We tend to view the Cowboys as the local team suffering from an extensive drought, but perhaps the Dallas sports scene feels a bit more Dust Bowl-y than we recognize. It’s time to examine another franchise and its unquenched thirst for championships.
Fifteen Stars team banners hang from the rafters in American Airlines Center. If you’re seated in the hockey press box and reading from left to right, the first 10 (and the only ones that matter) were achieved in a five-year stretch at Reunion Arena. That includes two Presidents’ Trophy banners, as the team with the league’s best regular season record in 1998 and 1999, and the 1999 Stanley Cup banner. The five that have been acquired at AAC are four division titles and one conference championship that went virtually unseen in Edmonton during the 2020 pandemic playoffs.
Dallas Stars center Justin Hryckowian responds to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson pauses at the microphone before answering a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson listens to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson shares a light moment with a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson pauses at the microphone before taking questions from media members as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars forward Michael Bunting responds to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger responds to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz listens to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz ponders a question before answering as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz listens to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin leaves the podium after conversing with members of the media as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin answers a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Longtime Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn reacts to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Longtime Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn listens to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Longtime Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn listens to a question from a media member as a smartphone records a video as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Longtime Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn listens to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan answers a question from a media member as they organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan, left, addresses a packed room of media members as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan listens to a question from a media member as the organization held their end of season media availability at 2601 Avenue of the Stars in Frisco on May 4, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
Keep in mind the Stars moved to AAC for the 2001-02 season. That’s 24 seasons (the NHL took a knee to create a salary cap in 2004-05) to knock out four measly division title awards. Now we recognize the team has actually been more successful than that, which is one of the reasons they don’t catch as much grief as the Cowboys for the absence of titles the last 25 years. Three straight conference championship runs is the kind of the thing the Cowboys did with Danny White in the early ’80s, and Jerry Jones would personally hand out free margaritas for a year if his team could produce anything such as that before Dak’s days are done.
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But with those three longer playoff runs for the Stars having now been followed by a six-game exit at the hands of Minnesota, it allows one to examine whether the Stars’ 21st century is that much different than the Cowboys. In important ways, it is not.
I’m not a big believer in “championship or bust” mentality, not in 30- and 32-team leagues where salary caps mandate a certain grade of parity. So the fact that only the Rangers and Mavs own championships from this century doesn’t, by itself, mean Stars’ fans or Cowboys’ followers are simply wasting time.
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In the Stars’ case, they had a bad run when they ran out of money before owner Tom Gaglardi rode to the rescue. Five straight years without a sniff of the playoffs. The Cowboys have not endured that since 1986-90. It’s especially bad in hockey where 16 teams are getting in. The Cowboys have made the postseason 10 times this century to the Stars’ 15. That doesn’t place the Stars as far ahead as it sounds, given that the NFL was limited to 12 playoff teams until 2020.
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In 10 of those postseasons, the Stars went out in the first or second round as the Cowboys have done ever since 1995. But five trips to the conference finals offer, maybe not the ultimate reward, but the kind of pleasure fans are seeking. Those are playoff runs lasting six weeks with all the highs and lows that come with them.
It is what Stars fans are missing right now while Cowboys fans are trying to remember what a month in the playoffs feels like.
As you look at the two teams now and ask the key question, which is most likely to reach the next conference final, you still have to choose the Stars. The NHL may have a questionable way of selecting its GM of the year award, waiting until after the first two rounds of the playoffs for the managers to vote, but the fact remains that Jim Nill won it the last three years. You would think after back-to-back wins, league executives would have scanned the semifinals for others to select, but Nill’s trade for Mikko Rantanen last year had elevated the Stars’ play to conference finals level one more time.
Do I need to spell out how this makes the Stars fundamentally different from the Cowboys’ management structure?
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That’s why, with the arrival of safety Caleb Downs atop what appears to be a highly praised draft, and an offense that figures to be near the top of the NFL in scoring again this season, the Cowboys are getting closer. But they aren’t there yet. Not to suggest betting sites have all the answers, but if you want to bet the NFC champion on Draft Kings, the Cowboys’ odds trail the Rams, Seahawks, Eagles, Lions, Packers, 49ers and Bears. Whenever the Stanley Cup is over in June and next year’s odds are posted, the Stars will rank a lot higher than eighth in the Western Conference.
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Rantanen is 29 (even if he seems like an older 29), Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen are 26, and Wyatt Johnston is 23. The Stars have work to do to sign Robertson and stay under the salary cap, and they might have to be creative on the trade market, but that’s why Nill has all those Jim Gregory Awards on his wall.
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The Stars will keep competing and entertaining. I don’t have any real doubts about that. But the banners themselves, hanging high in AAC, tell the story of a team that really had it all together in Reunion Arena, and, quarter of a century later, hasn’t found its way back.
And that’s a drought, too.