The fear with the Dallas Stars is this: Tom Hicks would so bury the team that no one would buy them and eventually they'd leave Dallas.
It appears, knock on ice-covered wood, that a savior has arisen. Goes by the name of Doug Miller.
Everyone from Mark Cuban to Wayne Gretzky to Mike Modano has kicked the Stars' tires since they went up for sale in April 2009. But it's Miller, an oil and gas man who owns the minor-league Allen Americans, who has -- according to The Hockey News -- made a cash offer of $110 million and agreed to assume debt of another $100 million to acquire the financially strapped franchise.
The lenders who now run the team in the wake of Hicks' financial fizzle haven't received any formal offers anywhere close to Forbes' most recent appraisal of $228 million. The report says the Stars have lost $26 million over the last 12 months. Yikes.
The Stars, who hope to be sold by June 30, would be happy to have Miller as the new owner, seeing that he would certainly keep the team in Dallas.
The 62-year-old is the chairman of the board and CEO of Exco, a Dallas-based oil and gas company, and is a longtime supporter of area hockey. He has funded the Dallas Stars' AAA Midget Major travel team and created the CHL team in Allen in 2009.
Under Miller, the Americans are one of the best, most popular teams in the CHL.
The Stars won a game on the ice last night, beating Phoenix, 3-2. But off the ice, the news was potentially much better.
