The Dallas Stars are OK. Since the Stars joined the NHL in 1967, its all-time points percentage falls in the middle of the league's 31 active franchises. The Stars have won the Stanley Cup (1999), but 19 other active teams have also accomplished that feat at least once.
The Stars' history is an interesting one. Longtime NHL fans know the 1967 expansion doubled the league's size from the Original Six teams to 12 teams. The Stars were one of the six expansion teams that year. Back then, they were known as the Minnesota North Stars. The California Seals, later known as the Oakland Seals, were another expansion team that year. The Seals moved to Cleveland and became the Cleveland Barons in 1976. The Barons then merged into the North Stars in 1978. The North Stars moved to Dallas, dropped "North" from its name, and became the Dallas Stars in 1993. Effectively, two of the first six expansion teams are what we know today as the Stars.
In 1999, Dallas defeated Edmonton, 4-0, in the Western Conference Quarterfinals; St. Louis, 4-2, in the Western Conference Semifinals; Colorado, 4-3, in the Western Conference Finals; and Buffalo, 4-2, in the Stanley Cup Finals. Center Joe Nieuwendyk was named Stanley Cup MVP. Nieuwendyk, right-winger Brett Hull, goalie Ed Belfour, and center Mike Modano were teammates on that 1999 championship team. All four of those players have since been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Modano, who was the franchise's No. 1 overall pick in 1988, played all six games of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1999 despite suffering a hairline fracture of his left wrist in Game 2.
Game 6 was a classic. It went into three overtimes and resulted in one of the most controversial game-winning goals in Stanley Cup Finals history. "No Goal?" You be the judge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUR_yE3iDNQ.
The Stars have returned to the Stanley Cup Finals two times since 1999. In 2000, Dallas lost, 4-2, to the New Jersey Devils. In 2020, they lost, 4-2 again, to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Stars have had three different home arenas since 1967. Since the building's opening in 2001, the Stars and the NBA's Dallas Mavericks have played in the American Airlines Center (AAC) in downtown Dallas. For hockey, AAC has a seating capacity of 18,532. Unlike many major pro sports venues across America, AAC has never had a name change. American Airlines has always held the facility's naming rights. read more