Jason Spezza's Veteran Presence

Lore & Background

The Stars were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. Before the 1978–79 NHL season, the team merged with the Cleveland Barons after the league granted them permission due to each team's respective financial struggles. The franchise relocated to Dallas for the 1993–94 NHL season and was renamed the Dallas Stars.

In Their Own Story

The arena hummed with the tension of a tied third period. The puck dropped between the sticks at center ice, the air thick with anticipation. Spezza crouched low, eyes locked on the referee's hand, his stick blade perfectly aligned. With a sudden, violent sweep, he won the draw, feeding the puck instantly to a teammate breaking down the wing. It was that moment of precision, repeated thousands of times, that defined his legacy in Dallas.

Reader's Guide

The Stars have won nine division titles in Dallas, two Presidents' Trophies as the top regular season team in the league, the Western Conference championship three times, and the Stanley Cup in 1999, when center Joe Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. Over the course of the franchise's history in both Minnesota and Dallas, the team has appeared in the Stanley Cup Final five times (1981, 1991, 1999, 2000, and 2020).

Did You Know?

• In 2011, Ed Belfour became the first player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame primarily as a Dallas Star. (If counting the Minnesota North Stars, Neal Broten was inducted in 2000.)
• Mike Modano is the highest-scoring player in franchise history.
• The Stars played in Reunion Arena from 1993 to 2001, then moved to the American Airlines Center.