VANCOUVER, British Columba — Thursday provided a rare occasion for Dallas Stars owner Tom Gaglardi to watch his team in person in his hometown.



A Vancouver-based businessman who bought the Stars in 2011, Gaglardi sat down with The Athletic for an interview on Thursday afternoon before the Stars played the Vancouver Canucks.



In the first of a two-part conversation, Gaglardi discusses his involvement in designing the team’s Winter Classic jersey, the business side of hockey and hotels and how close he feels Dallas was to winning the Stanley Cup in 2019.



On Friday morning, you’re going to have people lining up to buy Winter Classic jerseys down in Frisco. You were involved with the design — how important was getting this jersey right?



Really happy with the jersey. I thought it all worked out. We had lots of different views, but we all agreed on certain things, and you know, we wanted to really try to honor the roots of hockey in...