Thoughts on the 2025 Dallas Stars Hall of Fame Induction Gala
You'll never get better perspective on the Dallas Stars than you do at these events
Getting perspective on a professional sports franchise can be a difficult thing. Fans naturally key in on one goal, one game, one season, or one career of one player, or group of players. But it’s hard to really get a full sense of what a franchise is all about even if you watch every single game for a decade or more.
But during the fourth annual Induction Gala for the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame on Sunday, you couldn’t help but think about just how many eras of the team are all connected—especially when so many of the people connecting them were in the same room.
The night was held in honor of Joe Nieuwendyk and Ralph Strangis, the two newest members of the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame. And those two names alone cover a whole swath of history in this organization.
Mike Heika (who himself ought to be in that same Hall of Fame before too long) wrote one of his perpetually excellent pieces about Strangis and Nieuwendyk last week, showing how unique and critical both figures were to the organization. So, make sure you give it a read.
(I touched on both figures back when the announcement was made, so you can go back and read that, too, if you want a comparatively inferior summary.)
But if you know much about the Stars, you know why those people matter, and why they were voted into said Hall of Fame by the selection committee. And that meant last night was a really special one to be at.
Seeing Jamie Langenbrunner come back and introduce his former linemate and lifelong friend was nothing short of touching. Langenbrunner talked about the lessons Nieuwendyk taught him as a young player, as well as how Nieuwendyk and his family helped Langenbrunner and his after the two players were traded to New Jersey in 2002 (which was also four years after my personal favorite Langenbrunner moment).
Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe Trophy in the franchise’s only championship year so far: 1999. That’s a long time ago, but it’s also the most important year of the franchise.
And in Nieuwendyk’s speech last night, he acknowledged that it’s probably not the most interesting thing for all the current Dallas Stars players who were in attendance to listen to him and others talk about the “glory days” of their careers.
But then Nieuwendyk did what he has done his whole career, and chose what felt like the perfect shot at the perfect time, giving a stirring admonition to the current players. He talked about how he won his first Stanley Cup with the Flames in 1989, at an age similar to Tyler Seguin, when the latter won his first Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011—and what is also the same age that Wyatt Johnston is now.
Nieuwendyk talked about just how much it meant for his team to have won a Stanley Cup for Lanny McDonald in McDonald’s final year in the NHL, giving the future Hall of Famer his first championship ring in his very last chance at getting one.
“To see what it meant to him,” Nieuwendyk said with a catch in his voice, “For a young 22-year-old, it impacted me the rest of my career. Lanny had that classic moustache, and he looked older than dirt. But we were so happy for him. We had a motto that playoff run: ‘Let’s win this one for Lanny.’”
That’s when Nieuwendyk pivoted to the point that many in the room were already thinking about, but that nobody would dare to say to players so bluntly, other than Nieuwendyk.
“When we won the Cup, [McDonald] was 36 years old. I was 22,” Nieuwendyk said. “I did another Google search after that, and looked up my old friend, Jamie Benn’s age. Chubbs is here. Chubbs, how old are you?”
You could have heard a pin drop in that moment. But to Benn’s credit, he called back to his first NHL general manager with a clear voice: “Thirty-six.”
“He said 36,” Nieuwendyk repeated for the crowd. “The same as that old goat, Lanny. And I hate to make the comparison in some ways, because Jamie is still so damn GQ good-looking, and Lanny really was old.”
The laughter was a relief for the crowd, but the point went home like a knife just the same, because Nieuwendyk didn’t leave it unsaid.
“I know that you guys are gonna go through a long season,” Nieuwendyk said. “You’re off to a great start. There’s ups and downs, there’s swings, there’s emotions. And I hope when it comes time—and I know you will be ready—but in some ways, I hope that you can maybe have a little motto yourself: ‘Let’s win this one for Chubbs.’”
