Quote:
Originally Posted by glovesave_35
I'm not sure what connection you're talking about regarding Detroit management in Dallas.
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http://stars.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=39228
Given that page lists his wife as Kim, I'm going to guess he's re-married in the past decade, but his former wife's name was Denise Illitch Lites, daughter of Red Wings owners Mike and Marion Illitch.
I thought there were several other key Stars personnel who had Detroit connections during that time frame, although a quick Google search isn't popping anything, so maybe my memory was just exaggerating things.
In any event, there's no doubt Dallas had a Montreal thing going on. But they also explicitly referenced the "Detroit model" a lot during that time frame. Of course that's hardly surprising given that the Wings were in 3 SF finals in 4 years and won 2 of them . . . everyone was trying to emulate them or find a way to beat them. Dallas was just the best at the former, using a rock solid defensive system and waiting for opportunities for their star offensive players to score. I'd agree that they actually played more like New Jersey than Detroit, but I think the stated aim was to play more like the Wings.
If I recall correctly, Detroit also had a great deal of success against the Stars in the regular season during that time frame, which placed more emphasis on Detroit being the "hurdle" Dallas needed to get over (I'm talking pre-'99 here). That ended up not really being the case, as it was Colorado, not Detroit, that Dallas beat on the way to its two Cup finals.