59 Fun Facts About Dallas Stars

Which NHL trophy for perseverance honours a North Stars centre who died after hitting his head on the ice in 1968?

The Masterton Trophy remembers Bill Masterton, who like most players of his day wore no helmet; his death began a long debate that ended with the NHL making helmets compulsory for new players in 1979.

Which failing franchise merged with the North Stars in 1978?

The Cleveland Barons' owners, the Gund brothers, ended up running the merged club, which kept the North Stars name and reached the Stanley Cup Final three years later.

Blocked from moving the North Stars in 1990, the Gund brothers sold up and were awarded which expansion team instead?

The San Jose Sharks started out in 1991 with the North Stars' general manager and several of their prospects, all part of the deal that kept Minnesota's team at home a little longer.

Which team beat the North Stars in the 1991 Stanley Cup Final?

The Pittsburgh Penguins ended an unlikely run: Minnesota had a losing record in the regular season, yet knocked out the league's two best teams and the defending champions to get there.

Before choosing Dallas, Norm Green planned to move the North Stars to which city, until Disney claimed it for a team?

Anaheim was building a new arena, and Green meant to call his team the Los Angeles Stars; when the NHL asked him to step aside for Disney's Mighty Ducks, it let him pick any other open market.

Which former Cowboys quarterback convinced Norm Green that Dallas could support an NHL team?

The move was announced on March 10, 1993, and the NHL promised the Twin Cities a future team.

Which Minnesota native fittingly scored the first Stars goal in Dallas in October 1993?

Neal Broten scored twice that night in a 6-4 win over Detroit; traded to New Jersey 17 games into the 1995 season, he won the Stanley Cup there that spring.

Which businessman bought the Stars from a cash-strapped Norm Green in December 1995?

Tom Hicks went on to buy baseball's Texas Rangers and half of Liverpool FC, but his debts later pushed the Stars into a 2011 bankruptcy sale.

Which prospect did Dallas send to Calgary in the 1995 trade for Joe Nieuwendyk?

Jarome Iginla went on to score 625 NHL goals and captain Calgary for a decade, while Joe Nieuwendyk repaid Dallas as playoff MVP of its 1999 championship.

Which coach, hired in January 1996 with no NHL head-coaching experience, guided Dallas to the 1999 Stanley Cup?

Ken Hitchcock came up from the club's minor-league affiliate when Bob Gainey left the bench to be full-time general manager, and within four seasons his defence-first team were champions.

Which star goalie signed with Dallas as a free agent in 1997 after a brief stay with San Jose?

Ed Belfour had cost San Jose three players in a January trade and played only 13 games there before leaving that summer; in Dallas he won the 1999 Stanley Cup.

Which enforcer injured Joe Nieuwendyk's knee in the 1998 playoffs, costing Dallas its top scorer?

Bryan Marchment's check in the playoff opener tore Nieuwendyk's ACL; without their 39-goal centre, the top-seeded Stars fell to Detroit in the conference finals.

Brett Hull signed with Dallas in 1998 after a falling-out with which team's management?

The St. Louis Blues had watched him score 70 goals or more three seasons running, yet lost him when they refused to put a no-trade clause in his new contract.

Which Stars forward won the Selke Trophy for defensive play in 1999?

Jere Lehtinen won the Selke for the second year running, and the Stars rode that defence-first game to a franchise-record 114 points and their first Stanley Cup that June.

Whom did Dallas beat in the 1999 Stanley Cup Final?

The Buffalo Sabres scored just once in the final two games, smothered by a Dallas team that had allowed the fewest goals in the NHL that season.

Brett Hull's 1999 Cup-winning goal was disputed under which regulation, repealed the next season?

The crease rule wiped out any goal scored with an attacker's skate in the blue paint; Hull's was, but officials ruled he had kept possession, and the losing side's fans still call the play 'No Goal'.

Which goalie conceded Dallas's triple-overtime Cup-winning goal in the 1999 Final?

Dominik Hasek blocked Brett Hull's first shot but not the rebound, at 14:51 of the third overtime; his team protested that the goal was illegal, but the Stars were already celebrating with the Cup.

Which Devils forward scored the double-overtime goal that beat Dallas in the 2000 Final?

Jason Arnott's goal in Game 6 ended the Stars' title defence on their own ice; two years later Dallas traded for him, sending Joe Nieuwendyk the other way.

Which Stars goalie's 1.72 goals-against average in 2002-03 was the lowest since 1940?

Marty Turco did it in his first season as the starter, yet finished only second in the Vezina Trophy vote, and Miikka Kiprusoff beat his mark the very next year.

