Last week, we went over a bunch of questions that could have happened in Stars' history if things turned out differently. We talked about whether Ben Bishop didn't have to medically retire from hockey. We also wondered what would have happened if the Stars had Paul Maurice as their head coach. The Stars could have won the Stanley Cup the past two seasons if Maurice were the head coach. This week, we will discuss a different topic: best and worst.
We discussed which Dallas Stars teams were the best and the worst on the power play this morning. You would be surprised to learn that Steve Spott led the Stars to one of the best power plays during the regular season. You would also be shocked to find out the Stars had one of the worst power plays when the team moved down here from Minnesota. A couple of seasons after having one of the worst power plays in the league, the Stars won the Stanley Cup.
This afternoon we will be discussing which teams had the best and the worst penalty kills. It would be shocking to say the Stars had one of the best penalty kills in franchise history two decades ago. It would be one that teams would fear whenever they went on the power play because the Stars would shut them down in a heartbeat. Here's which Dallas Stars team had the best penalty kill in franchise history.
The Dallas Stars team with the best penalty kill would be the 1999-2000 Dallas Stars team. It's not entirely surprising, considering most of the team won the Stanley Cup the previous season. They were an absolute unit in shutting their opponents down on the power play. I went back and watched some highlights from their penalty kill during that season, and I wish the current Stars had a penalty kill as effective as that. They had a good one during the 2024-25 season, but not like the one back in 1999.
We will conclude today taking a look at the worst penalty kill in franchise history later this afternoon. There was a time when the Stars couldn't stop an opponent from capitalizing on the extra-man advantage. It would be painful to say that the worst penalty kill happened in the last five seasons. It was during the Rick Bowness Era. We will discuss this further in a couple of hours.