Accolades are earned by players throughout their careers. The honors come at varying levels, some held in higher regard than others. Among the honor held for the highest of highs is seeing your jersey number hanging in the rafters, never to be worn again by any player who comes through the franchise.
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The standard is high for Stars fans, too. That much was apparent in The Athletic’s fan survey last week when we asked the question, “After Sergei Zubov (has his jersey retired next season), are there any Stars players not currently active that should have their number retired?” The overwhelming response, 332 votes, went to “no.” The next highest vote-getter was Derian Hatcher with 85 votes, followed by Marty Turco’s 81 votes.
“It’s a sacred thing,” Turco said of jersey retirements. “I would never lose sleep over it. It is super sacred.”
As it stands today, the Stars’ method of honoring players is black and white. Either the jersey number is retired and put on a banner to display at the American Airlines Center, or there’s nothing. That seems simple and obvious, but there’s also a potential bridge to those two ends of the spectrum.
The Vancouver Canucks are one example. They have retired six numbers (10, 12, 16, 19, 22, 33) for the standard definition of what leads to that prestigious honor (along with No. 99, retired league-wide for Wayne Gretzky). They have also unofficially retired three numbers (11, 28, 37) to honor players who tragically passed away during their playing careers. And then they have a Ring of Honour, which celebrates players that have made “a lasting impact” on the franchise. Though a high honor, this group is different from the immortalization of having one’s jersey retired. In fact, none of the seven Canucks Ring of Honour members have their jersey retired, and none of the six players with their jerseys retired are in the Ring of Honour. Those are two distinct tiers.
Teams have approached this differently throughout the NHL. The New York Islanders have jerseys retired as well as a team Hall of Fame. Of the eight jersey numbers retired, six of those players are also in the team Hall of Fame. The Arizona Coyotes have seven names in their Ring of Honor but only one jersey retired (No. 19, Shane Doan). Calgary has retired three numbers but they also have a program called “Forever a Flame,” in which they raise a banner to honor players even though the jersey number isn’t taken out of circulation. Like the Canucks, there is no overlap between the three players with their jerseys retired and the two players in the “Forever a Flame” (one being Joe Nieuwendyk). Other examples exist around the league.
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“Ultimately it comes down to each organization’s philosophy on the matter,” Turco said. “My opinion on each and every organization would differ, but for the most part, it has to have a certain amount of tenure, coupled with some form of success — winning, being a leader and overall impact on the organization — to back it up.
“I think that’s what goes into it. They’re great debates and fun to have. I always bow out of anything. I didn’t play my first game in the NHL until I was 25 years old, so my expectations are pretty low.”
Aside from the Stars jerseys already in the rafters — throughout this entire piece, assume that includes Sergei Zubov, too — there are worthy candidates to be honored between jersey retirements and the existing abyss. It would also allow the Stars to fill in some holes that exist in the franchise’s story when only told by retired numbers.
“The Ring of Honor, I think it’s classy and a way to honor the history and heritage,” Turco said. “Either way, I’m glass-half-full (about possibly being honored); today and tomorrow are important, not yesterday. It wouldn’t change my life, but I think there are a lot of great players that we could really highlight, showcase and remind our fans of the great history we have relative to our tenure to other teams. We’ve had a lot of great players come through here, so to celebrate them would be very cool.”
As stated above, there are a variety of ways to go about it, if the Stars ever chose to add something like a Ring of Honor. For this exercise, I’m choosing to include the players with their jersey retired in the Ring of Honor and add a few others, dividing it into two tiers.
Tier 1
This first tier is just the six jersey numbers already retired by the Stars. That includes three players who played most, if not all, of their careers with the Minnesota North Stars before the franchise relocated to Dallas. It’s worth noting that the Stars chose to continue to honor those numbers, something that isn’t a given. The Colorado Avalanche put the four retired numbers from Quebec back in circulation when they relocated to Denver, and Carolina did the same with two of its three retired numbers going back to Hartford.
