Dallas Stars Salute Grieving Utah Captain Clayton Keller With First-Star Honor After Father’s Death
It was a classy gesture by the Stars organizationPublishedNovember 29, 2025 3:31 PM ESTUpdatedFacebookTwitterEmailCopy LinkUtah Mammoth captain Clayton Keller is playing with a heavy heart on Friday and Saturday after the unexpected death of his father earlier this week.And, as it so often does, the hockey world pulled together to support him, with the Dallas Stars offering a very cool hat tip of their own.Keller has spent every season of his NHL career with the Arizona Coyotes/Utah Mammoth organization, and on Friday, Mammoth coach André Tourigny announced that Keller's father, Bryan, had passed away in his sleep.READ: STARS DROP ’99 THROWBACK JERSEY, TROLL SABRES WITH NOD TO INFAMOUS HULL GOAL"With a heavy heart, we had tough news as a family yesterday," Tourigny said, per The Hockey News. "Clayton Keller's dad (Bryan) passed away unexpectedly in his sleep."However, despite the incredible personal tragedy, Keller insisted on playing in Friday's game against the Stars in Dallas."Clayton wants to play and be with the team," Tourigny said. "We want to express our condolences to the family, Clayton, his mom, and his brother. It's a tough time for the family, and we will support him in any way we can. We and the family ask everyone to respect their privacy."With their captain in the lineup, the Mammoth — who are currently fourth in the Central Division — took an early lead, but lost in the end to a very strong Stars team that had a three-goal second period.But it was after the game that Dallas made sure to make an incredibly classy gesture.Stars Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston were named the third and second stars of the game, respectively, while Keller was announced as the first star.That was a very cool thing to do, and I'm sure Keller and his family greatly appreciated it.Keller and the Mammoth are back in action on Saturday night when they fly up to St. Louis for a game against the Blues.
