How the Stars’ current makeup pays tribute to their roots

The Dallas Stars Hall of Fame Induction Gala honoring Ed Belfour and Ken Hitchcock on Sunday comes at an appropriate time.

In getting off to a 2-0-1 start, the Stars’ best player has been goalie Jake Oettinger. He’s just the latest in a long line of fantastic Dallas backstops that started with Belfour. Since the Stars signed Belfour as a free agent in 1997, they rank tied for second in the NHL in goals against average. Yes, you read that correctly. In that span, Dallas has allowed 2.59 goals per game, tied with New Jersey and just behind Boston (2.55). That’s pretty rare air, but it does say something about the identity of the organization.

Bob Gainey valued good defense and brought in Belfour just a few years after the team moved to Texas. What has followed has been an impressive string that includes Marty Turco, Kari Lehtonen, Ben Bishop and now Oettinger. Pretty much every year, you knew the local lads would be tough to score against. That’s a huge reason why the team has the third best points percentage since 1997 at .595.

It’s easy to forget when you consider some of the ups and downs of the past decade, but now is a good time to study the full history.

Belfour’s appearance helped give the Stars the edge they needed back in the day. Yes, he had a wonderful team in front of him. But he brought not only talent, but also attitude. Belfour despised losing and did everything he could to make sure that didn’t happen. If that was meticulously maintaining his own equipment or literally hating anyone who might get in the way of his success, it radiated throughout the organization.

The veteran goalie and his coach butted heads at times, and that was part of the fun of the 1990s Stars. In the old set-up at Valley Ranch, the coaches had to walk through the dressing room to get back to their office. Oftentimes, the media would already be in the room when Hitchcock would breeze through, meaning we were all privy to his motivating talks. On one such occasion, Belfour was working on his pads to make them absolutely perfect, and Hitchcock tried to use a gold analogy on the intensely focused seamstress.

Hitchcock said words to the effect of: Hey Eddy, what about the days when you used to pick up the rented sticks and shot par?

Belfour was annoyed by the golfing metaphor.

Hitchcock explained: Y’know, it’s not the equipment, it’s the athlete.

Belfour again shrugged.

Finally, Hitchcock said: I’m just saying if you need the world to be perfect, you’re not going to have a lot of good days.

The coach then moved on, and I had a great appreciation for how he tried to handle one of the most complicated athletes he’s probably ever coached. That was the beauty of Hitch and Eddie. They each wanted the same thing, they just wanted it in different ways. Together, they found a way to succeed.

In the years that followed, different coaches worked with different goalies. Dave Tippett and Marty Turco put together a regular season points percentage of .617 with a GAA of 2.46. Lehtonen helped plug the gap when the organizational defense wasn’t as tidy for a stretch. And Bishop and Rick Bowness helped rekindle a long-standing friendship in the brief time they were together here.

Dallas also has a history of producing good young goalies for other teams. Roman Turek and Manny Fernandez were Belfour’s backups before Turco took that spot. Mike Smith and Dan Ellis went on to have success after caddying for Turco. The backup has played a fun role since the Belfour days. When it was suggested by Hitchcock that a young, hungry Turco could be good motivation for Belfour, the veteran responded by stating that maybe Hitchcock could benefit from a “backup coach” who could push him to be better.

Fun times that will be remembered this weekend when the old-timers come back and we get to embrace the interesting history of the organization.

Which brings us to Oettinger. The 24-year-old first-round draft pick is the youngest No. 1 goalie the franchise has ever had. He worked his way into the top spot in 2021-22 and showed last year that he can definitely handle the pressure. In going 37-11-11 with a 2.37 GAA and .919 save percentage, Oettinger claimed a spot as one of the top five goalies in the NHL. He’s following that up nicely, as he currently sits at 1.58 and .943 respectively.

Pete DeBoer and his coaching staff have worked hard to create more offense from this roster. It was the No. 1 challenge when DeBoer was hired last year. But he has been adamant about keeping the defensive identity the team has worked so hard to build. And the goalie is in the middle of all that.

The Stars’ penalty kill has yet to allow a goal in three games. They can thank Oettinger for that. The team allowed 17 shots on goal in the first period at Anaheim on Thursday, but remained in the game because the goalie stopped 16 of them. It’s a luxury that we probably don’t stop to appreciate enough.

As we look back at the legacy started by Belfour and Hitchcock, perhaps we can better realize just how lucky we are.

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 Twitter @MikeHeika.