Editing Dallas Stars (section)

===1998–2004: Stanley Cup contention and 1999 Stanley Cup championship===

====1999 Stanley Cup title and 2000 Stanley Cup Finals run====
{{See also|1999 Stanley Cup Finals}}
In the 1998 off-season, after falling just short in the conference finals, the Stars added what they believed was the final piece toward winning a championship: star goalscoring winger [[Brett Hull]]. Hull had already had a successful career with the St. Louis Blues, with three consecutive 70-goal seasons and a [[Hart Memorial Trophy]], but a fallout with Blues management led Hull to leave St. Louis via free agency.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stlouisblueslegends.blogspot.com/2007/01/brett-hull.html |title=St. Louis Blues Legends: Brett Hull |publisher=Stlouisblueslegends.blogspot.com |date=January 9, 2011 |access-date=September 16, 2011 |archive-date=August 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110828025212/http://stlouisblueslegends.blogspot.com/2007/01/brett-hull.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Additionally, this was the first season for the Stars in the [[Pacific Division (NHL)|Pacific Division]] after the 1998 NHL division re-alignment.

In the 1998–99 season, the Stars won 51 games, surpassing the 50-win mark for the first time in franchise history. They also recorded 114 points, which still stands today as a franchise record. They won their first Pacific Division by 24 points (their third consecutive division title), a second consecutive Presidents' Trophy, the [[William M. Jennings Trophy|Jennings Trophy]] as the league's top defensive team, and were awarded home-ice advantage throughout the [[1999 Stanley Cup playoffs|1999 playoffs]]. Winger [[Jere Lehtinen]] was also awarded the [[Frank J. Selke Trophy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1999.html |title=1998–99 NHL Season Summary |publisher=Hockey-Reference.com |access-date=September 16, 2011 |archive-date=May 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180503210148/https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1999.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Joe Nieuwendyk Dallas.jpg|thumb|[[Joe Nieuwendyk]] helped the Stars win their first [[Stanley Cup]] in 1999. Nieuwendyk was awarded the [[Conn Smythe Trophy]] for that year's playoffs.]]
In the first round of the playoffs, Dallas faced the Edmonton Oilers. The Stars swept the Oilers in four close games, winning game 4 in the third overtime on a goal by Joe Nieuwendyk. They then faced the St. Louis Blues in the second round. After taking a 2–0 series lead, the Blues came back to tie the series. The Stars then won the next two games to beat the Blues in six games. The series again ended on an overtime goal, this time in game 6 from Mike Modano. In the conference finals, they faced the [[Colorado Avalanche]] for the first time in Stars playoff history. This would be the first of four playoff meetings between the Stars and Avalanche in the next seven years. After both the Stars and the Avalanche split the first four games at a 2–2 series tie, the Avalanche won game 5 by a score of 7–5, taking a 3–2 series lead, The Stars rallied winning game six on the road, and game 7 at home, both by 4–1 scorelines.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hockey-reference.com/playoffs/NHL_1999.html |title=1999 NHL Playoffs Summary |publisher=Hockey-Reference.com |access-date=September 16, 2011 |archive-date=August 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807171253/http://www.hockey-reference.com/playoffs/NHL_1999.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

This was the Stars' first [[List of Stanley Cup champions|Stanley Cup Finals]] appearance as the Dallas Stars, although they made the finals twice as the Minnesota North Stars. They faced the Eastern Conference champion [[Buffalo Sabres]], who had defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4–1 in the conference finals. After splitting the first four games, the Stars vaunted defense would hold the Sabres to only one goal in the next two, winning game 5 2–0 and game 6 2–1 on a triple-overtime goal by Brett Hull. Hull's goal at 14:51 of the third overtime was allowed to stand only after a lengthy official review. That season, the league still had the "crease rule" in effect, which provided that if any player of the attacking team who did not have possession of the puck entered the crease before the puck, then any resulting goal was disallowed. Hull had initially gained possession of the puck outside the crease and had made a shot that was blocked by Buffalo goaltender [[Dominik Hašek|Dominik Hasek]]. One of Hull's skates entered the crease as he corralled the rebound, and Hull's second shot scored the Cup-winning goal. The goal was eventually allowed, as having simply blocked Hull's shot rather than catching it, Hasek never took possession of the puck away from Hull. Officials therefore determined that rather than calling it a loose puck, Hull would be considered to have had continuous possession of the puck from before his first shot outside the crease. The complexity of the crease rule, and the attendant difficulties in understanding its application by fans and players alike, combined with the controversy arising out of the disputed Stanley Cup-winning goal, resulted in the crease rule being repealed the following season. Hull's goal marked the 13th time a Stanley Cup-winning goal was scored in overtime, and only the fourth to be scored in multiple overtimes. This was the only time between [[1995 Stanley Cup Finals|1995]] and [[2003 Stanley Cup Finals|2003]] that a team other than the New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche or Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup.

