Tuesday night's matchup against Toronto will be a reminder of what could have been, not only for the Stars but also for new Dallas coach Jim Montgomery.
Over the summer, the Stars were involved in the high-profile pursuit of free agent center John Tavares. Dallas was one of six teams Tavares considered signing with in the offseason before ultimately signing a seven-year, $77 million contract to join the Maple Leafs.
But years earlier, Montgomery tried to recruit Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews to the University of Denver, where Montgomery spent five seasons prior to joining the Stars organization.