18,532. That’s how many souls the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas can seat on a regular night for hockey. And over the past few years, the Dallas Stars have been known for leaving a majority of these seats open and empty.
The last decade has not been entirely generous to the Stars. After making a magnificent run in the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs that ended with Dallas falling just short to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals, the Stars slipped off the deep end and into the early-offseason abyss. From 2008 all the way up until April 2014, the Stars sat on the sidelines, wrapped snugly in their own mediocrity.