I don’t know what Wyatt Johnston or Tyler Seguin (let alone Jamie Benn) were thinking in that moment, but I can tell you this: To those of us on the outside, it felt like the perfect thing, at the perfect time. As always.
But you don’t need to hear me say that, so I’ll defer to Jere Lehtinen, who took a few minutes out of his night to talk with Stars Thoughts.
“He was a great player, great leader,” Lehtinen said of Nieuwendyk. “Big mentor for me that year in ‘95 when he came. That was my first year when he got here. What he told here [tonight], we had the same talk that spring of ‘96, actually: Where this team is gonna go.”
Nieuwendyk admitted that the team needed more help even after he and Lehtinen joined it in 1996. Bob Gainey’s work to bring in players like Guy Carbonneau, Mike Keane, Sergei Zubov, Ed Belfour, and Brett Hull was so crucial for that team’s getting where it was “gonna go.” But Nieuwendyk was ever the one modeling what it really meant to win in the NHL, including what it costs. And to Lehtinen, that hit home.
“Especially the young players,” Lehtinen said. “He showed us what it means to be a winner. At the same time, a good friend of mine over the years. Of course, old teammates, but it’s been great to know him ever since he got here.”
Elliotte Friedman is on the selection committee, and he reiterated on his podcast Monday morning that every single NHL team should do this event. And having been there the last two years, I have to agree.
Tom Gaglardi was there. Bob Gainey was there. So were Ed Belfour, Craig Ludwig, Jere Lehtinen, Sergei Zubov, Brenden Morrow, and Jim Lites, not to mention all the current Stars brass, coaches, and players in attendance. There just isn’t another Stars event like it, with that sort of guest list.
Where else could you have heard Nieuwendyk talk about Bob Bassen chasing around Bryan Marchment for a couple of years after Marchment’s hit ended Nieuwendyk’s season in 1998? Or about Langenbrunner and his family moving in with the Nieuwendyks after both got traded to New Jersey? Or about Dan Stuchal’s fetching Rolaids for Strangis in the early days of both of their time with the organization?
And again, all of this is taking place with the current Stars players in attendance, in the midst of a five-game winning streak. Here is the reality of legacy in the NHL, talking to them as they sit at tables with fans who paid generously to be there with them.
You have to think that means something, right?
For Ralph Strangis, it was clear that last night meant a lot to him. To hear how choked up he became while talking about how he and Neal Broten now had this honor in common made it even clearer, too. But lest you think it was just Strangis being grateful, you were treated to something more: Ralph being Ralph.
Dan Stuchal (COO, StarCenters and Multisport) introduced Strangis, and the two go way back, all the way to Minnesota. Stuchal’s name is on the 1999 Stanley Cup, as you may know. He really was the perfect person to introduce Strangis.
And for Strangis, the night was a lot of things, because being a broadcaster is something very different from being a player. Listening to someone’s voice narrate a game is a deeply meaningful thing when you follow a team. You don’t need me to tell you this if you watched the team back then, because the experience of the broadcast for those years was unparalleled in the NHL from 1996 to 2015. I remember listening to other broadcasts during that time, and it could sometime feel like a massive drop-off. Again, if you watched hockey back then, you know what I’m talking about.
But for Ralph, who was there for 25 years before leaving abruptly (or at least that’s what it felt like to fans in 2015), last night felt like a homecoming, especially after Strangis returned to the broadcast on Saturday night, calling a few minutes of action alongside Daryl Reaugh and Josh Bogorad, who were both urging Strangis to do so. He made that play-by-play broadcast his own, because he was always conversing with the fans, even when talking with his broadcast partner.
Hearing Ralph and Razor together during the game on Saturday was something fans haven’t gotten in a decade. But seeing them together on Sunday was even more special, in a way.
Strangis’s typically prickly brand of humor remained intact for the event—it is little surprise that he holds George Carlin in high regard—and he deployed it on everyone from Jamie Benn, to Razor, and Jim Lites, as well as a couple of other provocative comments. But it felt like something there was all the grace in the world to handle, because Sunday night was a time of honor and celebration, of reunion and gratitude.
