Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are a professional men's 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.

Franchise history

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. 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, 'specifically', 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]

2006-2007 Season
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.

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