The team added veterans [[Kirk Muller]], [[Dave Manson]] and [[Sylvain Côté|Sylvain Cote]] in an effort to defend their Stanley Cup championship in [[1999–2000 NHL season|1999–2000]]. On December 31, 1999, Brett Hull scored his 600 and 601st career goals in a 5–4 win over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Stars ultimately won the Pacific Division for the second year in a row, and were seeded second in the Western Conference. Dallas then defeated the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks in the first and second rounds, both 4–1 series victories. The Stars, for the second season in a row, defeated the Colorado Avalanche in the conference finals in seven games to reach their second consecutive [[2000 Stanley Cup Finals|Stanley Cup Finals]], where they met the [[New Jersey Devils]]. Because the Devils finished the regular season with one more point than Dallas, the Stars had to play their first playoff series without home-ice advantage since 1995.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2000.html |title=1999-00 NHL Season Summary |publisher=Hockey-Reference.com |access-date=September 16, 2011 |archive-date=September 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914202910/http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2000.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The Stars lost all three games at the Reunion Arena in the Finals, and lost the series in game 6 on a double-overtime goal by New Jersey forward [[Jason Arnott]].

====2001–2004: Continued playoff contention====
Hoping to win back the Stanley Cup, the Stars again captured the Pacific Division, posting a solid 48–24–8–2 record in the [[2000–01 NHL season|2000–01 season]]. In the playoffs, the Stars and the Edmonton Oilers met in the first round, battling back-and-forth through the first four games, with each game decided by one goal, including three going into overtime. Game 5 would also go to overtime, as the Stars took a 3–2 series lead on a goal by Kirk Muller. However, in game 6 in [[Edmonton]], the Stars did not need overtime, advancing to the second round with a 3–1 win. Facing the St. Louis Blues, the Stars would run out of gas, being swept in four straight games. The game 2 loss would be the last NHL game played in Reunion Arena.

[[File:MartyTurco.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Marty Turco]] was awarded the starting goaltender position in the 2002–03 season, with the departure of [[Ed Belfour]] to free agency.]]
Moving into the brand new [[American Airlines Center]] for the [[2001–02 NHL season|2001–02 season]], the Stars had a slow start to the season, as goaltender Ed Belfour struggled through one of his worst seasons. Head coach Ken Hitchcock was eventually fired, being replaced by [[Rick Wilson (ice hockey)|Rick Wilson]]. Despite the coaching change, the Stars continued to play poor hockey. With the prospect of missing the playoffs, the Stars traded 1999 Conn Smythe winner Joe Nieuwendyk and [[Jamie Langenbrunner]] to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for [[Randy McKay]] and Jason Arnott, who scored the game-winning goal in the 2000 Finals against Dallas. The Stars would eventually go on to post a respectable record of 35–28–13–5. However, it would not be enough for the playoffs, as they fell four points short of the final eighth spot in the Western Conference. Following the season, coach Rick Wilson would return to assistant coaching duties, as the Stars brought in [[Dave Tippett]] as his replacement.

As in the 2002 off-season, Ed Belfour left via free agency to the Toronto Maple Leafs. To begin the [[2002–03 NHL season|2002–03 season]], the Stars awarded the starting goaltending position to [[Marty Turco]], who went on to have one of the best seasons in NHL history, posting the lowest goals-against average (GAA) since 1940, at 1.76. However, missing 18 games late in the season likely cost him a shot at the [[Vezina Trophy]], awarded to the league's top regular season goaltender. Regardless, the Stars posted the best record in the Western Conference at 46–17–15–4, and along the way, two-way star Jere Lehtinen won his third Frank J. Selke Trophy. In the [[2003 Stanley Cup playoffs|playoffs]], the Stars once again met the Edmonton Oilers, and once again the Oilers would prove a contentious opponent, winning two of the first three games. However, the Stars would prove the better team again by winning the next three games to take the series in six games. The Stars' second-round series against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim got off to an unbelievable start, as the game went deep into overtime tied 3–3. However, Mighty Ducks goaltender [[Jean-Sébastien Giguère|Jean-Sebastien Giguere]] stopped 60 shots as the Ducks scored early in the fifth overtime. Game 2 would be more of the same, as the Ducks stunned the Stars in overtime. Desperately needing a win, the Stars bounced back to take game 3 in Anaheim. However, the Ducks would take a 3–1 series lead by breaking a scoreless tie late in the third period of game 4. In game 5, the Stars finally solved Giguere by scoring four goals to keep their playoff hopes alive. However, the Stars' dreams of a return trip to the Stanley Cup Finals would end in heartbreaking fashion as the Ducks broke a 3–3 tie with 1:06 left in game 6 on a goal by defenseman [[Sandis Ozoliņš|Sandis Ozolinsh]].

Coming off their disappointing playoff loss, the Stars would get off to a shaky start to the [[2003–04 NHL season|2003–04 season]], as they played mediocre hockey through the first three months of the season, posting a sub-.500 record. However, as the calendar turned to 2004, the Stars began to find their game, as they posted a 9–4–3 record in January. As the season wore on, the Stars would get stronger, climbing up the playoff ladder and eventually reaching second place in the Pacific Division, where they finished with a solid 41–26–13–2 record; Marty Turco had another outstanding season, recording a 1.98 GAA. However, the Stars could not carry their momentum into the playoffs, as they were beaten by the Colorado Avalanche in five games in the first round.