More photos » DON HEUPEL - AP

about 1 year ago: **FILE** Dallas Stars' Joe Nieuwendyk holds up the Conn Smythe Award following his team's 2-1 triple-overtime Stanley Cup win against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y., in this June 20, 1999 file photo. Nieuwendyk retired Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006 because of chronic back problems, ending a 20-year hockey career. (AP Photo/Don Heupel, File)

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There have been 16 seasons of Dallas Stars hockey and while granted the last two haven't been all that fun to suffer through, Stars fans really can't complain a whole lot as the team has made the playoffs 12 of those 16 seasons.  True, some of those playoff runs ended far too early for any of our liking, but consider this:  In that same time span of 16 seasons, the San Jose Sharks have made the playoff 13 times and yet are still behind the Stars in terms of total amount of playoff series victories as the Sharks have only managed 11 series wins while the Stars have 14.

I think we can all agree, Stars fans have been spoiled a tiny bit which makes the current issues and struggles this team is going through that much tougher to take, but that's a whole other discussion for another time... Right now lets look at the past and remember five of the best - or most enjoyable as it were - seasons the Stars have had since moving to Dallas! (Sorry 1991 and 1981..)

#5 Best Stars Season - 2002 / 03

In sports there is always a lot of "woulda" "coulda" and shoulda" to go around, but to me the 2002/03 season was the biggest one the Stars will maybe ever have.  Finished first in the Pacific with a record of 46 wins, 17 losses, 15 ties and 4 overtime losses.  The team boasted six twenty goal scorers (Jere Lehtinen, Jason Arnott, Scott Young, Bill Guerin, Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow) - a feat that had never been done before in Stars history or since until this previous season's version of the Stars.  Marty Turco set a league record for lowest Goals Against Average in the modern NHL era (1.72).  Derian Hatcher had a monster season gaining Norris trophy attention and ended up earning a place as NHL 2nd team all-star.  Lehtinen also earned his third Selke trophy.  In the playoffs, the Stars dispatched the Edmonton Oilers in six games, but that grueling series along with meeting up with uber-hot goalie J.S. Giguere and the Mighty Ducks in round two was their undoing.    A tough way to end a season and one of the biggest "what ifs" in Dallas sports history.

Numbers four to one (you'll only need one guess to pick number one of course) after the jump!

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Tuesday, the last few pillars holding up the roof on the first Texas home of the Stars came crashing down (for some reason, I'm not able to embed the video into this post).

Since 1980, it also hosted an NBA expansion franchise known as the Dallas Mavericks, an indoor soccer team known as the Dallas Sidekicks, the SWC Men's Basketball Tournament, a Republican National Convention in 1984, an NBA All Star Game in 1986, a Final Four in 1988, and the WCT Tennis Tournament (which forced Game 5 of the Mavericks' first ever playoff series against Seattle to be moved to Moody Coliseum back in the spring of 1984)

TheBigAndTheBrown has his favorite Reunion Arena-era memories posted over at our sister site, Mavs Moneyball. But the Stars were able to fill the barn with quite a few of their own memories in the eight years that they called the building their own.

After the jump, I'll post my Top 5 memories, which was hard to choose as you can imagine. Quite probable it'll spark a little debate as well.

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[Note by Brandon Worley] I'd like to take this chance to formally welcome Mike Russo to Defending Big D. Mike has been part of the team for a while now helping us out behind the scenes, but every now and then he'll supply us with some good commentary and opinion as a special guest contributor. Mike is a former sports journalist and feature writer. He resides in Rochester, New York.

I'm not that guy. You know, the one who brags when his favorite team wins a championship. Actually, I never had the opportunity to be that guy - until the Stars took the Stanley Cup 10 years ago. Unfortunately, my bragging rights were severely compromised by Brett Hull's controversial, Game Six, triple overtime Cup clincher. You know the one.

Truth be told, as someone who lives less than an hour from downtown Buffalo, the victory by my beloved Stars had an asterisk next to it the size of a Jerry Jones TV set. "Great", I remember muttering to myself. "I can't even enjoy it." At least, not as much as I would had Hull scored on an unscreened slapshot from the blue line. No muss, no fuss.

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Every day this summer (well almost every day anyway...) Defending Big D will count down the greatest players in franchise history (both Dallas and Minnesota), based on the sweater number they wore. Keep coming back for a look at who's the best in Stars history. For a recap on the list so far, click here.

