
The Stars made a number of changes during summer 2006. Former Stars goalkeeper Andy Moog was promoted to Assistant General Manager for Player Development (he kept his job as goaltending coach), and former player Ulf Dahlen was hired as an assistant coach.
The Stars allowed center Jason Arnott, defenseman Willie Mitchell and goaltender Johan Hedberg to leave as free agents. Forward Niko Kapanen was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers and the remaining two years on right-winger Bill Guerin's contract were bought out.
The Stars received Patrik Stefan and Jaroslav Modry in the Atlanta trade, and signed Eric Lindros, Jeff Halpern, Matthew Barnaby and Darryl Sydor as free agents. Young goaltender Mike Smith was promoted to the NHL to serve as Marty Turco's backup.
On September 29, 2006, Brenden Morrow was announced as new team captain, taking the "C" from Mike Modano, who had served in the role since 2003. Modano and Lehtinen are the last Minnesota North Stars still with the franchise.
During the season, center Mike Ribeiro, winger Ladislav Nagy and defenseman Mattias Norstrom were added through three separate trades. Young players Joel Lundqvist, Krys Barch, Nicklas Grossman, Chris Conner all saw significant ice time while other players were out of the lineup with injuries. |