Name: Shapiro: I'm moving up, but not moving out. Thank you, Stars fans
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Shapiro: I'm moving up, but not moving out. Thank you, Stars fans

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Press 'Enter' to see all resultsMost Recent StoriesAuthorsAtlanticMetropolitanCentralPacificAFC EastAFC NorthAFC SouthAFC WestNFC EastNFC NorthNFC SouthNFC WestAtlanticCentralSoutheastSouthwestNorthwestPacificAL EastAL CentralAL WestNL EastNL CentralNL WestFeatured Teams&nbsp;Featured TeamsLeaguesMLS&nbsp;Featured&nbsp;&nbsp;CompetitionsFeatured Teams&nbsp;Shapiro: I’m moving up, but not moving out. Thank you, Stars fansThank you.I can’t think of a better way to start this column. I thought of a few other creative ways, but each of them came back to me staring at a blank screen in WordPress.I’ve covered the Stars beat in some capacity since 2012. It’s never been boring. It started at the AHL level down in Cedar Park (the team isn’t actually in Austin) while working for a weekly newspaper that no longer exists. In those eight years, I’ve been laid off, moved my family from Austin to Dallas, launched my own subscription site, merged it with another venture and finally made my way to The Athletic.I’ve covered an AHL championship team in 2014, four NHL head coaches since 2016, (in person) and (not in person) to tell the Stars’ stories. ,” &nbsp;and while the Stars played on the television in front of us.I was able to with video coach Kelly Forbes, watched Miro Heiskanen turn into one of the NHL’s premier defensemen, and after his 22-month absence from the NHL.Covering the Stars become part of my life, and it’s helped define me as both a person and a writer. Starting in January, full-time Stars reporting will be part of my past.What’s next?I’ll still be here at The Athletic, working in a new position covering the business of hockey on a league-wide level.I’m looking forward to the challenge. Business is a catch-all term; I’ll explore the game off the ice in a broad sense. Yes, I’ll be covering things like the NHL’s television deal and labor negotiations (talk about a time to jump into the deep end) and the inevitable impact of the pandemic on players, staff and fans. But my greater goal will be continuing to cover the human side of the sport from a new angle.I’ve got a long list of ideas already jotted down in a notebook — a notebook I’ve promised my wife, Christina, that I won’t spend too much time on while I’m still on paternity leave through the middle of January.Speaking of Christina, the first and most important thank you goes to her. Without her, none of this is possible. She’s been the one who pushed me and supported us when I was laid off. We took risks with various adventures in this career and our lives. She’s told me multiple times that I’d work hard to make it work, and I’m proud that I’ve been able to even mildly deliver on her faith in me.From a Stars perspective, it’s been a pleasure to cover an organization with Jim Nill as its general manager. Nill and I have had our differences when it comes to hockey thinking — I think there is such a thing as too many defensemen — but he’s one of the finest people I’ve dealt with, followed closely by Rick Bowness. The Stars are in good hands with both men leading the way, while the rest of the coaching staff and management have been more than willing to deal with my calls and questions.I’ll miss discussing soccer on a daily basis with Radek Faksa and getting crap from Esa Lindell about repeatedly wearing the same pair of shoes. I’ll miss discussing life and college football rankings with Ben Bishop, and I’m probably going to regret leaving a job that entails watching Heiskanen play on a nightly basis.I’m going to forget someone, unfortunately, but the Stars beat is about more than the players and coaches.Tom Holy, Ben Fromstein, Joe Calvillo, Jason Rademan, Christa Melia, Jeff Toates, Colleen Hamilton, Chelsea Livingston, Ashley Ernisse, Rick Jensen, Owen Newkirk, Brien Rea, Brent Severyn, Bruce Levine, Josh Bogorad and Daryl Reaugh help make up the fabric of a Stars community that is felt around the rink — well, at least when we were allowed to go to rinks for morning skates.I’ll miss the press box conversations with Mike Heika, Matt DeFranks, Josh Clark and Jeff Odom. I already missed Mark Stepneski, who retired in 2019, but was an early supporter of my work when I was covering the AHL down in Cedar Park.To my editors in Dallas, Or Moyal and Mike Piellucci: Thank you for dealing with my Slack messages on a daily basis, improving my copy and fixing an inordinate number of Canadian spellings.I’ll miss the Stars fans, who I encourage to keep reading my work in my new venture. From those of you who first read my stories when I was covering the AHL, to those who joined at some point during the recent Stanley Cup Final run, it was always my goal to deliver for the readers. Thank you for helping me turn the Stars 20/20 into a go-to for your postgame fix.I’m leaving you in good hands with Saad Yousuf. Saad has gone from being a hockey newbie to one of the finest hockey journalists in DFW. He works his ass off, and now that he no longer has to split his attention as a general assignment reporter, he’ll be able to place his entire focus on the Stars and elevate his coverage to another level. I know he can do great things.Thank you for reading.(Top photo: Jerome Miron / USA Today Sports)Get all-access to exclusive stories.Subscribe to The Athletic for ad-free, in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us.is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Dallas Stars and the NHL. He has covered the Stars organization since the 2012-13 season for various organizations, first as an AHL beat writer before re-locating to Dallas before the 2016-17 season. Sean prior worked for NHL.com, Wrong Side of the Red Line, Associated Press, Austin American-Statesman, and several other publications. Follow Sean on Twitter .

Press 'Enter' to see all resultsMost Recent StoriesAuthorsAtlanticMetropolitanCentralPacificAFC EastAFC NorthAFC SouthAFC WestNFC EastNFC NorthNFC SouthNFC WestAtlanticCentralSoutheastSouthwestNorthwestPacificAL EastAL CentralAL WestNL EastNL CentralNL WestFeatured Teams&nbsp;Featured TeamsLeaguesMLS&nbsp;Featured&nbsp;&nbsp;CompetitionsFeatured Teams&nbsp;Shapiro: I’m moving up, but not moving out. Thank you, Stars fansThank you.I can’t think of a better way to start this column. I thought of a few other creative ways, but each of them came back to me staring at a blank screen in...

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Shapiro: I'm moving up, but not moving out. Thank you, Stars fans

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