So as I looked over all the players who wore number 27, it struck me that there really was no one that stood out from the rest of the field.  Two players in particular caught my eye - one for his brief stay with fairly decent offensive numbers and the other for his fisticuffs skills.  In the end I couldn't pick between either guy, so I decided to go with both!

#27 - Brian MacLellan

The gifted left winger had already spent four seasons in the NHL - mostly with the Los Angeles Kings and very briefly with the New York Rangers before being traded to the North Stars before the start of the 1986 / 87 season. Despite having size at 6 foot 3 and 220 pounds, Brian was more of a finesse player and did lack a little bit in the overall defensive part of his game.  But his offensive skills - both even strength and on the power play - were what made MacLellan a valuable part of the team.

He instantly fit in with Minnesota as he racked up a career high in goals with 32.  His 63 points that season was good for second on the team behind Dino Cicerelli.  The next season his goal scoring totals dropped off a bit as he finished with 16 on the season which wasn't too bad considering he was used mostly as a 2nd line - and some times 3rd line - winger.  Just like his first season in Minnesota, nearly half his goals came on the power play (13 in 87 / 97 and 7 in 87 / 88) and those two seasons he also showed he had a knack for scoring in the clutch with 9 game winning goals.

He was again having a solid season in 88 / 89 even if the team itself was hitting rock bottom standings wise.  He amassed 16 goals and 39 points in 60 games played before being traded that season at the deadline to the Calgary Flames to help with their Stanley Cup push and ended up winning a ring with them.

Brian never saw the playoffs in his time with the North Stars, but he did finish his stint in Minnesota with 66 goals and 86 assists ( 152 points total) in 211 games played with the club.  Ironically when he was traded to Calgary one of the players the North Stars got in return also wore #27 and became a solid part of that team's history (not to mention the second choice of our pick at number 27.)

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You thought we had forgot about this series?  Guess again! After a bit of a break we're ready to resume our countdown of the greatest Stars by numbers (you can see the recap of the list by clicking here) and we start today with 28 and in the days leading up to the first exhibition games expect a wave of player recaps!

#28 - Steve Christoff

Perhaps best known more for being a member of the 1980 Miracle On Ice USA team than a solid professional player, Christoff joined the Minnesota North Stars after the Olympics and stayed with the team over the next three seasons from 1980 to 1982.

The Springfield, Illinos native played his collegate hockey and won an NCAA National title with the Minnesota State Golden Gophers and was already a very familiar name with Minnesota hockey fans by the time he was drafted by the Stars in the second round of the 1978 draft.  By the time he joined the Stars in 1980 his name was well known to all American hockey fans as he was a full-time member and key part of the gold medal winning 1980 US team and he didn't disappoint when he made the jump to the pros as he scored eight goals and seven assists in the final 20 games of the North Stars regular season.  He also added another eight goals in the Stars 1980 playoff effort which at that time was a team record for playoff goals scored by a rookie.

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This was actually a bit of a toss up..  On one hand you have Dean Prentice who played a little over two seasons with the Minnesota North Stars in the early 70's and put up respectable numbers, and in the other corner you have Steve Ott who all Stars fans are quite familiar with at this point.  While Prentice did score 48 goals in 168 games played with Minnesota, his best years were with other teams including the Rangers and Penguins.  Steve Ott on the other hand is going into his 7th season with the team and has steadily gotten better each year, though his numbers aren't quite as impressive as Dean's, in the end we go with the present over the past mostly because of what we hope to see in the future:

#29 - Steve Ott

Otter had posted a very solid first season with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL playing on a line with Jason Spezzawhen the Stars drafted him 25th overall in the 2000 draft.  His prolific scoring ways in junior continued even as Spezza had left and on top of the scoring ability Ott's knack for agitating his opponents made him a valuable depth player  on the 2000 and 2001 Canadian junior teams.

Ott's pro career started in 2002 as he split time between the Stars and their AHL affiliate in Utah.  After that first season though he was a full-time NHLer playing mostly a third line grinder role.  He did miss most of the 2006-07 season with a evere ankle injury.  He did happen to see time back in the AHL during the locked out season of 04-05 when he joined the Hamilton Bulldogs for the full season.  With the Bulldogs he had a pretty solid season scoring 18 times in 67 games and also adding 279 penalty minutes which still stands as a team record.