“I’m not easy,” Ralph said multiple times that night, and it’s true—he doesn’t try to be. But it was clear that, easy or not, he is still loved in Dallas.
When Reaugh took the stage after Strangis’s nearly half-hour long speech (after he and Nieuwendyk had been asked to keep their speeches under eight minutes), Razor was beaming, proudly stating that he would have been disappointed if his old broadcast partner had gone any shorter than he did. And after a moment or two, Strangis came back up to thank him, and the two shared a big hug.
As for the rest of Strangis’s exhortations to the audience, he focuses on dreaming big, and about never compromising your vision for the sake of pleasing others. It’s a message that was and remains inherently Ralph, who himself stepped away from his dream job in 2015 simply because he wanted to keep following new dreams.
Here’s what he said in 2015 when explaining his decision to leave:
“It’s my decision, and it comes at a time when I’m able to look at new opportunities and new challenges, and I just feel now is the time to do that,” Strangis said. “My daughter is going to college, I’m single, I don’t have a house … I have a lot of different interests, and this will give me a chance to look at my life and try something different.”
-Ralph Strangis, The Dallas Morning News, April 23, 2015
In some ways, a decade on from that, the explanation remains as true as ever. Ralph wanted to leave because he had to leave. He had to do something else—many other somethings else, including calling games for other NHL teams, for NHL Radio, and even an AHL game as recently as last year.
It was hard at the time, given what watching an NHL broadcast can mean for fans so accustomed to hearing the same voices bringing the game to them. But that doesn’t mean he stopped being a teammate, as Jere Lehtinen put it last night.
“How will I describe…there’s so much,” Lehtinen began, when asked about Strangis. “You know you have teammates, but he was a teammate, even though he was in a different role with the team. Helping you, talking to you, encouraging you when you had a tough time, and positive all the time, lows and highs. He was there, and became a great friend for me.”
“Big part of my whole 14 years,” Lehtinen said. “True friend, a true voice, and you know, that voice is great. Going still straight to my heart.”
Okay, the more I think about it, every team should do nights like this, where long and meaningful relationships between players and teammates and fans and everyone else all get celebrated in a way that raises money for charitable causes like the Dallas Stars Foundation. It’s just cool, because it reminds you that even with years of perspective, there’s still a lot of love going around because of what all of these coaches, executives, players, and the owner are working so hard to do: win.
All the stories, jokes, and even the occasional awkward moment make these events flat-out cool. Last year was special in its own way, with Brenden Morrow and Jim Lites sharing stories from their eras. But this year had just that extra tinge of felt reconciliation, as two people were honored who had previously left the organization—and in Nieuwendyk’s case, he left it twice, both times involuntarily.
Behind the scenes, there were clearly strong bonds that had kept Nieuwendyk and Strangis tied to Dallas in a great many ways. Nieuwendyk’s daughter even worked for the team for a bit, while Strangis pointed to Brad Alberts as one of the prime movers in making sure this night happened. And listening and watching to the well-over two hours of festivities (followed by a very exuberant Shane Smith & the Saints concert), it sure felt like it was well-worth all the work that had gone into the night.
It turns out that Sunday night was less about celebrating the glory days than about celebrating the Dallas Stars as a whole, from two different perspectives. Because the cool thing about sports is that there is actually a whole lot of glory to be shared when everyone is pulling for each other. And as time goes by, it only gets shared more generously.
We’ll see if this year’s Stars team can add another heapin’ helpin’ of kudos for future teammates (of all kinds) to celebrate themselves.
Excellent as always. You my friend have a real feel for us. And yes - that is Ralph being Ralph. ;)
Thank you for the recap of this event. Makes my heart smile. And thank you, Ralph, for being you. 😁I've been a fan from the first game you called back in the day. Hearing you again Saturday night was a wonderful trip back in time. Congratulations on an honor well deserved.