The official news of Mike Modano’s retirement broke after we spoke with players at Caps practice on Wednesday so figured we’d get some reaction after practice Thursday. There are a few connections. Defenseman John Erskine spent two seasons in Dallas with the future Hall-of-Fame forward. Center Jeff Halpern left Washington after the 2005-06 season and signed with the Stars, where he spent two years. Assistant coach Dean Evason also spent two years in Dallas as a player earlier in Modano’s career.
Matt Hendricks never played with Modano, but as a Blaine, Minn. kid he remembers the really early days when the Stars were called the North Stars and still called Minnesota home. He spent five years there before the organization moved to Dallas, where he’s as responsible as anyone for growing the sport in Texas.
“I don’t know if you can sum it up. He had an amazing career, obviously,” said Evason, who was with the Stars their first two years in Dallas. “I have always said that on all the teams I have played on and/or coached he was by far the most skilled. The most skilled player that I have ever played with. To watch him in practice – it was almost beautiful to watch him skate, shoot, pass. Everything was effortless.”
Modano, drafted No. 1 overall in 1988 by the North Stars, was a regular in the NHL at age 18 and scored 561 goals in a 21-year career. After an emotional send off from Dallas at the end of the 2009-10 season he returned for one more campaign with the Detroit Red Wings before officially announcing his retirement Wednesday. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound center signed a ceremonial one-day contract with the Stars for $999,999 – he wore No. 9, obviously – so he can “retire” as a Stars player. It hasn’t been as evident in recent years as Modano’s skills slowed, but he was one of the best.
“[Modano is] probably the hardest guy I’ve ever had to match up against,” Halpern said. “His size and speed and how smart he was on the ice. He was an unbelievable hockey player. And then in the Dallas community he was meant so much to that franchise and carried so much weight in that community, And you could even see last year in his first year away from the team it lost a little steam among the fanbase.”
Modano will always be identified with Dallas hockey. But Minnesotans remember, him, too and Hendricks said it was devastating to that hockey-mad state when the North Stars took off after the 1992-93 season. That was just two years after they came within two wins of a Stanley Cup title. Hendricks compared himself to the kids who line the gate at Kettler Iceplex hoping for an autograph from Alex Ovechkin. He got one from Modano at age 10. Later, he played against him in a game in Denver between the Stars and the Colorado Avalanche. Hendricks’ sister was there and got a good shot of it. That picture now hangs on the wall at Hendricks’ home in Minnesota.
“I obviously grew up watching him. He was a phenomenal player – someone I tried to emulate to the best of my abilities,” Hendricks said. “Obviously I don’t have the abilities that he has. Different kind of player…But what an energetic, exciting player to watch. What a great career he had. I hate to see him go, but he definitely left a great imprint in my mind.”
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