Jamie Benn, the Stars' longest serving captain, was given the 'C' 11 years ago today

1990 – More than 25,000 curious fans visited what was then known as the Florida Suncoast Dome in St. Petersburg – the largest crowd to that point in NHL history – to watch a preseason game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The paid attendance, officially listed at 25,581, topped the old mark of 21,019 which had been set during a game at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in November 1983. The Penguins beat the Kings 5-3 in a contest which was an experiment designed to gauge interest in a possible NHL expansion team in the Tampa Bay area, and it did the trick. Less than three months later, the league awarded a franchise that began play in 1992 – the Tampa Bay Lightning, who used the stadium (renamed the ThunderDome, now Tropicana Field) as a home arena for three seasons.

1991 – The breakup of the Edmonton Oilers’ 1980s dynasty continued with the trade of stalwarts Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr, along with Craig Berube, to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In return, Vincent Damphousse, Peter Ing, Luke Richardson, and Scott Thornton went to the Oilers. Although Anderson and Fuhr brought tremendous Stanley Cup credentials to Toronto, they couldn’t repeat their shared success with the Leafs, although Anderson did win another championship in 1994 after he was dispatched to the New York Rangers for Mike Gartner. Likewise, Damphousse would drink champagne from the Cup in 1993 after the Oilers traded him to the Montreal Canadiens for Shayne Corson.

1992 – Eric Lindros made his first appearance in a Philadelphia Flyers jersey during an exhibition game against the Quebec Nordiques. That his debut came against the Nordiques was only fitting because the Nordiques had drafted Lindros first overall in 1991, later trading his rights to the Flyers for a package of players and draft picks after The Big E made it clear he would not play for Quebec. (Or, more specifically, for Nordiques’ owner Marcel Aubut.) Lindros had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win for Philadelphia, and went on to score 41 goals and 75 points as a rookie. The bounty the Nordiques received in the trade powered that franchise to Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001 after it moved to Denver and was renamed the Colorado Avalanche. Lindros was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016 but never hoisted Hockey’s Holy Grail.

1998 – The Nashville Predators played their first exhibition game on this date in, of all places, Huntsville, Ala. Marian Cisar, who ended up not making the team out of training camp, scored the first goal in franchise history as the Preds knocked off the Florida Panthers 4-2. As odd as it may seem to have staged an NHL game there, Huntsville has a storied hockey tradition that dates back to the 1970s. The city has been the home to several minor-pro teams and even an NCAA team, the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, who won two NCAA Division II championships and, as College Hockey America conference winners, made two appearances in the NCAA Division I tournament. Huntsville is also the birthplace and hometown of Washington Capitals’ centre Nic Dowd.

2013 – Jamie Benn was named the sixth captain of the Dallas Stars. Benn, the 129^th overall selection in the 2007 Entry Draft, has spent his entire NHL career with the Stars and is still wearing the ‘C’ entering the 2024-25 season – the longest serving captain in franchise history, including the Minnesota North Stars years (1967-1993). He is the first and only Star or North Star to have won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer, having done so in 2014-15, and he has been selected to three postseason all-star teams at left wing.

2017 – Another long-serving NHL captain was awarded the ‘C’ on this date – Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators. Entering his eighth season as captain, Josi was Nashville’s third selection in the 2008 Entry Draft (38^th overall) and has been a pillar on the Preds’ defence since 2011, winning the Norris Trophy as the league’s best rearguard in 2020 and earning three First All-Star Team selections in 2020, 2022, and 2024.