Which Mighty Ducks goalie made 60 saves in the five-overtime 2003 playoff opener against Dallas?

Jean-Sebastien Giguere kept it up all spring: his team won this series in six, and he was named playoff MVP even though the Mighty Ducks lost the Stanley Cup Final.

Fans mocked the Stars' 2003-06 alternate jersey because its bull-shaped crest looked like which body part?

A uterus is what fans saw, so the sweater became the 'Mooterus'; the crest was meant to be a bull built from stars, a nod to the constellation Taurus.

Which Stars rookie scored on 10 of 13 shootout attempts in 2005-06, the NHL's first season of shootouts?

Jussi Jokinen scored on his first nine shootout attempts, and by late January the Stars were a perfect 8-0 in games decided that way.

Whose American-born goals record did the Stars' franchise scoring leader break in March 2007?

Joe Mullen, raised in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, was the first American to score 500 NHL goals and retired with 502; the Dallas centre tied and passed him with two in one night.

Which future star did the Stars find 129th overall, in the fifth round of the 2007 draft?

Jamie Benn went from fifth-round afterthought to the top of the sport: eight years after that draft he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer.

Which two men shared an unusual 'co-general manager' role in Dallas from 2007?

Les Jackson and Brett Hull took over when Doug Armstrong was fired that November; their deadline trade for Brad Richards helped carry Dallas to the 2008 conference finals.

The captain's fourth-overtime series winner against San Jose in 2008 was nicknamed what by Stars fans?

Cinco De Morrow marks the date: Brenden Morrow deflected in the winner at 9:03 of the fourth overtime, in the small hours of May 5, Cinco de Mayo.

Which Stars free-agent signing drew a six-game NHL suspension in December 2008 for crude remarks about his ex-girlfriends?

Sean Avery never played for Dallas again: his coach and team-mates let it be known they would not take him back, and he finished the season with the Rangers after being claimed on waivers.

Which Vancouver businessman bought the Stars out of bankruptcy in 2011?

Tom Gaglardi, whose family runs hotels and restaurants, had years earlier lost a bid for the Vancouver Canucks to his former partner Francesco Aquilini, then lost the court fight that followed.

Which star did Dallas acquire from Boston in 2013 for Loui Eriksson and prospects?

Tyler Seguin was only 21 and already a Stanley Cup winner when Boston moved him on; in his first Dallas season he scored 37 goals, eight more than his best as a Bruin.

The Stars' captain won the 2015 Art Ross Trophy by one point over which player?

John Tavares led the race going into the final night, when the Dallas captain piled up three goals and then a secondary assist inside the last ten seconds to finish one point clear.

Why was coach Jim Montgomery fired in December 2019?

Unprofessional conduct was all the club would say; weeks later Montgomery revealed he was entering rehab for alcohol abuse and called the firing a wake-up call.

Where did the Stars host the 2020 Winter Classic before 85,630 fans?

The Cotton Bowl had to clear its calendar first: the college bowl game it then hosted each winter was moved across town so the NHL could build a rink on the football field.

Which unlikely hero's Game 7 hat trick, including the overtime winner, beat Colorado in the 2020 bubble?

Joel Kiviranta had one NHL goal to his name and was only playing because a team-mate was hurt; his third of the night came 7:24 into overtime.

Which team beat Dallas in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final?

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost the opener 4-1 but won four of the next five, in a Final staged entirely in Edmonton because of the pandemic.

Oettinger's 64 saves in 2022 were the most in a Game 7 since which Islanders goalie's 73 in 1987?

Kelly Hrudey at least won his marathon, the 'Easter Epic', which ran to a fourth overtime and ended near 2 a.m.; Oettinger stopped 64 of 67 shots and still lost 3-2 on an overtime goal.

Jason Robertson's 109 points in 2022-23 broke whose single-season record for the Stars' years in Dallas?

Mike Modano's 93 points had stood since 1993-94, the club's first season in Texas; Robertson passed him with his 100th career goal, then posed for a photo with the man himself.

The Stars captain's 78-point 2022-23 season was nicknamed what?

The Bennaissance, as fans and writers called it: at 33, the captain topped 70 points for the first time in five seasons and played all 82 games.

Which local band wrote the song 'Puck Off' for the Stars during their 1999 Stanley Cup run?

Pantera befriended the players that spring; by drummer Vinnie Paul's account, the Stanley Cup got its dent when a Star tossed it off his balcony toward the pool at the victory party.

At Stars home games, a gloomy tune was dubbed 'The Darkness Music' because it was played after what?

An opposing goal was its cue: the club's music man found the unnamed piece on the arena computer in the first Dallas season and said he had no idea who wrote it.

