Mike Modano announces retirement

[Rivalred 630]

Best Wishes to you Modo

[toby91_ca 620]

Good point.

I guess I've always considered him a Canadian, because he was born there. This is despite the fact that he chose to represent the US, which I have no problem with.

So he's not one of the best American born players ever, because he wasn't born in America.

You said second greatest American hockey player though, you didn't say anything about "born".

[eva unit zero 271]

What I find interesting is how you pretend that your "opinions" are facts, it's strange.

By the way, no love for Brett Hull? Or do you consider him Canadian and not American?

Ah, you're right. I did leave Hull off. That does push Modano out of the top five.

And btw, Frank Brimsek was one of the top two goaltenders in the NHL in the first eight of his ten seasons, missing two years during that span because of Coast Guard service. Modano is not even CLOSE to that.

Modano scored more points than LaFontaine, but LaFontaine's career ended early due to concussions. LaFontaine was considered among the top few centers in the league for a long time when Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, and Messier were all in their primes. Modano didn't have competition nearly that stiff, and still spent less time near the top. His peak was also not as high. The only thing Modano might have had on LaFontaine is defensive play. And even that only came in a short five or six year span of Modano's career in the late 1990s and early 2000s; he was terrible defensively early on and for the last few years of his career.

Howe played at the same level through the 80s as Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey, both generally considered top-ten all-time defensemen and both in their prime.

Chelios won multiple Norrises and contended for many others, and was considered one of the league's top defensemen for fifteen years.

Hull actually has more 17 points in 230 fewer games, but is not American-born so Modano is still technically the leader in that category. Hull also has a Hart trophy and a Pearson award, while Modano has a Calder trophy.

So depending on whether you include Hull, Modano is either the fifth or sixth greatest American hockey player.

[Krystal 41]

Hope he does the one-day contract and 'retires a Dallas Star.' He was the face of the franchise. They sure haven't done much since they didn't re-hire him, have they? I was at the game where he scored his 500th goal (vs. Flyers) in 2007. I thought the roof was going to blow off the Hanger... confetti and streamers fell from the ceiling, etc. It was bedlam.

I was also at the game where they recognized Mo in Dallas

The ovation speaks for itself, even with him in a Wings uniform. The fans never wanted to see him go.

Enjoy, Mike, you earned it.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=589388

The Dallas Stars on Thursday re-signed Mike Modano -- for one day -- to give the franchise icon a chance to retire as a member of the team.

Mike Modano has signed a one-day contract with the Dallas Stars for the opportunity to retire as a member of the team.

"This is a special day for all of us," said Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk, who was a teammate of Modano's when the Stars won the 1999 Stanley Cup. "Mike Modano will always be the face of this franchise. He means so much to our organization and all of our fans. We wanted to give him the opportunity to retire as a Dallas Star. Mike has given his heart and soul to this game for over 30 years. On behalf of the entire organization and the National Hockey League, we would like to thank him for his dedication."

The contract is valued at $999,999 -- Modano wore No. 9 during his time in Minnesota/Dallas.

Modano retired as the all-time leader among U.S.-born players in goals (561) and points (1,374). The first pick of the 1988 Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars, Modano holds a number of franchise records, including games played (1,459), goals (557), assists (802) and points (1,359). He's also the franchise's all-time leading playoff scorer, with 145 points in a club-high 174 games.

There will be a press conference in Dallas on Friday at 2 p.m. ET where Modano will address the media one final time. The event will be streamed live on the Stars' website and NHL.com.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, NHL Network in the U.S. and Canada will premiere "Mike Modano: American Icon," which takes a look at Modano's life and career, starting from his childhood in Livonia, Mich., through his final game with the Stars in 2010. Family, friends and former teammates will pay tribute to Modano for what he did for the game of hockey and how he'll be remembered

[NvrFrgtRussian5 85]

Classy move by Dallas. Kind of makes his time in Detroit seem like "the girl you thought at the time was a good one to take home then you woke up the next morning was like 's***' and then you had to put up with her for like two weeks while you devised a plan; then you forget about her and repress it deep deep inside your memory." kinda of like that vibe.

I just wish he wouldn't have gotten cut; I think he could have been a solid player for us.

Edited September 22, 2011 by NvrFrgtRussian5

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

Very classy move by Dallas

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Ah, you're right. I did leave Hull off. That does push Modano out of the top five.

