Dallas Stars Greatest 100 Players of All-Time; 100 to 91
In honor of the NHL’s worldwide centennial celebration of the 100 greatest players in league history, we at Blackout Dallas have taken a turn at this. The top 100 Dallas Stars of all-time.
In the short history of the Dallas Stars, not many players have been remembered as historically elite talents. From the 1993-94 move from up north to today, only 310 players have suited up in the green, black, or white jerseys the Stars have since dawned.
Being such a new franchise in relative terms, this list could seem a tad bit exaggerated or overplayed, but to commemorate the National Hockey League’s centennial celebration of honoring the 100 greatest players in League history, it seems all too fitting.
As Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Brett Hull – arguably the three most integral players from the Stars’ 1999 Cup team were named to the NHL’s Top 100 – we figured it would be right to commemorate the unsung heroes of the club we love.
So, here we are. To note, some of these players made it in based on their effectiveness in their role, some due to pure skill on and off of the Dallas Stars, and some thanks to becoming a true icon within the DFW Metroplex.
(oh, and, sorry about this, Greg Hawgood, Keith Aldridge, or Dan Kesa, you failed to make the list).
#100 – DEFENSEMAN, JON KLEMM
Jon Klemm enjoyed a 13-year span of blue-line consistency with a slight scoring touch, totaling a serviceable 142 points (42 goals, 100 assists) in his NHL career before retiring as a member of the Los Angeles Kings. Klemm played 172 of his 773 NHL games with the Stars, with seven goals and 13 helpers.
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Newer Stars fans can recognize “The Throat” for his pre-and-postgame work as a member of Fox Sports Southwest’s Stars Live crew, but Brent Severyn was once a nasty, bruising grinder for the Dallas Stars’ 1998-99 Stanley Cup champions squad. Severyn played just 30 games with Dallas (1 goal, 2 assists) but amassed 328 total NHL contests on his way to this list.
#98 – DEFENSEMAN, BRENDEN DILLON
Brenden Dillon can be recalled mostly as the young, large defenseman the Stars dealt to San Jose for a year and a half of Jason Demers‘ services, however the 6’3″ native of Westminster, British Columbia ate up 149 games with Dallas prior to being sent off.
The formerly undrafted Dillon, who helped the Sharks in their bid for the Cup last season, collected nine goals and 17 assists in his time with the Stars.
#97 – FORWARD, SERGEI MAKAROV
If you heard about a former Calder Trophy winner who won two Olympic Gold medals and scored 384 points in his Hockey Hall of Fame tenure, you would most likely wonder how he got to be only 97th on this list. Well, Sergei Makarov fits that description, but only played four of his 424 NHL games on the Dallas Stars, which means he could only squeeze him out to here.
Makarov’s claim to fame was his career in his home country of Russia, where seven times he surpassed 60 single-season points for CSKA Moscow.
#96 – DEFENSEMAN, MARK TINORDI
Mark Tinordi followed the Minnesota North Stars to Dallas at the beginning of the 1993-1994 season, which happened to be the rearguard’s only season in Big D, one in which Tinordi tallied six goals and 12 assists after three years of 28-or-more points in Minnesota. Tinordi retired as a Washington Capital, the club he spent his final five NHL seasons with.
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#95 – DEFENSEMAN, ESA LINDELL
Young Finnish defender Esa Lindell is an interesting choice for this list as the World Cup of Hockey participant has competed in just 49 National Hockey League contests. However, the ceiling is as high as many of the Stars’ best blueliners to date, and the 2016 AHL All-Star’s confidence is ever rising. While the 2012 third-rounder has only four goals and three assists to his name, you can expect these numbers to rise, and his spot on this rundown to as well.
#94 – FORWARD, FABIAN BRUNNSTROM
Fabian Brunnstrom played just two sole seasons with the Stars, their 2008-09 and 09-10 campaigns during which no Stanley Cup Playoff games were contested at the AAC, and the Swede put up 19 goals and 24 assists over a 99-game duration marred by various injuries. Most remember Brunnstrom as a one-hit wonder, as the 31-year-old is one of only five players to score a hat trick in their first NHL game.
#93 – DEFENSEMAN, SERGEI GONCHAR
The Sergei Gonchar experiment in Dallas left many wanting more, as the highest-scoring Russian defenseman of all-time chose as soon as he slipped on fresh Victory Green apparel to have his skills deteriorate. Gonchar had just 21 points (2 goals, 21 assists) in his time as a Star, while manning the point on the power-play. The 42-year-old stands alone at the top of the Russian-defenseman scoring table, with a whopping 811 career points.
#92 – FORWARD, AARON DOWNEY
The winger from the OHL’s Guelph Storm only appeared in 283 NHL games, and scored just a lowly eight goals and ten assists, but Aaron Downey did this.
I rest my case.
Next: Dallas Stars Fans Will Cheer On Tyler Seguin in L.A.
#91 – FORWARD, ERIK COLE
After coming over from Montreal in the 2012-13 season in the trade of Michael Ryder (to be continued), Erik Cole provided an instant offensive spark to the Dallas Stars, as he tied for fourth in goals in 2013-14, the first year in five where the Stars qualified for the postseason.
Cole scored 29 or more goals with the Carolina Hurricanes twice including when the Cup came to Raleigh in 2006, and his had a career-best season of 35 goals with the Canadiens later on. The Oswego, New York native was traded in early 2015 for Mattias Janmark-Nylen and Mattias Backman.
Stay tuned for the remainder of Blackout Dallas’s Top 100 Dallas Stars as they continue to be published!