Inducted to the NHL Hall Of Fame? Time To Raise A Banner.

25, 20, and 22 should be next after that. Then 56, and 26 whether they make the hall or not. After that is when the debates will come in. And I’m not sure if the gm has a lot to do with retiring numbers. But I’m not sure Joe would retire his own number.

but the retired numbers (Ring of Honor) need to be in the Hall. Mo can wait.

I’m not sure I want to wait until the HoF recognizes him. The man never sought the spotlight, and most people in the league would consistently agree that he was the most underrated defenseman out there. Same argument goes for Lehtinen as well.

Sure, we can wait a few years, but if he isn’t in the HoF by say, 10 years after his retirement (which is this summer, correct?), then I think the Stars need to take matters into their own hands.

i hope what ever owner we get will be intrested in honoring our great history. and why wouldnt he? it helps sell a product when it has a rich history

Your arguments are sound as usual. The timing needs to coincide with the love fest sure to flourish with new “hockey loving” ownership

should not have their numbers retired. I know y’all wont like to hear that. but its true. They spend much of their careers elsewhere. yeah the won the cup in Dallas, and where major contributers to that. but look at detroit just because you win the stanley cup doesnt mean you retire the goalie and the top pairing on defense and the top 6 forwards jersey numbers. You retire Mo’s number and possibly lets, and that is all

I’m not keen on Brett Hull getting one simply for his short tenure, neither Belfour really.

How Derian Hatcher’s #2 isn’t even being considered is beyond me.

Joe gets a special pass, Conn Smythe AND General Manager, that’s enough for me.

It would be a travesty for Lehtinen and Zubov not to be honoured.

really? come on now. we cant retire the whole teams numbers. teams do one player every two decades if that. and DBD wants to like 5 players all from 95-02. no way

Was never worn by Arnott – just FYI. He switched to #44 after the trade and never switched to his usual #25

they’re all great players but do you really thing theyre going to put up 9,25,56, and 20. that would double what they already have. only one person on that list spent their entire career in Dallas. obviously he isnt even the one that should be retired first.

But he needs some company up there.

@DefendingBigD - Great article but a diff. is all those Oilers were ‘homegrown’. My thought: take 20 & 25 out of rotation to honor them

But for the rest, there are a lot of tough calls to be made. Zubov didn’t play here his whole career but think of what he meant to the team. The blue line has been suffering since he left. Lehtinen was extremely important- think we can all agree on that.

I loved Belfour but I don’t see how you can retire a jersey unless the player played their entire career or a large chunk of their career for the team. These are very difficult calls with the exception of Modano and do not envy the person or people who have to make these difficult decisions.

Those are the only numbers that should be retired.

Granted, Zubov didn’t play his entire career in Dallas but his best and the most years were here.

If you retire those 3 plus Neiwy and Belfour, then you have to at least consider Hatcher, Sydor and maybe Turco.

For major players…they get either their own banner or listed on a banner of great players in team history.

Hall of Fame inductees get their own banner and their number retired.

This way you can give them the recognition they deserve…but we aren’t retiring every number out there.

to the cup winning team, but the majority of their careers were not here. The words “Dallas Stars” are strongly associated with them, but it doesn’t just ring through their NHL legacy. Their achievements were spread out over various places in the league, and as such, they are properly honored in the HoF. You could also argue that what they meant to this team can be summed up in the achievements they had while here, and to me, that’s not enough. For a player to have their number retired, they should mean more to the franchise than the numbers or trophies.

We all know Jere won 3 Selkes, but you only use that to explain how good he was to someone who doesn’t understand hockey or is ignorant of the Stars because they only pay attention to the northern teams. To someone who watched Jere, you talk about his work ethic, is effort, his ability to lead by example, how he was the ideal professional, ect. You talk about how who he was as a person affected this team and its fans, not who he was as a player. The same goes for Mo. He is known here as “The Face of Texas Hockey.” Without him, it’s very possible this team wouldn’t still be here. Zubie is a bit different because of the way he avoided the spotlight and cameras so much, but I think we all understand how despite the only way to describe him is through his play, he brought more than that to the team. He was also a leader and a mentor. You can almost only describe him as “something special,” and the vast majority of that something took place here in Dallas.

