As part of our look back at the season that was, the DBD staff has put together a Top 10 list of the most defining moments of the season, moments that have an impact beyond the scope of just one season. Since most of these happened off the ice and built upon many of the previous moments, they are listed in chronological order.
Tthe Dallas Stars underwent nearly a complete transformation in the summer of 2013, from key parts of the roster to the front office to the coaching staff. Heck, even the jerseys and logo were replaced.
But one thing stayed consistent, if slightly tweaked – the Stars kept themselves in green.
It’s easy to forget how that was ever in question now, with the Stars a full year into the era of “victory green” sweaters and almost all the complaints about logo bezels long forgotten. But go back 11 months ago, before either had been revealed, and concerns were high.
The first bit of news, at least to fan knowledge, came from that somewhat regrettable decision by a developer to post three new wallpaper options on the mobile app. Those images had the Stars new primary and secondary logos on them, and it generated all sorts of discussion on this site and others.
The fear was the leak might dampen enthusiasm for the highly orchestrated event where the team planned to reveal its whole new look, but that fear ended up being unfounded. The “New Star Rising” event in downtown Dallas drew a full house of extremely excited fans who were greeted with the sight of glorious green jerseys.
It was the best sight a Stars fan could ask for.
The thing was, owner Tom Gaglardi revealed at the event, the Stars were very close to changing color schemes entirely. The team strongly considered changing to blue uniforms, though it was going to be a “unique” shade rather than the traditional navy, before Mike Modano told Gaglardi exactly what a bad idea that would be.
He was right.
Green has been a huge part of the Stars identity since the franchise’s birth back in Minnesota in 1967. While the team had moved away from it in the black home jersey era, it was still the color most associated with the team. To shift to a color associated with a half-dozen other hockey teams, or possibly worse a dominant marketplace force like the Cowboys, would have been very poorly received by long-time fans..
So the Stars made just the right tweak, taking their existing green, adjusting the brightness up a few notches, then plastering it all over their uniforms. It was a lot of look to get used to in the beginning, but it popped on television and instantly made the Stars a team that stood out from the crowd. That was noticeable as soon as all the NHL teams got together with their new looks at the draft.
As Justin Bourne wrote when evaluating this year’s first-round series based on jerseys:
I love the Dallas Stars rebrand this year, and as I’ve said before: I can barely remember them wearing anything but this current look. It’s like they were always meant to be wearing these sweaters.
Sure, the Stars could have gone through their near complete makeover without the jerseys. But marking a step forward into the future with the decisive step of new uniforms – and ones that were markedly different from the previous versions – was the most visual sign that a new star definition was rising.