And btw, Frank Brimsek was one of the top two goaltenders in the NHL in the first eight of his ten seasons, missing two years during that span because of Coast Guard service. Modano is not even CLOSE to that.

Modano scored more points than LaFontaine, but LaFontaine's career ended early due to concussions. LaFontaine was considered among the top few centers in the league for a long time when Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, and Messier were all in their primes. Modano didn't have competition nearly that stiff, and still spent less time near the top. His peak was also not as high. The only thing Modano might have had on LaFontaine is defensive play. And even that only came in a short five or six year span of Modano's career in the late 1990s and early 2000s; he was terrible defensively early on and for the last few years of his career.

Howe played at the same level through the 80s as Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey, both generally considered top-ten all-time defensemen and both in their prime.

Chelios won multiple Norrises and contended for many others, and was considered one of the league's top defensemen for fifteen years.

Hull actually has more 17 points in 230 fewer games, but is not American-born so Modano is still technically the leader in that category. Hull also has a Hart trophy and a Pearson award, while Modano has a Calder trophy.

So depending on whether you include Hull, Modano is either the fifth or sixth greatest American hockey player.

Longevity is a part of the game. LaFontaine did have his career end early, while Modano played on and continued to excel. That gives Modano a notch over LaFontaine in my book, whether it's partially luck related or not. Also, you have to remember that LaFontaine padded his stats somewhat from playing in the 80's, where guys scored more often. Modano in his prime in the 80's would have put up similar numbers.

And Modano did have stiff competition at his position. Sure, he didn't have Gretzky or Lemieux, but he had Sakic, Fedorov, Lindros, Yzerman, Forsberg, Sundin, etc. Those are some pretty damn good centers and will all likely be in the HOF someday.

You say defensive play is all he had over LaFontaine? How about skating? Modano could skate as well as any player in hockey history. He also had a cannon for a wrist shot, slap shot, one-timer and one of the best backhands in the game ever. Also, he was the face of a franchise for several decades and was usually their most feared offensive player.

Edited September 23, 2011 by GMRwings1983

[IllinoisRedWingsFan 49]

Congrats on a great career Mike! I wish you had hit 1,500 career regular season NHL games though.

[toby91_ca 620]

And btw, Frank Brimsek was one of the top two goaltenders in the NHL in the first eight of his ten seasons, missing two years during that span because of Coast Guard service. Modano is not even CLOSE to that.

But how much weight does that hold when there's only 6 goalies in the league (apart from a few backups that rarely played)?

[OzWing19 24]

Classy move by Dallas. Kind of makes his time in Detroit seem like "the girl you thought at the time was a good one to take home then you woke up the next morning was like 's***' and then you had to put up with her for like two weeks while you devised a plan; then you forget about her and repress it deep deep inside your memory." kinda of like that vibe.

Haha. Good move on Dallas' part though.

[eva unit zero 271]

Longevity is a part of the game. LaFontaine did have his career end early, while Modano played on and continued to excel. That gives Modano a notch over LaFontaine in my book, whether it's partially luck related or not. Also, you have to remember that LaFontaine padded his stats somewhat from playing in the 80's, where guys scored more often. Modano in his prime in the 80's would have put up similar numbers.

And Modano did have stiff competition at his position. Sure, he didn't have Gretzky or Lemieux, but he had Sakic, Fedorov, Lindros, Yzerman, Forsberg, Sundin, etc. Those are some pretty damn good centers and will all likely be in the HOF someday.

You say defensive play is all he had over LaFontaine? How about skating? Modano could skate as well as any player in hockey history. He also had a cannon for a wrist shot, slap shot, one-timer and one of the best backhands in the game ever. Also, he was the face of a franchise for several decades and was usually their most feared offensive player.

Modano a better skater than LaFontaine? You get a big fat <HELL NO> stamp on that one. LaFontaine, not Modano, is who you should be applying that "as well as any player in hockey history" tag to. Modano had raw speed. LaFontaine had better speed than Modano, and he had ridiculous ability to change direction unexpectedly at full speed. People talk about the way Bure could skate; LaFontaine did it first. Modano was never able to do that kind of stuff at full speed.

As for other skills; okay, I left out his slap shot. As for his backhand, I don't know that I would rank it "best of all-time" but that is beside the point. Whether he can fire a puck over 90 m.p.h., perfectly place a backhand, or use psychic powers to will the puck from center ice into the net without any player making contact, none of it means he WAS a better player unless it helped him score more goals. In 634 more games, Modano scored 561 goals - 93 more goals than LaFontaine's 468.