As it is, Hully, Neiwy, and Eddy did too much somewhere else to be retired here. Recognition by the league is exactly what they deserve, and I’m proud that they got it. But 9, 26, and 56 are on another level when it comes to their place in Big D. Those are the only numbers I’m currently in favor of having lifted. (Also, they need give them their own freaking banners. That measly little thing they have up there right now does not do those men justice, nor will it be acceptable for those on their way)

I will say that if GM Joe leads us to another Cup, than I think we can start to reconsider whether or not to retire his number, but we will (hopefully) worry about that some other time.

Not bad for a sleepy mid-July day huh?

I’m loving the responses and now I’m gonna try to respond to a few of the points made…

Have to wait to new ownership – Well obviously, which is why I mentioned it near the end. As we’re all aware most things Stars related are on hold until a new owner comes around. Doesn’t hurt to start talking about it now.

Modano should be the first number retired.. then everyone else! – Actually mo wouldn’t be the first number retired by the Dallas Stars.. #7 of Neal Broten was. And I don’t see how making Mo the first of “the new group” makes it any more special… all retirements are special.

Retired numbers vs ‘honored’ numbers – I don’t see why a franchise can’t do both and if a majority of fans want to limit the retired numbers to one or two players then ‘honoring’ the numbers like say the Maple Leafs do seems fair as well..

If you retire ‘this guy’ then you should retire ‘this guy’ – Again, that’s why the Stars should only induct those who make the HoF so you don’t have to have that debate .. This is maybe the concept of ‘honored numbers’ is a good idea so that the Stars can honor past players as they see fit.

‘so-n-so’ didn’t spend that much time with the Stars / Wasn’t a Star from beginning and thus is not really ‘one of our guys’ – Who says a player isn’t ‘one of ours’? Sure Modano there is no debate as to which team he belongs to, but why not claim some of these others? I’d like to think that when you think of Ed Belfour, they first thing that comes to mind for most hockey fans is his Dallas Stars days and having him honored by the Stars I think cements that a bit and helps build the team legacy. Same with Nieuwendyk. I don’t think it would hurt to adopt a bit of a “Once A Star Always A Star” kind of mentality with this franchise and doing things like retiring numbers and honoring the past go a long way in helping that.

The truth is – and Bob Sturm mentioned it on our podcast – the goodwill that was built up over the first 10 years or so has been quickly used up over the last three seasons… I wouldn’t deny doing something like retiring the numbers of HoF members would be a PR move.. But outside of that, is it really that big a deal that we need to be so selective about hwo’s number’s are retired?

There are 98 numbers available to any NHL players.. Dropping 5 to 8 of those numbers from consideration in order to honor the past properly won’t be the death of a franchise…

i’m a bit late on it. but i can see both sides of the coin.

i think as Stars fans, we have some sort of humility when it comes to hockey and our presence in the bigger hockey world. we’ve always known we werent a Canadian market or PHI or DET. we know it’s hockey in Texas and that we’re still something of a rare breed.

i think some of the thoughts to NOT retire numbers of Belfour, Nieuwendyk, etc. come from that humility. we dont want to act like we’re “claiming” them when maybe we actually shouldnt. thus resulting in looking silly or foolish. many, many people would think it’s crazy to retire Nieuwendyk’s number. he played 9 in CGY, 7 in DAL, both places he won a Cup.

while i see this side, why cant Nieuwendyk be retired in both places? he was immensely important to each organization. CGY doesnt own all of his post-career honoring rights.

now it can certainly become a slippery slope. I think Belfour might be the beginning of that. i dont necessarily think Eddie shouldnt be retired here, but i cant firmly say he should 100%. where do you begin to draw a line with an “important player”?

let’s say the career of Brad Richards included the WC 08 finals, a Cup winner, an MVP in the span of 4 years. should we retire him? does 5 years make it “official”?

Retired Players for me:
Modano – Zubov (definite)
Nieuwendyk – Lehtinen (75%)
Belfour – Hatcher (no)

a true #1 draft pick in action!