The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Cedar Park, Texas. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars. They play their homes games at the H-E-B Center.

History

In April 2008, the Iowa Stars announced that they would no longer affiliate with the Dallas Stars and changed the team's name to Chops for the 2008–09 season. For the 2008–09 season, Dallas made agreements to send their AHL prospects to four other teams, while a few remained with the Chops. AHL teams that received Dallas Stars prospects were the Hamilton Bulldogs, Manitoba Moose, Peoria Rivermen, and Grand Rapids Griffins.

On April 28, 2009, the AHL granted a provisional Austin-area franchise to Tom Hicks, owner of the NHL Stars, with the stipulation that Hicks purchase an existing AHL franchise within one year. That condition was met on May 4, 2010, when the AHL approved the Texas Stars' ownership group's purchase of the Iowa Chops franchise, which had been suspended for the 2009–10 season.

The team's inaugural season was a successful one. After finishing second in the West Division, the Stars swept Rockford in the first round of the playoffs, then claimed their first division championship by defeating Chicago four games to three. The Stars then won their first Robert W. Clarke Trophy by defeating Hamilton in another seven-game series to become the Western Conference champions. The Stars eventually fell to Hershey in game six of the 2010 Calder Cup Finals.

The Stars won the Calder Cup in 2014, defeating the St. John's IceCaps in the finals. After the season, head coach Willie Desjardins resigned to accept the head coaching position with the Vancouver Canucks."Willie Desjardins named Canucks head coach", National Hockey League, June 23, 2014. (accessed 8 July 2014) In July 2014 he was succeeded by Derek Laxdal, who won a Kelly Cup championship with the Stars' ECHL affiliate, the Idaho Steelheads, in 2007.Heika, Mike. "Stars name Derek Laxdal as head coach of Texas Stars" , The Dallas Morning News, July 3, 2014. (accessed 8 July 2014) Also during 2014, the Stars were purchased by Tom Gaglardi's ownership group, thus having the AHL affiliate under control of the parent club.

On June 11, 2015, the Stars unveiled their new logo, color scheme, and jerseys to more closely match the parent club's identity.

In 2018, the Stars once again made it to the Calder Cup finals, but lost to the Toronto Marlies in seven games. During the 2019–20 season, head coach Laxdal was promoted to the Dallas Stars as an assistant and the Texas Stars promoted Neil Graham to head coaching position.

In 2023-24, despite the Stars having a relatively disappointing 33-33-4 record during the regular season, Mavrik Bourque was the AHL’s top scorer and was awarded the league’s regular season MVP award, posting 26 goals and 51 assists for 77 points in 71 games.

At the conclusion of the 2024-25 season it was announced that head coach Neil Graham would be promoted to the Dallas Stars, with former player and AHL assistant coach Toby Petersen being named as the new head coach of the Texas Stars.

Season-by-season results Calder Cup championsConference championsDivision championsLeague leader Regular seasonPlayoffs Season GP W L OTL SOL Pts PCT GF GA Standing Year Prelims 1st round 2nd round 3rd round Finals2009–10 80 46 27 3 4 99 .619 238 198 2nd, West 2010 — W, 4–0, RFD W, 4–3, CHI W, 4–3, HAM L, 2–4, HER2010–11 80 41 29 4 6 92 .575 213 210 4th, West 2011 — L, 2–4, MIL ———2011–12 76 31 40 3 2 67 .441 224 251 5th, West 2012 Did not qualify2012–13 76 43 22 5 6 97 .638 235 201 1st, South 2013 — W, 3–1, MIL L, 1–4, OKC ——2013–14 76 48 18 3 7 106 .697 274 197 1st, West 2014 — W, 3–0, OKC W, 4–2, GR W, 4–3, TOR W, 4–1, STJ2014–15 76 40 22 13 1 94 .618 242 216 2nd, West 2015 — L, 0–3, RFD — — —2015–16 76 40 25 8 3 91 .599 277 246 3rd, Pacific 2016 — L, 1–3, SD — — —2016–17 76 34 37 1 4 73 .480 224 265 7th, Pacific 2017 Did not qualify2017–18 76 38 24 8 6 90 .592 223 231 2nd, Pacific 2018 — W, 3–1, ONT W, 4–1, TUC W, 4–2, RFD L, 3–4, TOR2018–19 76 37 31 4 4 82 .539 238 231 6th, Central 2019 Did not qualify2019–20 62 27 28 3 4 61 .492 171 192 6th, Central 2020 Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic2020–21 38 17 18 3 0 37 .487 117 124 5th, Central 2021 No playoffs were held2021–22 72 32 28 6 6 76 .528 219 230 5th, Central 2022 L, 0–2, RFD — — — —2022–23 72 40 20 9 3 92 .639 265 210 1st, Central 2023 BYE W, 3–0, RFD L, 2–3, MIL — —2023–24 72 33 33 4 2 72 .500 234 240 4th, Central 2024 W, 2–0, MB L, 2–3, MIL — — —2024–25 72 43 26 3 0 89 .618 240 210 2nd, Central 2025 BYE W, 3–0, GR W, 3–2, MIL L, 2–4, ABB —2025–26 72 37 29 4 2 80 .556 222 228 3rd, Central 2026 BYE L, 2–3, CHI — — —

Players

Current roster Updated October 5, 2026.

Team captains

Landon Wilson, 2009–2010 Brad Lukowich, 2010–2012 Maxime Fortunus, 2012–2015 Travis Morin, 2015–2017 Curtis McKenzie, 2017–2018, 2021–present Justin Dowling, 2018–2019 Dillon Heatherington, 2019–2020 Cole Schneider, 2021

Retired numbers Texas Stars retired numbers No.PlayerPositionCareerNo. retirement 23 Travis Morin C 2009–2019 October 19, 2019

Notable alumni The following players have played both 100 games for Texas and 100 games in the National Hockey League:

Head coaches

Glen Gulutzan, 2009–2011 Jeff Pyle, 2011–2012 Willie Desjardins, 2012–2014 Derek Laxdal, 2014–2019 Neil Graham, 2019–2025 Toby Petersen, 2025–present

Team records Single season Goals: Matěj Blümel, 39 (2024–25) Assists: Travis Morin, 56 (2013–14) Points: Travis Morin, 88 (2013–14) Penalty Minutes: Luke Gazdic, 155 (2009–10) GAA: Richard Bachman, 2.20 (2010–11) SV%: Richard Bachman, .927 (2010–11) Wins: Richard Bachman, 28 (2010–11) Shutouts: Richard Bachman, 6 (2010–11)

Goaltending records need a minimum 25 games played by the goaltender

Career Career goals: Travis Morin, 175 Career assists: Travis Morin, 385 Career points: Travis Morin, 560 Career penalty minutes: Luke Gazdic, 447 Career goaltending wins: Jack Campbell, 66 Career shutouts: Richard Bachman, Jack Campbell, 9 Career games: Travis Morin, 686

References

External links

Cedar Park Center website American Hockey League