Since then while he's been with the Stars his game has gotten better each year.  His numbers up to this point sit at 337 games played, 40 goals, 73 assists and 678 penalty minutes.  Of course if the last stretch of games this past season when he wore an assistant's A on his shoulder and nearly dragged the Stars into the playoffs based on his outstanding play and leadership alone, then it might not be long until we're considering Ott one of the best Stars of all-time, not just at #29.

Every day this summer (well almost every day anyway...) Defending Big D will count down the greatest players in franchise history (both Dallas and Minnesota), based on the sweater number they wore. Keep coming back for a look at who's the best in Stars history. For a recap on the list so far, click here.

Ok, I wanted to put this out yesterday, but I also want to give the man on our next number his proper due because before the likes of Ed Belfour and Marty Turco came around, he was the goalie by which all other North Stars / Stars goalies were measured...

#30 - Cesare Maniago

It was players like Cesare who made expansion from six to twelve teams a necessity for the NHL back in 1967.  He was a very talented goalie who started his pro career in 1960 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but his talent was quite enough to get into the lineup of one of the six NHL teams. In Toronto he played behind Johnny Bower.  He was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens in the following summer's intra-league draft, but again was playing behind Jacques Plante.  For a few years while property of the Habs, he bounced around the minor-pro circuit playing for teams in Ottawa-Hull, Quebec City and Spokane.  His rights were traded to the New York Rangers in 1965 and he shared goaltending duties with Ed Giacomin for a short time, but again Maniago couldn't claim a starters spot of his own.

Then the 1967 expansion took place and the Minnesota North Stars claimed Maniago in the expansion draft.  The North Stars had a true number one goalie and Cesare had his chance to shine which he did in his very first season as a starter with a 22-16-9 record, 2.77 goals against average and six shutouts (good for second in the league that year).  He also led the North Stars on a great playoff run in their first season getting them to the NHL semi-final.

He played with the North Stars for another eight seasons after that - never quite matching his terrific numbers that he posted in his first season with the team, but still providing quality goaltending for Minnesota, helping lead them to playoff berths in five of their first six seasons.  His backup partner for many of those seasons was yet another goaltending legend: Gump Worsley.

By the time his run with the North Stars ended in 1976 with a trade to the Vancouver Canucks, Maniago had piled up a record of 145-192-71 and a 3.17 goals against average in 420 games played.  He still ranks very high on many of the Stars all-time records lists including 26 shutouts which stands third in franchise history - one behind Belfour and currently four behind Turco.

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Every day this summer (well almost every day anyway...) Defending Big D will count down the greatest players in franchise history (both Dallas and Minnesota), based on the sweater number they wore. Keep coming back for a look at who's the best in Stars history. For a recap on the list so far, click here.

The last three numbers we've featured have all been goalies, so why not continue that trend with the next two? Both players that we feature today had very brief stints with the Stars but when compared to other players within their number - seemingly all of them having brief stays as a North Star / Stars - their numbers an impact on the team stood out.

#32 - Arturs Irbe

Now based on my avatar here with SBNation, you may think this is a biased pick, and I'm not going to lie to you... it is.  I have been a fan of the little Latvian since he broke into the league with the San Jose Sharks in 1991.  This number came down to two players who each spent one season with the Stars.  Irbe in 96-97 or defenseman Don Sweeney in 03-04.  While Don was a very solid player for the Stars during his final NHL season, I gotta give the nod to Irbe as he did a very good job backing up Andy Moog and at the time led the Stars to their first division title in Dallas and their best record in team history up to that point.

Irbe was actually a pick of the Minnesota North Stars back in the 10th round of the 1989 draft, but was claimed by San Jose in the 1991 dispersal draft.  He signed with Dallas after five seasons as a Shark where he became a breakout star in 1994 but soon after saw his numbers drop partially due to an injury to his catching hand suffered when his dog bit him.  Expectations were low as he was named Moog's backup goalie, but as it turned out he has himself a very solid season playing in 35 games and sporting a 17-12-3 record with a 2.69 goals against average and an .893 save percentage.  He also had three shutouts that season. Of course everyone remembers that for as great a regular season as 96-97 was, it ended in disaster with a first round upset at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.  That following summer the Stars brought in free agent Ed Belfour - spelling the end for both Moog and Irbe's time in Dallas.

A look at who we picked at #31 after the jump...

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