Players excited about start of Gaglardi regime

DALLAS -- Fans of the Dallas Stars are clearly glad to see Tom Gaglardi officially introduced as the franchise's new owner at a Monday afternoon press conference at American Airlines Center.

But there is another group that is equally excited to see someone in place at the top of the Dallas organization for the first time in several years -- the Stars players.

Gaglardi met with the team for the first time as owner just before the Stars took the ice for their morning skate, and almost immediately the players were impressed with his passion for the game and the incredible amount of positive energy he exuded about taking the reins.

"Yeah, it is nice to have that stability," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. "We look forward to it. It's good to have some stability. If it was distracting to some people, that's no longer an issue."

Morrow's comments echoed those of his teammates who are equally glad to have the club's ownership issues officially become a thing of the past.

"It's a little re-energizing for the club," defenseman Nicklas Grossman said. "We like the passion that he brings. He's been a hockey fan his whole life up in Vancouver. He's real excited to come to work with us. We've got a good foundation. We've been looking to get an owner to run the ship a little bit for us. It's real exciting to have him and it's going to be real fun to get going with him."

Other than Morrow, one of the longest-tenured members of the Dallas roster is veteran defenseman Stephane Robidas, who came to town under previous owner Tom Hicks. He, too, is glad to see Gaglardi taking over the club.

"It's great news for the organization and the city of Dallas. Now that ownership situation is behind us. We've just got to move forward," Robidas said. "It's a great day. I think he's got a great passion for the game. He wants to have a winning team, wants the team to do well and wants to do whatever he can to help our team. That's great news as a player. I think it's going to benefit our whole team."

All-Star winger Loui Eriksson, who has been in Dallas for the past six seasons, said that while the club's lack of ownership over the last few years hasn't been a distraction for him or his teammates, it is nice to finally have some closure and know who sits atop the organization.

"Everyone has been waiting for it. Now it's finally done. I think it's good for this organization to have an owner now," Eriksson said. "We want to get the franchise back and get it going again."

And if there was one thing the Stars players who were asked agreed on, it's that Gaglardi brings an incredible amount of passion for the game of hockey to his new gig.

"Just like it was our dream to be in the NHL and play, it was probably his dream for a while to own a franchise. I'm sure it's a dream of his. It's becoming a reality," Morrow said. "The excitement that he had today, it does rub off on everyone. When he addressed the team and was finished, we were all pretty excited to get on the ice."

Eriksson added: "He's really into hockey and loves it. It's always good to have an owner who really likes to see the game and knows what's going on. It's always nice to have an owner like that."