The Dallas Stars completed their 57th season within the NHL in 2023-24, spending the primary 26 years of their existence because the Minnesota North Stars. After relocating to Dallas, Texas, for the beginning of the 1993-94 season, the Stars ultimately received the Stanley Cup in 1999, turning into the third workforce from the 1967 Enlargement to win a championship. 

Apparently, the Stars got here into the league concurrently with the Philadelphia Flyers, who’ve additionally retired six numbers, the bottom variety of their growth class moreover the Pittsburgh Penguins (two). Regardless of a single championship of their historical past, the Stars have been one of many NHL’s greatest playoff groups, showing within the Stanley Cup Ultimate 5 instances with 10 journeys to the convention ultimate. 

Associated: 10 Finest Dallas Stars Playoff Runs in Franchise Historical past

As we glance again on the gamers whose numbers dangle within the rafters at American Airways Heart, it’s arduous to not see how instrumental their careers had been within the franchise’s success.

Stars Honor the Late Invoice Masterton – Jan. 17, 1987

Yearly the NHL awards the Invoice Masterton Memorial Trophy to the participant that “greatest exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey” in honor of Masterton, who’s the one participant to ever die because of a hockey hit. As the primary participant signed to play with the growth North Stars in 1967, he made his NHL debut and scored the workforce’s first aim on Oct. 11, 1967. 

Sadly, catastrophe struck on Jan. 13, 1968, when Masterton tried to move via two defenders, leading to him crashing to the ice head-first. Sadly, the harm was extreme sufficient that surgical procedure was not an possibility, and he by no means regained consciousness, dying lower than two days after being admitted to the hospital. Finally, the North Stars honored him by retiring his No. 19 in 1987 after his profession was minimize quick after simply 38 video games.

Stars Honor Franchise Icon Invoice Goldsworthy – Feb. 15, 1992

After making an attempt to determine himself as an NHL common, Invoice Goldsworthy received an opportunity to showcase his abilities when the North Stars chosen him within the 1967 Enlargement Draft. Inside just a few years of donning the inexperienced and yellow jersey for the primary time, he grew to become a four-time All-Star and the primary member of an growth workforce to attain 200 and 250 targets. 

Finally, Goldsworthy left Minnesota after ten seasons to play with the New York Rangers, ending his skilled profession within the World Hockey Affiliation (WHA) in 1979. Nonetheless, upon his departure from the North Stars, he left because the workforce’s all-time main aim scorer (267) and level collector (506), marks ultimately handed by future gamers. In the end, the workforce honored him one 12 months earlier than relocating by retiring his No. 8 jersey in 1992. 

Stars Honor Olympic Gold Medalist Neal Broten – Feb. 7, 1998

Neal Broten could have a Stanley Cup ring from his transient time with the New Jersey Devils in 1995, turning into the primary American in NHL historical past to attain a Cup-winning aim. Nonetheless, he’ll at all times be synonymous with the Stars franchise, retiring because the franchise chief in video games performed, targets, and factors in 1997. 

Apparently, Broten served as an alternate captain for many of his profession, turning into captain for simply 17 video games in 1994-95. Though his worldwide and faculty accomplishments earned him induction into the U.S. Hockey Corridor of Fame in 2000, he is among the greatest gamers ever to put on a Stars jersey. Inside a 12 months of hanging up his skates, Dallas honored him by retiring his No. 7 in 1998. 

Stars Honor Hockey Corridor of Famer Mike Modano – March 8, 2014

Though the Stars franchise has had their fair proportion of Hockey Corridor of Famers gown of their lineup, there’ll at all times be one participant who stands out: Mike Modano. Because the first-overall decide within the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, he grew to become arguably the best skater in Stars historical past, along with his identify on nearly each workforce file, from targets, assists, factors, and game-winning targets, to power-play targets. 

Though a handful of data are on the verge of being damaged by longtime captain Jamie Benn, there has by no means been a participant like Modano within the Stars’ historical past. In the end, he was there for one of the best and worse instances, ultimately taking part in a big position of their lone championship in 1999 on the age of 28. As among the finest American-born gamers within the recreation’s historical past, he had his No. 9 retired by the group months earlier than coming into the Corridor of Fame in 2014. 

Stars Honor 3-Time Selke Winner Jere Lehtinen – Nov. 24, 2017

Contemplating the Stars franchise didn’t retire any numbers for 16 years, the workforce has lately honored just a few gamers from the 1999 championship workforce. In addition to Modano, Jere Lehtinen grew to become the following member to have his quantity retired after profitable three Frank J. Selke Trophies because the league’s greatest defensive ahead. 

Apparently, Lehtinen is the one participant on this record, besides Masterton, to play his total profession with the Stars group. After being a draft decide for the North Stars in 1992, he didn’t come to North America till 1995, when the Stars had been already in Dallas. Finally, he retired from the NHL in 2010, and the Stars would honor him seven years later in 2017, a 12 months earlier than being inducted into the IIHF Corridor of Fame. 

Stars Honor Their Finest Defenseman Sergei Zubov – Jan. 28, 2022 

By the point Sergei Zubov got here to the Stars in 1996 in a commerce for Kevin Hatcher, he was already a veteran of 229 video games with a Stanley Cup ring from his time with the New York Rangers. Inside three years of his acquisition, Dallas received a championship, and he’d spend the ultimate years of his profession constructing a resume worthy of enshrinement into the Hockey Corridor of Fame. 

After his retirement in 2009, Zubov stays among the finest Stars gamers of all time, rating within the prime ten in video games performed, assists, factors, photographs, and plus/minus. Apparently, when he hung up his skates, he was the highest-scoring Russian defenseman in league historical past however now ranks second behind Sergei Gonchar. Finally, the Stars retired his No. 56 in 2022, three years after his induction into the Corridor of Fame. 

The Way forward for Stars’ Retired Numbers

As of 2024, there have been no formal bulletins about who the Stars could honor subsequent with a banner within the rafters. Finally, it’s a protected guess to say that Benn will be part of these gamers within the retired quantity membership, particularly when he breaks a number of of Modano’s data. 

Associated: Revisiting the Dallas Stars’ 1999 Stanley Cup Run

Apparently, the franchise has but to honor any goalies, so there aren’t any ensures that Ed Belfour and Marty Turco get the decision anytime quickly. Traditionally, Belfour is the one netminder to win the Stanley Cup, whereas Turco owns many of the workforce’s goalie data. 

Realistically, after launching the Dallas Stars Corridor of Fame in 2022, the workforce can honor gamers who positively impacted the franchise on and off the ice as an alternative of retiring jerseys. Throughout their first induction ceremony, the Stars acknowledged former normal supervisor Bob Gainey and former captain Derian Hatcher. Apparently, fan voting is out there for many who want to have their voices heard for this 12 months’s inductees.