Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars is a professional hockey team that plays in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League. The team was originally founded as part of the 1967 NHL Expansion as the Minnesota North Stars. What started out as a successful season, with the team topping their division, turned tragic for the team on January 13, 1968. Forward Bill Masterton fell to the ice, knocking him unconscious. Masterton was unable to regain consciousness and died two days later from a massive brain injury. The team retired his number shortly after his death. http://stars.nhl.com/

The North Stars entered the playoffs that same season, winning the first round, but losing the semifinals to the St. Louis Blues. During the 1980-1981 season, the North Stars entered the playoffs to defeat the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, and Calgary Flames to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in the history of the franchise. The North Stars, however, lost the series to the New York Islanders in five games. http://stars.nhl.com/

In the early 1990s, the team was suffering from a large amount of debt, a poor fan base and legal troubles with the team's ownership. This forced the team to move to Dallas, Texas, in 1993, and was renamed the Dallas Stars. Championship years followed the 1988-1999 season as the Stars made their second all time appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals after defeating the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, and Colorado Avalanche in the first three rounds. They went on to defeat the Buffalo Sabres in six games to win their first Stanley Cup. Dallas center Joe Nieuwendyk was selected for the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, as the MVP of the playoffs. They returned to the Stanley Cup Finals the next year, however,losting to the New Jersey Devils in six games. http://stars.nhl.com/

On June 1, 2009, the team announced that the general manager pair of Brett Hull and Les Jackson would be replaced by former NHL player Joe Nieuwendyk.ESPN.com: Nieuwendyk becomes Stars GM Just over a week later, the Stars announced that head coach Dave Tippett would be replaced by Marc Crawford.

The biggest story line for the Stars has been financial woes that have plagued this team. The team's owner, Tom Hicks and his company the Hicks Sports Group found themselves in deep trouble. Hicks and his company HSG who own both the Stars and the Texas Rangers, defaulted on a $525 million loan and had to borrow from Major League Baseball in order to make payroll for the team. http://www.finalternatives.com/node/7478

Shortly after in 2009, the Rangers would be sold and by February 2010 so were the Stars. Speculation was the reason why the Stars have struggled recently (missing the playoffs the last two years) is mainly because of the teams inability to spend money on the team to improve it. The Stars salary cap was $45 million which was $11 million less then what the league salary cap was. This was the first time since the team moved to Texas back in the 1990’s that the team has missed the playoffs in back to back years