Latest Dallas Stars trade severs final link to Stanley Cup run

Once upon a time, Brenden Morrow was “the next big thing” in Dallas Stars hockey. He was supposed to be the player that carried forward the standard of Stars hockey, set by the veterans who defined the team he joined during the 1999-2000 season. Those were players like Mike Modano, Derian Hatcher, Joe Nieuwendyk and Sergei Zubov.

In truth, Morrow did that, even as the success enjoyed during those days chasing the Stanley Cup disappeared and the Stars became a rudderless ship set adrift in the NHL’s vast ocean of mediocrity.

So on Sunday, when Morrow approved the trade that sent him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, there was some level of irony in that the general manager who executed the trade was Nieuwendyk. He played Morrow’s position — center — when Morrow joined the team and showed him the ropes.

Then, 15 years later, Nieuwendyk showed him out of town, and with Morrow went the Stars’ last on-ice link to those days when the Stars were legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.

These days the Stars are just trying to get back into the playoffs, and Morrow no longer fits into their plans. The youth movement is afoot, and although having a steady, veteran hand is nice, Morrow is also taking ice time away from younger players that could use it.

Morrow had been with the team so long that the decision to be traded, ultimately, was his. He had a no-trade clause and had to waive it. Pittsburgh offers Morrow an opportunity that Dallas no longer does — the chance to win a Stanley Cup.

Back in the 1999-2000 season, the Stars lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup finals. The assumption was that the Stars were good enough to return next year. They were, but they never returned.

The closest Dallas came to returning was in 2008 when they reached the Western Conference finals — and rather stunningly at that — before losing to Detroit in six games.

The Stars haven’t been back since. Three head coaches and three general managers later, they’re still looking for a formula that works.

Morrow used to be a part of that formula. He became such a vital part of the fabric of this team that he succeeded Modano as captain and spent seven seasons with the captain’s “C” on his jersey, the second longest run of any player since the Stars moved to Dallas.

There’s something about that “C” on the jersey of a hockey player. It implies respect, on and off the ice. The best captains set the standard for handling success and adversity, and Morrow did that, even as injuries sapped his ability and his team faltered.

In truth, Morrow never quite lived up to the billing of being a first-round pick. He scored just 243 goals in Dallas and had just one 30-goal season, which came in 2010-11. He came up in a Tom Hitchcock system that valued defense over offense, and that system turned Morrow into an above-average defensive center. But he never developed into a scorer like Modano or Nieuwendyk.

Morrow has everything a hockey player could ask for — a long career, the respect of fans and teammates, and a great family. He married into hockey royalty when he wed the daughter of Guy Charbonneau, a fellow center who played with Morrow during the youngster’s rookie season.

But he doesn’t have a Stanley Cup ring. It’s the one thing the Stars couldn’t give Morrow. So he becomes a ring chaser, a veteran who moves to another team in the hope that the move brings him hockey’s ultimate prize.

The Stars can now give his ice time to another young player they hope will develop into a player like Morrow one day.

Every team needs one. For now, the Stars will have to do without.