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Mike Modano
No. 9 retired: March 8, 2014
Not much needs to be said for the greatest American-born hockey player in NHL history. Between his four years in Minnesota prior to relocation and then 16 more in Dallas, Modano is the franchise. He leads the Stars games played (1,459), goals (557), assists (802), points (1,359), short-handed goals (29), game-winning goals (92) and power-play goals (156). It’s all capped off by back-to-back Stanley Cup runs and the 1999 championship. He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.
Jere Lehtinen
No. 26 retired: November 24, 2017
Drafted by the franchise in 1992, Lehtinen is a Dallas Stars lifer. His NHL career began in 1995, and by the time it ended in 2010, Lehtinen had worked his way into the Stars’ top-10 in game played (875), goals (243), points (514) and remains No. 1 in plus/minus at plus-176. He won the Selke Trophy three times and helped Dallas to the 1999 championship.
Sergei Zubov
No. 56 retired: 2020-21
Zubov is the gold standard for defensemen in Stars history. He spent 12 of his 16 NHL seasons with the Stars and remains the franchise leader among defensemen in points (549), goals (111), assists (438), games (839), power-play goals (60), plus/minus (plus-103) and shots on goal (1,694). He helped the Stars to the 1999 Stanley Cup title and is freshly inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Dallas announced last fall that Zubov’s No. 56 will be added to the rafters next season.
Bill Masterton
No. 19 retired: January 17, 1987
Masterton was the first player to ever sign with the franchise back in 1967. He was an accomplished hockey player coming in, winning two national championships in college at the University of Denver. His career, and life, was tragically cut short due to a severe head injury suffered on January 13, 1968, during his first season with the Minnesota North Stars. He passed away a few days later at the age of 29.
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Neal Broten
No. 7 retired: February 7, 1998
Broten spent the majority of his career with the franchise in Minnesota, playing for the North Stars from 1980 to 1993. He followed the team over and played that first full season in Dallas, scoring the first goal in the new city, before going on to spend parts of two more years of his career in Dallas. Overall, he played in 992 games, scored 867 points and 274 goals for the franchise.
Bill Goldsworthy
No. 8 retired: February 15, 1992
Goldsworthy is the only player on this list that had a lengthy NHL career but never played in Dallas. However, in his 14-year NHL career, he spent nine full seasons and part of a 10th in Minnesota with the North Stars after being selected in the 1967 expansion draft. He finished his career with the franchise with 267 goals, 239 assists and 506 points in 670 regular-season games and one signature celebration, the Goldy Shuffle.
Tier 2
Here’s where things get interesting. These players don’t have their jerseys retired and, in most cases, they likely never will. But the history of the Dallas Stars can’t be written without them. While the jersey retirement club is exclusive, the Ring of Honor has to have exclusivity as well in order to maintain its shine. That means the list is limited in who makes the cut, and there may be debate for a few other names. Here’s the inaugural list we have.
Marty Turco
His case: For the entire first decade of the 21st century, Turco was a stabilizing force during the Stars’ post-championship years. He has the longevity and the production to warrant this honor, playing a total of 509 games in nine years in Dallas and notching a .911 save percentage.
“The thing we’re most proud of, or at least I am, is that every year, we talked about winning a Stanley Cup and that was our goal,” Turco said. “We had a lot of pride for Mr. (Tom) Hicks, the Dallas Stars sweater and our fans. We poured everything we had into it and had a great time doing it.”
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Turco was not just talented on the ice but established himself as a fan-favorite and a leader in the locker room.
“I’ve never seen a goalie work harder,” Brenden Morrow said. “I knew we could count on 35. The bigger the stage, the better he played.”
Turco likely won’t have his No. 35 retired, and it’s been worn by two players since he left the Stars in 2010: Mike McKenna in 2018 and Anton Khudobin for the past two seasons. The number holds significance for Turco personally because he chose it to follow in the footsteps of Tony Esposito, the Hall of Fame goaltender of the Chicago Blackhawks who shares a hometown with Turco. Ironically, Turco left Dallas in 2010 and signed with the Blackhawks for a season and had to wear No. 30 because 35 was already out of circulation and hanging in the rafters thanks to his inspiration.
