Travel Calendar

On Thursday night, the Stars play at Los Angeles, a pivotal showdown for eighth place in the West. But it’s going to be a late one deep in the heart of Texas.

Terrell Owens once commanded Cowboys fans to, “get your popcorn ready.” Perhaps he can tell Stars fans to start chugging Red Bull.

Indeed, the Stars-Kings game has an opening faceoff set for 9:30 p.m. CST, meaning fans who have to work the next day or attend school are staying up until almost midnight — or dozing off by the second intermission — for a regular-season game between two division rivals. That wouldn’t happen for a Rangers vs. Devils game, or even Boston vs. Buffalo.

For the Stars, it’s a painful cost of doing business stuck in the Pacific Division, where they regularly play teams two time zones west of Dallas.

“People lose track of us,” Stars president Jim Lites said by phone. “Which means nobody watches. That’s why we hate it. It’s documented that it’s clearly hurt our fan base and hurt our television ratings, dramatically.”

Dallas was an organization in strong favor of the NHL’s proposed realignment plan that would have shuffled the current setup and placed the Stars in a more fan- and travel-friendly conference with teams like Minnesota and St. Louis. The Wild, Winnipeg and Detroit also would have greatly benefited from the realignment proposal that also included a modified playoff format.

The plan stalled last week after the players’ association refused to agree to the changes.

That means the 2012-13 season moves ahead with the status quo and leaves the Stars in the same division as San Jose, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Anaheim instead of the proposed eight-team conference with Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, and Winnipeg.

“Our players were delirious when I talked to them in December,” Lites said. “Everybody was just delighted.”

Around the NHL, however, players wanted more answers.

NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr expressed concern about realignment in a statement: “Two substantial player concerns emerged: whether the new structure would result in increased and more onerous travel; and the disparity in chances of making the playoffs between the smaller and larger divisions.”

The lingering question out of Friday’s decision was if the players truly had issues with what the new conferences would mean to their schedules, or if it was nothing more than a negotiating ploy, especially with the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire after a seven-year run.

“I’ve never seen realignment issues being dictated by the players’ association,” Lites said.

So much is at stake in the next contract, from a revamped salary cap to salary minimums, that a new schedule is hardly a top priority in the long run.