Latest Stars Stories
Posted: Jun 11th 2009 12:40 PM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Stars, Western, NHL Coaching

The success of coaches in professional sports is difficult to predict. Bill Belichick was an abject failure in Cleveland, but is now considered one of the top coaches in all of sports. Flip Saunders did pretty well for himself in Minnesota, but could not bring a championship to Detroit. In the NHL,
Claude Julien and
Paul Maurice are two examples of coaches who got the proverbial walking papers and found great success at later jobs.
Since coaches are essentially hired to be fired, veteran NHL coach
Marc Crawford has been fired. He's actually about to begin his fourth stop in the league, as the Dallas Stars
hired him Thursday to replace the
fired Dave Tippett.
Posted: Jun 2nd 2009 11:45 AM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Stars, Western

The idea of co-general managers is not one we're likely to see often in pro sports. These days, even major league sports executives can be so ego-driven that it's impossible to share any kind of credit or properly delegate authority between two people.
The Dallas Stars tried co-general managers for close to two seasons, but have decided to make a change. The team named former player
Joe Nieuwendyk (pictured left of
Mike Modano at a Stars reunion in 2007) its
new general manager at a news conference Monday.
Posted: Apr 14th 2009 6:04 PM ET by Tom Mantzouranis (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Stars, NHL Economics

Last week,
Tom Hicks defaulted on a $10 million payment connected to $525 million in loans. Hicks played it off as an intentional, strategic maneuver, which seemed a questionable assertion at best.
The result of the missed payment is that Hicks will have to sit down with his creditors and figure out a payment plan or come to a new agreement, but, I don't know if you've heard that the economy isn't in such great shape nowadays, so trying to tap into the credit markets isn't exactly a viable option. In the end, this can lead to a situation in which Hicks has to give up his ownership of the Stars.
Posted: Mar 31st 2009 11:30 AM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Blues, Bruins, Canadiens, Canucks, Capitals, Devils, Ducks, Flames, Flyers, Hurricanes, Oilers, Panthers, Penguins, Predators, Rangers, Sabres, Sharks, Stars, Wild, Red Wings, Eastern, Western
The Stanley Cup won't be handed out until June, but this is the time when we see teams making runs at the playoffs. And you can't win the Cup if you don't make the playoffs. Race for the Cup is your daily check of where your favorite team stands as the season dwindles.It's been a long year for coach
Dave Tippett and the Dallas Stars. Injuries to guys like
Brendan Morrow and
Brad Richards have limited the effectiveness of the offense. Defenseman
Sergei Zubov missed significant time, and goalie Marty Turco never looked right. The Stars made a nice run after the All-Star break, but a seventh straight loss - Monday night in Phoenix - means it's time to turn off the lights.
Posted: Mar 30th 2009 11:00 AM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Blues, Bruins, Canadiens, Canucks, Capitals, Devils, Ducks, Flames, Flyers, Hurricanes, Oilers, Panthers, Penguins, Predators, Rangers, Sabres, Sharks, Stars, Wild, Red Wings, Eastern, Western
The Stanley Cup won't be handed out until June, but this is the time when we see teams making runs at the playoffs. And you can't win the Cup if you don't make the playoffs. Race for the Cup is your daily check of where your favorite team stands as the season dwindles.While teams like Minnesota continue to struggle with the notion of playing every game with a sense of urgency, the St. Louis Blues have caught fire at the perfect time. The young guns went into Columbus Sunday evening and whipped the Blue Jackets. That win, combined with an Edmonton loss to Minnesota, gave St. Louis the eighth position in the Western Conference.
Posted: Mar 27th 2009 9:30 AM ET by Bruce Ciskie (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Blues, Bruins, Canadiens, Canucks, Capitals, Devils, Ducks, Flames, Flyers, Hurricanes, Oilers, Panthers, Penguins, Predators, Rangers, Sabres, Sharks, Stars, Wild, Red Wings, Eastern, Western
The Stanley Cup won't be handed out until June, but this is the time when we see teams making runs at the playoffs. And you can't win the Cup if you don't make the playoffs. Race for the Cup is your daily check of where your favorite team stands as the season dwindles.They won't win the Central Division, but the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the real intriguing stories of this NHL season. A 5-0 blowout of Calgary Thursday night put the Jackets in great position to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. It was another shutout for
Steve Mason, and another big night for
Rick Nash. Mason pitched the shutout, while Nash dished out four assists.
Posted: Mar 26th 2009 10:45 AM ET by Adam Gretz (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Stars, NHL Free Agency

Caveat emptor. I'm sure Dallas Stars owner
Tom Hicks was aware of the phrase prior to his signing of
Sean Avery this past summer, and if he wasn't, he most certainly is now.
Avery, the NHL's super-pest, never seemed to fit in the Stars locker room after signing a four-year, $15.5 million deal,
clashing with veterans and failing to produce much of anything on the ice in his brief, 23-game tenure in Dallas. Then came December 2, 2008, when the Stars visited
Dion Phaneuf and the Calgary Flames.