Dallas Stars reshape their Hull with an eye on Sir Stanley's Cup

Just as they did a few years ago when the battleship Texas was dragged down the muddy Houston ship channel and given a good going-over, Tom Hicks and his NHL technicians hauled their Stars into Dallas dry-dock this off-season, giving them a major overhaul and fashioning them a brand new hull.

The old Dallas hull, 36-year old Bret Hull, gave the Stars 3 seasons of valiant, steel plated, all-star service scoring 39-points last season and bringing the Stanley Cup to Dallas in '99 scoring possibly the most important goal in franchise history. But the Stars' brass decided to set sail in a different direction and that called for a retrofit of their Hull.

While busy scraping the barnacles off the Stars also jettisoned the likes of John MacLean, Ted Donato and Mike Keane, another key piece of their Stanley Cup team of two years ago. So, just like that a hall-of-famer and a fiercely vocal team leader were gone. Make way for change. Make way for a new Stars' lineup. Make way for a whole new attitude and offense served up Texas style, hot and spicy!

Stars general manager Bob Gainey, coach Ken Hitchcock and owner Tom Hicks had a formidable row to hoe this off-season. There were a lot of hard decisions to make and the future of the team rested on the outcome.

To start things off they resisted the urge to overreact in the shadow of a disheartening 4-game sweep at the hands of St. Louis. The Blues had that familiar talented, hungry look of Dallas teams past in this last playoff hunt. The Stars were just plain tired. My dad would have said it was too many birthdays. For the Stars, it was just too much success. After 3 consecutive Western Conference Finals and both a Stanley Cup win and a loss they ran out of gas and they needed a good rest.

Gainey and Hitchcock put together a marvelous mix of youth and grizzle last season that jelled into a very effective unit in the end. They just didn't have enough to get the job done one more time. So what were these old ice craftsmen to do? Dismantle the ship and start anew? Or plug in some new pieces and fine tune for another charge at the cup?

Fortunately, these two had the deep pockets and business acumen of owner Tom Hicks in their pocket and this most likely scares the bejeebers out of the rest of the NHL. Fresh off his Alex Rodriguez shopping spree for his Texas Rangers, everyone knew Hicks wouldn't hesitate to squeeze the trigger to bring in the best free agents available to keep his Stars on top. And that he has certainly done.

Hicks is no hick that thinks he can run this team on his own. He is invaluable in offering his razor sharp insight and ability to breakdown situations and needs, but he leaves the hockey decisions to the hockey minds, Gainey and Hitchcock.

After releasing Hull and Keane to land where they might the Dallas retrofit began. In came Donald Audette who reminds of an older version of Pat Verbeek sans the penalty minutes. Then came the face-off king Pierre Turgeon with his unexcelled puck handling skills.

Audette and Turgeon played together for the better part of two years in Buffalo and have remained close. These two French-Canadians accounted for 64 goals and 161 points between them last season and if they can carry their personal chemistry to the American Airlines Center ice it should prove to be a boon for the Stars.

Dallas further bolstered the offense adding the underachieving talent of Valeri Kamensky, who bought his contract out from the New York Rangers, and sending underachieving defenseman Richard Jackman to Boston for right-winger Cameron Mann. Then the “G & H” boys returned to their staunch defensive roots bringing in hard checking Rob DiMaio, grabbing tough defenseman Jyrki Lumme in a trade and signing hard-nosed defenseman Greg Hawgood to a two-year deal. Hawgood is a 32-year-old veteran of 472 NHL games who can also handle the puck.

The Stars hope that Audette will fill any scoring void left in their hull after his career-high 34 goals with Buffalo and Atlanta last season and the six-time All-Star Turgeon gives the team unparalleled depth at center where he is equally adept at making the right pass or finishing strong around the net. DiMaio replaces Keene's toughness and Hawgood could become a key player in the new offensive defense the Stars will strive to sustain this year.

Dallas hasn't just made some changes to their team this summer; they made a major statement. The team got in a rut with Hull, Keane and the Grumpy Old Men line and things needed a good shake up. The added pieces aren't just new, they are different, and this signals a definite change of mindset for the Stars. And all of this change is for the better.

By adding Turgeon the Stars now add a third high octane scoring line to compliment the Modano and Nieuwendyk lines. Throw in a solid checking line and you suddenly have the look of a Devil's team that took the wood to the Stars in the 2000 Cup Finals.

If Mike Modano and Derian Hatcher can step up and take the reigns of this new and improved monster, then the wins will add up fast. If the Stars find the right mix on their lines opponents will be faced with some tough decisions.

“It gives us a chance to try some different things, to be a team that can work on possession, that can work on making plays,” said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. “ We will be a different team offensively.”

Be mindful, the Stars are rowing their boat upstream against NHL history here. Since 1994 only 1-of-18 teams to be swept in four games went further in the playoffs the next season. Florida and Washington were swept from the Stanley Cup Finals and missed the next playoff season completely.

Dallas pessimists may ask, can this new heading programmed into the Stars navigation computer end up leading nowhere? Sure! Could Hull and Keane come back and bite Dallas in the stern? Of course! Could all of these new pieces fail to fit and never result in the proper chemistry Gainey and Hitchcock are looking for? You bet!

But don't bet the house on a Star flameout. Hitchcock looks at this as his greatest coaching challenge yet and his boss Gainey has the utmost confidence that he can make this work. Consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearances in '98 and '99 entrenched their reputations for success and make them a dangerous duo in the minds of every league office.

Gainey is one of the most patient GMs in the business and must continue to find a way to keep his Stars on top in spite of the fact that they are always picking so late in the draft. Success really sucks sometimes, you know?

Dallas has more offensive power assembled than at any time in team history. Jyrki Lumme is a top defenseman used to working 24 minutes a game. All of this means there will be a massive juggling of minutes up and down every line and this will take all of Ken Hitchcock's skill to make it all mesh into a playoff team.

It was Hitchcock that got Pat Verbeek to move to the fourth line, got Brett Hull to finally play a little defense and convinced Jere Lehtinen to flip to the other side of his line in their quest for Sir Stanley's Cup. But this will be Hitch's sixth season in Dallas. Will he be able to get his veteran players to buy into his highly disciplined, albeit highly successful system one more time?

No one in Dallas wants to preach gloom and doom for the Stars at this point. But all eyes are on Gainey, Hitchcock and Hicks to see if they can maintain that viable mix of youth, veterans, hard-nosed defense and flashes to the net this season.

They must steer this team's refitted hull in a new direction that ends up in the same place it has the last few years, deeply entrenched in the NHL playoffs, with an eye on bringing Sir Stanley's Cup home at full sail.