Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars have emerged in the last decade to be one of the premier franchises in the Western Conference. Since their relocation to Dallas from Minnesota, the Stars have been frequent visitors to the playoffs, winning their lone Stanley Cup in 1999.

Founded in 1967,the North Stars struggled through the early 1970s, until they merged with the Cleveland Barons. The combined talent of the two teams proved to be enough to turn the North Stars into a contending team in the NHL’s Adams Division. After a string of winning seasons, the North Stars eventually made it to the Cup finals in 1981, where they were defeated by a New York Islanders team in the process of creating one of hockey’s great dynasties. A trip to the Conference finals in 1984 saw the North Stars meet yet another one of the greatest teams to ever touch the ice, when Wayne Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers defeated them.

After another decade in Minnesota, low attendance and low morale after yet another defeat in the Cup Finals at the hands of Mario Lemeiux’s Penguins drove the ownership to relocate the team to Dallas in 1993. Perhaps the best thing that came out of the late 1980s for the Dallas Stars was the drafting of their best player in franchise history, Mike Modano.

Since their relocation to Dallas, the Stars have met with varying measures of success. Winners of seven Pacific Division titles, Dallas has won two President’s Cup titles in the last ten years, accumulating the most points in the regular season of any NHL team.

In 1999, Dallas won one of the most controversial Stanley Cups in NHL history when Brett Hull scored the overtime winner in Game 6 against the Buffalo Sabres. While replays clearly showed Hull’s skate in the goal crease, the goal stood and the Stars walked away with the Cup. The Stars nearly defended their title in 2000, but lost in the Cup Finals to the New Jersey Devils.

The home arena is the American Airlines Center which is shared with NBA team Dallas Mavericks and has a capacity of 18,532.

In the last ten years Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and New Jersey Devils have made the most points in NHL.

Stanley Cups won: 1998-1999

Notable Players: Ed Belfour, Brian Bellows, Philippe Boucher, Neal Broten, Ulf Dahlen, Derian Hatcher, Brett Hull, Jere Lehtinen, Bill Masterton, Mike Modano, Andy Moog, Brendan Morrow, Darryl Sydor, Marty Turco, Roman Turek, Sergei Zubov