The Dallas Stars are a National Hockey League 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.

The Minnesota North Stars began play in 1967 as part of the NHL's six-team expansion. Home games were played 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, the North Stars were purchased by the owners of the Cleveland Barons (formerly the California Golden Seals), the Gund brothers, George III and Gordon, and the NHL permitted the two failing franchises to merge. The merged team retained the name Minnesota North Stars, but assumed the Barons’ 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, where 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. In the following season, Minnesota made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, only to lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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 as the Stars. The NHL, to quell the controversy, promised the fans of Minnesota a 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.

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. Defenseman 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.

The Stars finished #5 during the 07-08 season. On April 25, 2008, in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Stars eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Ducks, in six games. On May 4, 2008, the Stars finished off the San Jose Sharks in six games, to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings four games to two.

Inside Shots

When the Dallas Stars packed up and said goodbye on Wednesday, they did it with more consolation than they have in previous seasons. After all, this time they were only two games away from the Stanley Cup Finals instead of two months. The angst of the past was replaced with some satisfaction in knowing they had come so far, when most figured they would be done after the first round.

Still, the Stars aren’t happy with the ending. They wanted more. They wanted that spot in the finals. And this offseason, they’re determined to find the piece or pieces needed to push them to that place.

So what do the Stars need? They still may be looking for that scoring winger, maybe a defenseman to bolster what is already a pretty strong core. But with the postseason just completed, the brass wasn’t talking about the possibilities yet.

“It’s something you can’t pull out of your hat,” co-general manager Brett Hull said. “Everyone’s probably got different opinions. Within each position you look at people we have, people who are out there, people who are free agents and you figure out which one fits the puzzle the best.”

Nevertheless, the changes probably won’t have to be dramatic. The Stars’ scoring did get a boost with the Brad Richards acquisition in March. Brenden Morrow is truly the leader, mainly by the example he set on the ice. Marty Turco silenced his critics by winning the big games.

The offseason is still coming too soon for the Stars. But they’re feeling pretty good with what they did accomplish. They thrived with the team-first, me-second concept. That has to stay put, as does the mental strength they built up along with their postseason success.

“That’s desire, want, faith, belief, all that stuff. That can’t change,” Turco said. “There’s no reason to be complacent. We’ll be ready for anything.”

Season Highlight:   The Stars made the most out of February, when they won a franchise-tying best 12 games in the month. The team had been down after losing two in a row right before the All-Star break, including a dismal loss to Buffalo. But their post-break play was tremendous, as the Stars grabbed onto the Pacific Division lead.

Turning Point:   With debilitating losses in November, change was on the horizon. General Manager Doug Armstrong was fired, replaced by co-GMs Les Jackson and Brett Hull. It seemed an odd decision at the time, but Jackson and Hull put their stamp on this team immediately, both with signing Mike Ribeiro to a long-term deal and dealing for Brad Richards in one of the biggest moves at the trade deadline.

Notes & Quotes

• With good work comes rewards, and there will be a few for the Stars’ co-GMs and Coach Dave Tippett. Extensions are expected for all three, with Les Jackson and Brett Hull losing their “interim” tag that was applied when they were hired. As far as Tippett, he had a one-year extension for next season but Jackson said he deserves more.

“He should get a contract that represents where he is in the league,” Jackson said. “It’s not like rewarding him. He’s earned it. He should get what he deserves and that’s some stability.”

• There was plenty of talk surrounding whether Mike Modano would return for another season or not, but the face of the franchise will be back—or so it sounded.

“I probably will, yeah, do it all one more time and see really where things are at,” said Modano, who admitted the Stars’ playoff run did spark him a bit.

“The playoffs were really fun, obviously with the success and how deep we went. We surprised a lot of people, surprised ourselves. It got the bug back in a lot of guys that wanted to play.”

Quote to Note:   “We overcame a lot. It was everybody, and that goes along with the injured guys. There was the excitement of young, energetic youth playing. They were great. All those things are great signs. We won’t forget this year, nor should we want to. We’ve been hungry before, whether it’s to erase demons or negative feelings from previous seasons. This team isn’t going anywhere.”—Goaltender Marty Turco, on the season.

Roster Report

Most Valuable Player:   Brenden Morrow. With health finally on his side, this was the season for him to truly shine and show his ability to be captain. He had no problem with any of it. Morrow was a tremendous leader for the Stars, especially with his play. He scored 32 goals in the regular season, adding nine goals and six assists in the playoffs. He had two game-winning goals in the postseason, including his power-play score to end a classic Game 6 against the San Jose Sharks. And he did it hurt, too: Morrow said Wednesday he was playing with a slight groin injury, and he also has a small tear in his left shoulder that will not require surgery.

Most Disappointing Player:   Antti Miettinen showed flashes this season, but he never materialized into a solid-scoring right wing on a team that was always looking for a few more contributions. Left wing Niklas Hagman had a great regular season, scoring a career-best 27 goals. He had his chances in the playoffs, but mustered only two goals—and both of those came in Game 2 against San Jose. Defenseman Trevor Daley seemed to plateau, as younger defensemen had better play and garnered more notice.

Free Agent Focus:   Defenseman Mattias Norstrom and center Stu Barnes are unrestricted free agents this offseason, but both are thinking about retirement. They said they were undecided, although neither wanted to play for any other team but the Stars if they did return. Nevertheless, Norstrom, especially, would command much less money than the $4-plus million he made the past few seasons. Hagman is also unrestricted, but his quiet postseason may cost him. Antti Miettinen is restricted, but after his seasons, he probably won’t be getting big offers.

Player Notes: 

• Defenseman Trevor Daley re-signed with the Stars, earning a three-year, $6.9 million contract. Daley, 24, appeared in all 82 games last season.
• Goalie Marty Turco had a fantastic postseason, winning two series and stopping 61 shots in Game 6 against San Jose. Needless to say, he’s gotten past his playoff demons. And there’s no doubt he’s the true No. 1 now. He once shared time with former backup Mike Smith, but Smith was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Richards deal. After that, Turco got all but two starts down the stretch of the regular season before his stellar playoff run.
• Defenseman Philippe Boucher had a tough emotional time last season, when his father died of cancer. But this season was one of the most physically trying ones of his career. Boucher struggled through left shoulder surgery, then a right shoulder injury and later a torn hip flexor that sidelined him through the playoffs. Indeed, the man was snake-bit. But Boucher said he plans to rest up and will try to be ready for next season.

• Defenseman Stephane Robidas turned into a great go-to player for the Stars along the blue line. When Sergei Zubov and Philippe Boucher were both out, it was Robidas who took on more minutes and responsibility, including playing the point on the power play. He responded well, tallying a career-high nine goals in the regular season. The playoffs weren’t bad, either, as he scored three goals and added eight assists. And he was tough; he was hit in the face with a Todd Marchant clearing pass in Anaheim, and came back within 10 minutes.