DALLAS — It's that time again, y'all: Let's do that hockey!
The Dallas Stars open their 2024-2025 season Thursday on the road against the Nashville Predators – and there's plenty to sink your teeth into as the season gets underway.
Remember, this is a team that won the Central Division just a season ago by going 52-21-9 overall, and 21-8-3 against their in-division opponents. The team made a deep playoff run, too, reaching the Western Conference Final and coming up just two wins short of a second trip to the Stanley Cup Final in five years after being eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers.
Looking to pick up your Stars fever at the start of this season where you left it off at the end of the last? Here's what you need to know about this year's team – and, importantly, how you can watch them play, as that's different this time around, too.
Who's gone? Who's back? Who's new?
Notable faces like Ty Dellandrea, Ryan Suter and Chris Tanev from last year's team are gone and donning other sweaters this year. Also not part of this year's mix is Joe Pavelski, who, at 39 years old, decided to hang up his skates after the Stars' playoff run came to an end.
So what does a post-Pavelski era look like? Well, those aforementioned names being gone aside, it mostly looks the same.
Captain Jamie Benn once again will lead a team filled with familiar faces like Tyler Seguin, Jason Robertston, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Esa Lindelll and Jake Oettinger. And the youth movement remains very real, as 21-year-old Wyatt Johnston and late-season call-ups Logan Stankoven (21 years old) and Mavrik Bourque (22 years old) figure to factor into this year's team in a big way.
It's no wonder Matt Duchene and Thomas Harley inked new deals this offseason to ensure they'd be back and part of this exciting Stars group, which will be bolstered by former Stars nemesis Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, Casey DeSmith and more free agent signees from the summer.
For a look at the team's arrivals, returners and departures, click here.
How to watch Stars games: What is Victory+?
With any new season, fans can expect changes – whether it's new players, new uniforms or even new management.
But for the Dallas Stars, this season means a new look broadcast-wise as the organization recently announced its partnership with VICTORY+, a streaming platform that will allow Stars fans to watch local games for free.
Thursday's season opener will be the first opportunity for fans to see a regular season game on the platform. You can download the app and watch it at home, or you can head out to the American Airlines Center.
Dallas Stars playoff history
The Dallas Stars have only raised the Stanley Cup once in 1999. Near misses came in 1981, 1991, 2000 and 2020. Since that illustrious 1999 championship, the Stars have advanced to the Western Conference Final four times:
- 2000: Lost in Stanley Cup Final
- 2008: Lost in Western Conference Final
- 2020: Lost in Stanley Cup Final (COVID-19 "bubble" playoff)
- 2023: Lost in Western Conference Final
Could this be the year they get back on top?
Have the Dallas Stars ever gone by any other names?
Yes! Remember, the team moved to Dallas in 1994.
Prior to moving to North Texas, the team was based in Minneapolis and dubbed the Minnesota North Stars.
And when owner Norm Green stood at Dallas City Hall and announced he would be moving the Minnesota North Stars to the Lone Star State, it caused quite the stir.
“It is the beginning of developing a winner that Dallas is going to be proud of and Dallas is used to seeing,” Green told the council.
Seven months later, the Stars played the first NHL regular season game ever held in the state of Texas – at Reunion Arena, before a packed crowd that included future governor and president George W. Bush.
They defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-4 in that opener, and would reach the second round of the playoffs in their inaugural Texas season.
Who is the Dallas Stars' owner?
The team's current owner is Tom Gaglardi, a businessman from Vancouver, Canada. He is the president of Northland Properties Corporation, the largest family-owned hospitality company in Canada.
Gaglardi bought the Dallas Stars for $240 million in 2011 to rescue the team from bankruptcy.
You won't see or hear much from Gaglardi, in contrast to his DFW owner counterparts Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban. As his bio on the Stars website states, Gaglardi enjoys playing golf and spending time with his family at their cottage on the shores of Kamloops Lake near Savona, British Columbia.
Why do the Stars play Pantera after they score?
"Puck Off" by Arlington-based heavy metal band Pantera is the Dallas Stars' "goal horn" that plays after every goal scored.
The late North Texas-raised brothers Vinnie Paul Abbott and Darrell Lance Abbott (a.k.a. "Dimebag Darrell") co-founded Pantera in the early '80s, and wrote "Puck Off" during the team's 1999 Stanley Cup run as hockey fever swept the region.
While the Abbott brothers may be gone, their gift to the Stars lives on. In 2019, the Stars shared the "Puck Off" origin story to its YouTube page.
Be ready to alternately chant "Dallas!" and "Stars!" to the tune of Puck Off if you attend a game. It's a whole thing.
As is shouting "Stars!" during the national anthem before the puck drops each game, too.
There's a whole lore around this team, folks.
Get on board the hype train now, and you'll enjoy this year's expected playoff all the more when it arrives in the spring.
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