DALLAS — Another Dallas sports legend is getting his number retired this month.
On Wednesday, the Dallas Stars announced that they'll retire Sergei Zubov's No. 56 on Jan. 28 before a Friday night game against the Washington Capitals at the American Airlines Center.
The pregame number retirement ceremony will start with a Victory Green carpet walk on the PNC Plaza at 5:15 p.m., with the ceremony itself starting inside the arena at 6 p.m. The first 8,000 fans to arrive at the rink on this night will receive a replica Zubov No. 56 jersey retirement banner, according to a Stars press release.
Fans are welcome to line the plaza as Zubov and his family arrive at the arena alongside such other Stars notables as Mike Modano, Derian Hatcher, Brett Hull, Ed Belfour, Craig Ludwig, Jamie Langenbrunner, Brad Lukowich, Darryl Sydor, Pat Verbeek, Brenden Morrow, Marty Turco and Ralph Strangis, among others.
Zubov, a defenseman, was a key part of the Stars' early successes in Dallas, including the team's 1999 Stanley Cup victory over the Buffalo Sabres. He also won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994, and an Olympic gold medal with his native Russia's national team in 1992.
Zubov didn't begin his career with the Stars, but his impact upon arrival was immediate. The team acquired him in the summer of 1996 as part of a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins involving fellow defenseman Kevin Hatcher. The very next season, the Stars finished first in the Central Division -- a feat it would eventually achieve seven times across Zubov's 12 seasons.
He retired from hockey after the 2008-2009 season.
Throughout his career, Zubov earned 12 all-star selections across his 16 seasons in the NHL. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.
At the time of this writing, he still ranks second all-time in Dallas Stars history in assists (438), trailing only Modano in the category.
The Stars first announced their intentions to lift Zubov's number to the rafters in 2019, initially planning to host the ceremony during the 2020-21 NHL season. COVID-19 pandemic-related concerns postponed those plans, however. This past summer, the team announced that its rescheduled ceremony would take place at some point during the 2021-2022 season.
Zubov will be the sixth Stars player to have his number retired -- but only the third who played his career in Dallas, joining Modano (No. 9) and Jere Lehtinen (No. 26).
The franchise's other three retired numbers -- belonging to Neal Broten (7), Bill Goldsworthy (8) and Bill Masterton (19) -- all represent players from the Minnesota North Stars team that existed prior to the franchise's move to Dallas in 1993.
