Call to the Hall: How Morrow, Lites followed similar paths on way to Stars immortality

Jim Lites and Brenden Morrow are a lot alike.

This year’s Dallas Stars Hall of Fame inductees each seemed to do their best when times were the toughest. Lites helped rescue NHL teams from financial ruin on three different occasions and helped build a hockey community in Texas that was forged first in brick and mortar and then in heart and soul. Morrow pushed his body to the limits, fighting through myriad injuries to help carry his teammates to some great memories.

And both earned the respect of their peers in the process.

“He’s an all-time warrior for me,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said of Morrow. “When you look at what he did and what he fought through, it was incredible.”

Stars GM Jim Nill said of Lites, “I’ve known him since we were in Detroit together, and his fingerprints are all over so many success stories in both of these cities. You really can’t find a person who better exemplifies the word ‘builder.’”

The Stars Hockey Hall of Fame was created in 2022 and has had three classes of inductions. Morrow will be this year’s player inductee and Lites will go in as a builder. Morrow played for 13 seasons with the Stars, serving as captain for seven. He ranks sixth in games played at 835 and is in the top 10 in goals and assists. Lites joined the Stars when they moved from Minnesota in 1993 and has had several stints with the team. He was brought in by new owner Tom Gaglardi in 2011 and has recently played a big role in getting the Stars and Victory Plus together.

One of the best parts of weekends like this is getting together and telling stories about the old times. Dan Stuchal, the team’s Chief Communications Officer, worked for the North Stars in Minnesota and came down in 1993 to help the transition. He said when the folks from up north saw the new practice facility in Valley Ranch, there was a real concern. The ice surface and freezing system had to be torn up and rebuilt, and the locker rooms had to be completely redone.

“It’s really quite a story, coming from Minnesota. In Minnesota, they had a dozen facilities on any given day, so to come here and see we had one rink and it was a mess,” Stuchal said. “I was shocked just what kind of shape the rink was in and how much work needed to be done. They got the ice done in time, but the players were dressing in trailers in the parking lot for training camp in 110 degree heat. We got through it, and Jimmy was a big reason for that.”

Lites’ history in Detroit included several roles, and one of them was in redoing buildings. He helped renovate the Fox Theatre that was owned by the Ilitch family, and those construction ties paid off on the practice rink.

“I just remember Bob Gainey looking at me for assurance that we were going to take care of everything,” Lites said. “And we did. It was an adventure, but we just dug in and fixed every problem we had.”

Lites eventually drove an organization that not only fixed that rink, but built several more. He said at his opening press conference that kids in Detroit played at suburban rinks, and there was no reason they couldn’t do the same thing in Texas. He said he dreamed of a day where Dallas kids would wake up on Christmas morning and be thrilled to get a set of skates or a hockey stick.

“And he really believed that,” Stuchal said. “If you would have said back then that we would have all of these kids playing hockey here and that some of these kids from Texas would end up in the NHL, nobody would have believed you. But Jimmy did, he saw the future.”

Lites had already helped Detroit navigate economic issues before leaving for the Stars, so he was well equipped when owner Norman Green had to sell the team. He helped find Tom Hicks, and the Texas businessman made the Stars his first purchase in what would become a sports empire. Leaning heavily on Hicks’s pocketbook, the Stars brought in Joe Nieuwendyk, Brett Hull, Ed Belfour and Sergei Zubov. That led to a lot of success and a 1999 Stanley Cup championship.

Of course, financial hardship arose again and Lites left for a bit in the 2000s. However, when new owner Gaglardi bought the team out of bankruptcy, there was no better man to help rebuild than Lites. He came back as CEO and President, and worked his magic again. He brought Nill in from Detroit, and the Stars are once again one of the top performing teams in the league.

“He really gave me my chance here, so I’m very grateful to him,” Nill said. “He’s put out fires his whole life. He’s good at that. He knows how to deal with people, with government organizations, with politicians, with financial people, and he knows how to solve problems. It’s amazing the things he has touched here and in Detroit.”

Lites said he takes great pride in solving problems and staying current. At age 71, he’s one of the principals in the streaming projects that have led to the Victory Plus channel and he continues to work with Gaglardi on investment projects.

“To be 71 years old and still involved in all of this, it’s a thrill,” he said.

Nill put it this way: “He knows how to dig in. When things are the toughest, that’s when he’s at his best.”

Morrow has the same resume. He was drafted by the Stars in 1997 and was expected to play for the Michigan K-Wings of the IHL in 1999. After nine games in the minors, Jere Lehtinen suffered an injury, Morrow was called up and never went back. He took Lehtinen’s place on a line with Mike Modano and Brett Hull, and instantly earned the respect of every teammate.

Morrow said growing up in small town Saskatchewan gave him humble, hard-working roots, so he never got out over his skis.

“My parents kept me grounded, and I think that really helps,” Morrow said. “I honestly would have been happy to play one game in the NHL, and the next thing you know I’m sitting next to Brett Hull after having his poster on my wall at home in my bedroom.”

Morrow learned from his new teammates and quickly started producing a string of seasons that included 20-plus goals and 100-plus penalty minutes. He was skilled, tough and tenacious. Eventually, he was captain.

That was another thing Morrow didn’t take lightly. He wanted to lead his team, he wanted to protect his team, he wanted to represent his team. So when injuries popped up, he typically didn’t have time for them. That said, there was one in 2006 that couldn’t be ignored. Morrow was laying on the ice in Chicago when Radim Vrbata accidentally stepped on his arm. Where the blade of his skate landed, Morrow said there was a mark on the bone. When Vrbata pushed off to skate away, that’s when he did the majority of the damage. Morrow had a severed tendon in his arm, and a story for the ages.

“It was very scary,” Morrow said. “I’m looking at our old trainer Dave Surprenant’s face for a little assurance that everything was going to be okay, and he turned green. Then, [goalie] Mike Smith was basically throwing up in the corner of the locker room in Chicago, so I knew it was bad.”

Morrow missed half the season, but came back the next year and helped lead the Stars to the Western Conference Final. He scored one of the franchise’s most iconic goals in the fourth overtime to beat the Sharks in 2008. The year before, he tried to fight the Vancouver Canucks bench on one leg. In-between there were a thousand “reversals” and a dozen or so shots to make his neck feel a little better.

“He showed me how to be a captain,” said Benn. “When I came in, he was my guy. He took me under his wing. To be honest, I just wanted to be like him, so I copied a lot of things he did because I thought he was a great leader, a great hockey player and a great person.”

Morrow had some tough moments in his career. He made it to the Stanley Cup Final in his rookie season and lost with Dallas to New Jersey. Then he got back in 2015 with Tampa Bay and lost again.

Asked if it makes it better because he was close or makes it worse because he was close, Morrow said, “I still think it makes it worse.”

“In 2000, I thought I would definitely get one the next year or the year after,” he said. “That last year in Tampa, it was hard. We were so close and when it didn’t happen, that stung a bit.”

He finished with 991 NHL regular-reason games. Had he not had all of those injuries, he surely would have hit 1,000, but he did get to re-sign in Dallas and retired a Star. He still is a huge fan of the team and splits his time between Texas and Idaho. That’s why getting put in the Hall of Fame means so much.

“This place is such a big part of my life, so I’m very honored,” Morrow said. “I never thought any of this would happen, so I’m pretty happy with all of it.”

And the timing seems appropriate. After all, Morrow and Lites are a lot alike.

“Brenden is perfect for me,” Lites said. “Brenden epitomized everything that was the Dallas Stars. He’s that guy. For him, it was always about the team, so I could not be more proud to be inducted with him.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @MikeHeika.