The 2013 logo's letter D centring a star nods to which Dallas nickname?

'Victory Green' echoed the old North Stars shade.

Which building, shared with the NBA's Mavericks, was the Stars' first home in Dallas?

Reunion Arena staged games in two straight Stanley Cup Finals, yet it had no luxury suites, and the Stars and Mavericks left together for a new arena in 2001.

Which Russian defenceman, acquired from Pittsburgh in 1996, anchored the Stars' blue line for 12 seasons and had his number 56 retired?

Sergei Zubov had led the Cup-winning 1994 Rangers in scoring, yet was traded twice in ten months; Dallas gave up one player for him and kept him until 2009.

Which former goalie, nicknamed 'Razor', joined play-by-play man Ralph Strangis in 1996 to form the Stars' long-running broadcast duo?

Daryl Reaugh played just 27 NHL games in goal; as half of 'Ralph and Razor' he then called Stars games for 19 seasons, heard on television and radio at once.

Which Finnish defenceman did the Stars draft third overall in 2017?

Miro Heiskanen was an NHL regular at 19; in the 2020 run to the Stanley Cup Final the defenceman outscored every Dallas forward, with 26 points in 27 games.

Which forward, acquired by Dallas in March 2025, knocked out his old club Colorado with a third-period hat trick in Game 7?

Mikko Rantanen had spent his whole NHL career with the Avalanche until a January trade; with Dallas down 2-0 he had three goals and an assist in the last 13 minutes.

Which 31-year-old Soviet veteran controversially beat the North Stars' rookie centre for the 1990 Calder?

Sergei Makarov had already played more than a decade of top-level hockey in the Soviet league; the NHL answered by barring anyone older than 26 from the award.

Which coach, hired in June 2022, took the Stars to the conference finals in each of his three seasons?

Peter DeBoer lost all three of those series, and a week after the last he was fired, in part over what he said about his own goalie after the final defeat.

In which city does the Stars' AHL affiliate, established in 2009-10, play?

Cedar Park, just outside Austin, got the Texas Stars after Dallas had spent a season with no top farm club at all; five years later they won the Calder Cup.

Celena Rae, the Stars' long-time anthem singer, first reached the semifinals of which TV talent show?

American Idol made her one of its last ten women in 2005; back home, the Fort Worth native became the club's regular anthem singer, with the crowd shouting 'Stars!' each time the word comes up.

Which long-time Red Wings executive became the Stars' general manager in 2013?

Jim Nill had spent 19 years in Detroit's front office, helping build four Cup winners; in his first summer in Dallas he hired a new coach and swung a seven-player trade with Boston.

Which three-time Cup winner did Dallas acquire from Chicago in 2015 along with Stephen Johns?

Patrick Sharp arrived weeks after lifting the Cup, squeezed out by Chicago's salary cap; his old team-mate Johnny Oduya followed him to Dallas as a free agent days later.

Which goalie made 52 saves in the Stars' double-overtime Game 7 loss to St. Louis in 2019?

Ben Bishop grew up in suburban St. Louis and was drafted by the Blues; he stopped 52 of 54 shots against his hometown club, who went on to win their first Stanley Cup.

Which defending champion did the top-seeded 2024 Stars beat in seven games in the first round?

The Vegas Golden Knights won the first two games in Dallas before the Stars took four of the last five; the run ended two rounds later against Edmonton.

Which holiday have the Stars turned into a home-game tradition at American Airlines Center?

New Year's Eve hockey became a Dallas habit in the late 1990s, and only lockouts, the pandemic and the 2020 Winter Classic, played the next afternoon, have interrupted it.

Which 38-year-old scored four goals for Dallas in a 2023 playoff game against Seattle, only to lose in overtime?

Joe Pavelski scored every Dallas goal that night and still lost 5-4; the Stars recovered to win the series in seven games.

Whom did the Stars beat 4-2 in the 2020 Winter Classic?

The Nashville Predators led 2-0 after Corey Perry was ejected for an elbow in the third minute, but Dallas answered with four straight goals.

Which Stars defenceman became the first American-born captain to win the Stanley Cup, in 1999?

Derian Hatcher got the C at 22 because Dallas traded away two captains within weeks in 1995, and he kept it for eight seasons.

Which coach, hired in June 2013, led the Stars to their first playoffs since 2008?

Lindy Ruff's best Dallas team played the opposite way to the defence-first champions of 1999: his 2015-16 Stars led the NHL in goals and topped the Western Conference.

The 109-point 2015-16 Stars finished runner-up for the Presidents' Trophy behind which team?

The Washington Capitals ran away with it on 120 points, yet neither club got past the second round; Dallas lost a seventh game at home to St. Louis.