Hockey operations are back in full swing for the Dallas Stars as they prepare for the upcoming shortened hockey season which is projected to start Saturday January 19th, 2013. So that means a short amount of time for training camp and getting the feel for competitive physical hockey for the players.  On the other hand, there is also a short amount of time for social media and marketing teams to create a campaign for the Stars to win back the fans.

So with the players and coaches busy, other members of the Stars organization have stepped out to media outlets in the area spreading the word and promoting Dallas Stars Hockey. This promotional team includes former players Marty Turco and Mike Modano, General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk, President/CEO of the Dallas Stars Jim Lites, and team owner Tom Gaglardi have been taking to the local radio shows, mostly KTCK 1310 The Ticket, to answer questions and promote the upcoming season. The Dallas Stars marketing team themselves have brought back the “Believe” slogan for this season. “Believe” was the slogan for the Stars last playoff run in 2008.

Mike Modano Believe Promotion

Marty Turco Believe Promotion

Joe Nieuwendyk Believe Promotion

Jim Lites answers question after the end of the lockout

As the Stars are working to bring hockey relevance back, it is a great time for them to unleash as many promotions as they can. The Dallas Cowboys missed the playoffs, and got into a little twitter debacle with the Stars, the Dallas Mavericks are struggling and the Texas Rangers are still in offseason. A great open to the season could bring the fans back instantly and push the Stars a great deal in their post-lockout recovery.

This lockout hurt many fans as the emphasis was clearly money, the Dallas Stars are working hard to win back their fans and bring the team back to relevance in the DFW sports market.

Loui Eriksson (Photo: Bridget Samuel/Flickr)

Loui Eriksson brings a solid two-way game of hockey where he can be depended on in his own defensive zone, and a deadly shot which has helped him average 27 goals over the past three seasons, and a career high 36 goals in the 2008-2009 season. What credentials does that give Loui though? Certainly he deserves more than the one all-star appearance he had in 2011, well one reason for Loui being as under the radar as he has been is because the Dallas Stars have not made the playoffs for the past four seasons. A second reason is that the 2011-2012 season was the first season where Loui Eriksson was on the top scoring line not centered by Brad Richards and many NHL experts felt that helped with his stats, but even without Richards Loui Eriksson still managed 71 points (26g, 45a) which is around the same amount Loui averages with Brad Richards at center the three previous seasons. So that means one of a couple things either:

1. Mike Ribeiro is a super center, that a team would be crazy to trade
2. Or Loui Eriksson is simply not given the credit he deserves by NHL media

Notice how NHL media is not giving the credit Loui Eriksson deserves, I say that because in a poll recently ran by Sports Illustrated 179 NHL players were asked to name the most underrated players in the NHL and the top two spots went to Dallas Stars forwards. Voted most underrated was Loui Eriksson and right behind him in second was Jamie Benn. Loui has received lots of love from his local media recently Sportsday DFW is having their annual top athlete of DFW tournament and in a very convincing margin Loui Eriksson defeated Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware in a vote with 71% of the fan vote. (side note: yesterday Jamie Benn defeated Nastia Liukin in the vote) A lot of eyes are on Loui Eriksson this season as he, Jamie Benn, and newly signed forward Jaromir Jagr will man the first line for Dallas this season and many are expecting big things from this trio especially if Jagr is able to do with Eriksson and Benn what he did with Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell last season, but that analysis is for another post.

PS: Loui Eriksson goes against Texas Ranger second baseman Ian Kinsler July 12-13, go to this link here on those dates to vote Loui.