Brenden Morrow
His case: Morrow was the bridge captain from the championship era to the present. He assumed the captaincy from Modano in 2006 and served in that role for seven seasons before passing it on to Jamie Benn in 2013. Morrow played 13 of his 15 NHL seasons in Dallas, totaling the fifth-most games in franchise history at 835. He finished in the top 10 in most statistical categories for the franchise, including goals, points, plus-minus, goals created, game-winning goals and shooting percentage.
Though Morrow’s No. 10 is unlikely to be retired given how often it’s been handed out since he left, seeing it on other players is still strange for at least one longtime teammate of Morrow.
“When I see other players out there wearing numbers of my buddies that played here for a long time, like a No. 10, once in a while it just catches you off guard because you’re so ingrained of seeing it on (Morrow),” Turco said. “I had a lot of time looking at the back of No. 9 and No. 10 skating away from me, going the other way. Any time I see somebody else wearing No. 10, I think that’s weird, but that’s life. We really don’t complain, to be honest.”
As for Morrow himself, he says he is fine with his playing number not being retired. On No. 10 specifically, Morrow said he never had any attachment to that specific number the way Turco did with No. 35. He started his career in 1999 wearing No. 45, but that changed going into his sophomore campaign, courtesy of Brett Hull.
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“We showed up to training camp the next year, and we were doing a line meeting or maybe it was just a practice, and Hully just said to Hitch, “Hey, this fucking kid can’t play in the NHL wearing a football number, so give him a real number,’” Morrow said. “I didn’t request it, I would have been just fine. I was just happy to be in the NHL, so this was all Hully’s doing.”
Morrow wore No. 10 for the rest of his NHL career, which totaled 12.5 years in Dallas, half of a season in Pittsburgh and a season each in St. Louis and Tampa Bay.
Derian Hatcher
His case: Not only is Hatcher the longest-tenured captain in franchise history, having spent eight years in that role, but his role as the only captain of a Stars Stanley Cup-winner sometimes gets overshadowed between the presence of Modano and Ed Belfour’s presence plus Brett Hull’s walk-off goal. He has the longevity, too, playing 10 of his 16 NHL seasons in Dallas after two earlier ones with the Minnesota North Stars. He was the leader of the defensive corps for years and finished his career with 71 goals and 294 points in 827 points with the franchise.
Ed Belfour
His case: Belfour doesn’t have the same longevity as some of the other players on this list. but his five seasons in Dallas — out of 17 years total in the NHL — were very important. He played in 160 games, almost as many as he played in Chicago (201) despite three more seasons there. Belfour was critical to the Stars winning the 1999 Stanley Cup. He won his final Jennings Trophy that season and put on a show during the playoff run. He outdueled Grant Fuhr and Patrick Roy, and outlasted Dominik Hašek in the Game 6 triple-overtime finish to win the championship.
Joe Nieuwendyk
His case: Nieuwendyk spent seven years in Dallas, helping the Stars win the 1999 Stanley Cup with 21 points during that playoff run and deservingly being awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy. He played seven seasons in Dallas, accumulating 178 goals and 340 points in 442 games with the team. Nieuwendyk was a model teammate, clutch player and a great leader throughout his tenure. He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.
One of the greatest what-ifs in franchise history will always come down to what happens if Nieuwendyk doesn’t tear his ACL in the 1998 playoffs. That team took the Detroit Red Wings to six games in the conference finals, and Detroit swept Washington in the Stanley Cup Finals. It can be argued that the winner of Stars vs. Red Wings wins the championship that season. With a healthy Nieuwendyk, would that have been Dallas?
Jamie Langenbrunner
His case: Yet another member of the 1999 title team, Langenbrunner was a young talent who was producing during the glory days. Accounting for his eight seasons in Dallas to start his career and his one season later on when he came back, Langenbrunner scored 95 goals in 471 games with the Stars. Given his championship and eventual captaincy in New Jersey, it’s easy to wonder how much greater Langenbrunner’s legacy could have been in Dallas had he not been traded away. However, the time he did spend Dallas warrants his inclusion on this list.
Honorable mentions: Guy Carbonneau, Craig Ludwig, Brett Hull, Darryl Sydor
Photo Credit: Brian Bahr/Getty Images