the team with the best overall regular-season record. Dallas has also won seven division titles and two Western Conference titles in the past ten seasons. In the last ten years the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and New Jersey Devils have had the most points.^{[citation needed]}

The Stars made a number of changes during summer 2006. Former Stars goalkeeper Andy Moog was promoted to Assistant General Manager for Player Development (he kept his job as goaltending coach), and former player Ulf Dahlen was hired as an assistant coach.

The Stars allowed center Jason Arnott, defenseman Willie Mitchell, and goaltender Johan Hedberg to leave as free agents. Forward Niko Kapanen was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers and the remaining two years on right-winger Bill Guerin's contract were bought out.

The Stars received Patrik Stefan and Jaroslav Modry in the Atlanta trade, and signed Eric Lindros, Jeff Halpern, Matthew Barnaby and Darryl Sydor as free agents. Young goaltender Mike Smith was promoted to the NHL to serve as Marty Turco's backup.

On September 29, 2006, Brenden Morrow was announced as new team captain, taking the "C" from Mike Modano, who had served in the role since 2003. Modano is the last major Minnesota North Star still with the club.

During the season, center Mike Ribeiro, winger Ladislav Nagy and defenseman Mattias Norstrom were added through three separate trades. Young players Joel Lundqvist, Krys Barch, Nicklas Grossman, Chris Conner all saw significant ice time while other players were out of the lineup with injuries.

On January 24, 2007, the 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at the American Airlines Center. Defenceman Philippe Boucher and goaltender Marty Turco would represent the Stars as part of the Western Conference All-Star roster.

On March 13, 2007, Mike Modano scored his 500th career NHL goal, making him only the 39th player and 2nd American to ever reach 500 goals. On March 17, 2007, Modano scored his 502nd and 503rd NHL goals, breaking the record for an American-born player previously held by Joe Mullen.

The Stars qualified for the playoffs as the #6 seed in the Western conference and squared off against the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the playoffs. Goalkeeper Marty Turco pitched three shutout wins -- in games 2, 5 and 6 -- but the Stars' offense failed to capitalize and they lost the series 4 games to 3.

Jerseys

The team since its inception has used the Stars logo jersey on both home and away jerseys. For 2007, as part of the league-wide changeover to the Rbk Edge jerseys, the Stars changed their jerseys. The home jersey simply states 'Dallas' on the chest, with the primary logo relocated to the shoulders and the player number on the chest. The color of the home jersey has also changed from green to black. The alternate logo remains on the shoulders of the away jerseys.

Arena

The Stars played in 17,001 capacity Reunion Arena from their relocation in 1994, until the club moved to the 18,500 capacity American Airlines Center in 2001. It has become tradition that the fans in attendance shout "stars" during the phrasing of the word as the National Anthem is sung. At games, as part of the entertainment, a Kahlenberg KDT-123 fog horn sounds after every goal. The "Dallas Stars Fight Song", recorded by Dallas natives Pantera, is played when the Stars hit the ice after every intermission.

Broadcasters

Ralph Strangis Play-by-Play
Daryl Reaugh Color Analyst

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Stars. For the full season-by-season history, see Dallas Stars seasons

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of May 11, 2007. ^[3]

¹ As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games tied after regulation will be decided in a shootout; SOL (Shootout losses) will be recorded as OTL in the standings.

Current roster

As of February 25, 2008. [1]

Team captains

Note: This list does not include former captains of the Minnesota North Stars and Oakland Seals

• Mark Tinordi, 1993-95
• Neal Broten, 1995
• Derian Hatcher, 1995-2003
• Mike Modano, 2003-06
• Brenden Morrow, 2006- present

Hall of Famers

Please see the Hall of Fame section for the Minnesota North Stars for a list of franchise Hockey Hall of Fame members. No one who has played for the team in Dallas has been inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame yet.

Retired numbers

• 7 Neal Broten, C, 1981-95, including 1993-95 in Dallas & 1997, number retired February 7, 1998
• 8 Bill Goldsworthy, RW, 1967-77, number retired February 15, 1992
• 19 Bill Masterton, C, 1967-68, number retired January 17, 1987

Note: Goldsworthy and Masterton played for the Minnesota North Stars.

First-round draft picks

Note: This list does not include selections of the Minnesota North Stars.

• 1993: Todd Harvey (9th overall)
• 1994: Jason Botterill (20th overall)
• 1995: Jarome Iginla (11th overall)
• 1996: Ric Jackman (5th overall)
• 1997: Brenden Morrow (25th overall)
• 1998: None
• 1999: None
• 2000: Steve Ott (25th overall)
• 2001: Jason Bacashihua (26th overall)
• 2002: Martin Vagner (26th overall)
• 2003: None
• 2004: Mark Fistric (28th overall)
• 2005: Matt Niskanen (28th overall)
• 2006: Ivan Vishnevskiy (27th overall)
• 2007: None

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise (Minnesota & Dallas) history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Stars player

• Most Goals in a season: Dino Ciccarelli; Brian Bellows, 55 (1981-82; 1989-90)
• Most Assists in a season: Neal Broten, 76 (1985-86)
• Most Points in a season: Bobby Smith, 114 (1981-82)
• Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Basil McRae, 378 (1987-88)
• Most Points in a season, defenseman: Craig Hartsburg, 77 (1981-82)
• Most Points in a season, rookie: Neal Broten, 98 (1981-82)
• Most Wins in a season: Marty Turco, 41 (2005-06)
• Most Shutouts in a season: Marty Turco, 9 (2003-04)

• Oakland Seals
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons
• List of Stanley Cup champions

• Official website of the Dallas Stars
• DallasStarsHockey - Stars Statistical Site
• Dallas Stars Podcast - Weekly Podcast on the NHL and Stars
• Hockey Pacific: Fan site for Dallas Stars and the NHL's Pacific Division

Template:Dallas-Fort Worth Sports