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 NHL.
Franchise history:
The Minnesota North Stars were founded as an expansion team in 1967, playing their games in Bloomington, Minnesota, initially successful both on the ice and at the gate.
They were purchased by the owners of the also-struggling Cleveland Barons in 1978 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 made the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981, but they lost in five games to the New York Islanders. However the 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 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
In the following season, Minnesota had lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals. Then, just two years later, Green obtained permission to move the team to the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, where they were renamed the Dallas Stars. In the 1994 playoffs the Stars lost to the Cinderella-story Vancouver Canucks. The Stars won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, vs. the Buffalo Sabers in 1999. 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.
2006-2007 Season:
During summer 2006, the Stars made a number of changes. Former Stars goalkeeper Andy Moog was promoted to Assistant General Manager for Player Development and former player Ulf Dahlen was hired as an assistant coach. The Stars allowed right-winger Bill Guerin, center Jason Arnott, defenseman Willie Mitchell, and goaltender Johan Hedberg to leave as free agents. Further Niko Kapanen was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers.
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.
Brenden Morrow was announced as new team captain on September 29, 2006, taking the “C” from Mike Modano. Center Mike Ribeiro, winger Ladislav Nagy and defenseman Mattias Norstrom were added through three separate trades during the season. Young players Joel Lundqvist, Krys Barch, Nicklas Grossman, and Chris Conner all saw significant ice time while other players were out of the lineup with injuries.
The 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at the American Airlines Center on January 24, 2007. Defenseman Philippe Boucher and goaltender Marty Turco would represent the Stars as part of the Western Conference All-Star roster.
Mike Modano scored his 500th career NHL goal, making him only the 39th player and 2nd American to ever reach 500 goals on March 13, 2007. Modano scored his 502nd and 503rd NHL goals, breaking the record for an American-born player previously held by Joe Mullen on March 17, 2007.
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 but the Stars’ offense failed to capitalize and they lost the series 4 games to 3.
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