You say that LaFontaine got his numbers because of the 80s. Well, how about this? At www.hockey-reference.com you can view neat statistics called adjusted goals/assists/points. They are adjusted to account for the difference in scoring in a given season to a base goals-per-game average of 6. Using this, Modano still ends up scoring fewer goals per game, although the gap is smaller. Modano is also still under a point per game, while LaFontaine is still over.

Longevity matters, but both players played for such a long time that it's not a logical argument to say "Modano played a bunch more years at a lower level, so he's better." because that would be like saying Steve Yzerman is better than Mario Lemieux because Yzerman had more points and was better defensively.

I also realized while looking at the numbers that I had forgotten another American player who was better than Modano. Brian Leetch. And Jeremy Roenick could easily be included as well. Or maybe Joe Mullen. Possibly Phil Housley.

But how much weight does that hold when there's only 6 goalies in the league (apart from a few backups that rarely played)?

I'll have to remember this for the next time an Osgood HHOF argument breaks out; Original Six goalies are now worthless, due to the fact there were only six teams. Welcome to the Hall, Guy Hebert, Arturs Irbe, and Jocelyn Thibault!

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Modano a better skater than LaFontaine? You get a big fat <HELL NO> stamp on that one. LaFontaine, not Modano, is who you should be applying that "as well as any player in hockey history" tag to. Modano had raw speed. LaFontaine had better speed than Modano, and he had ridiculous ability to change direction unexpectedly at full speed. People talk about the way Bure could skate; LaFontaine did it first. Modano was never able to do that kind of stuff at full speed.

As for other skills; okay, I left out his slap shot. As for his backhand, I don't know that I would rank it "best of all-time" but that is beside the point. Whether he can fire a puck over 90 m.p.h., perfectly place a backhand, or use psychic powers to will the puck from center ice into the net without any player making contact, none of it means he WAS a better player unless it helped him score more goals. In 634 more games, Modano scored 561 goals - 93 more goals than LaFontaine's 468.

You say that LaFontaine got his numbers because of the 80s. Well, how about this? At www.hockey-reference.com you can view neat statistics called adjusted goals/assists/points. They are adjusted to account for the difference in scoring in a given season to a base goals-per-game average of 6. Using this, Modano still ends up scoring fewer goals per game, although the gap is smaller. Modano is also still under a point per game, while LaFontaine is still over.

Longevity matters, but both players played for such a long time that it's not a logical argument to say "Modano played a bunch more years at a lower level, so he's better." because that would be like saying Steve Yzerman is better than Mario Lemieux because Yzerman had more points and was better defensively.

I also realized while looking at the numbers that I had forgotten another American player who was better than Modano. Brian Leetch. And Jeremy Roenick could easily be included as well. Or maybe Joe Mullen. Possibly Phil Housley.

I'll have to remember this for the next time an Osgood HHOF argument breaks out; Original Six goalies are now worthless, due to the fact there were only six teams. Welcome to the Hall, Guy Hebert, Arturs Irbe, and Jocelyn Thibault!

Your posts almost make me regret defending Osgood when people were diminishing his accomplishments in the thread about his retirement.

I guess I'll have to wait until Hudler goes back to Europe in a few years, then in his farewell thread I can talk about all the players who were much better than him.

[hooon 1,089]

Ah, you're right. I did leave Hull off. That does push Modano out of the top five.

And btw, Frank Brimsek was one of the top two goaltenders in the NHL in the first eight of his ten seasons, missing two years during that span because of Coast Guard service. Modano is not even CLOSE to that.

Umm. How could Modano be close to that if he is a FORWARD. How could you possibly compare a goalie and a forward?

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

If I'm not mistaken, with Recchi and Modano retiring, there are no players left who played in the 80's.

That makes me feel old and sad.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Of American-born players, Mike Modano ranks:

2nd in games played at 1,499

1st in goals with 561

2nd in assists with 813

1st in points with 1374

[puckloo39 5,686]

Mike Modano most important American player of all time, per Hockey News.

I am glad the Stars extended him the one day honorary contract for $999,999.00 in honor of his number, 9. But what they should have done was let him stay a Star. I love Mo and was glad he was a Wing even briefly but couldn't figure out their reasoning letting the undisputed face of their franchise walk last season.

Anyway, happy retirement, Mo. Hope to see you bar-tending at Hully and Mo's sometime.

Edited September 24, 2011 by puckloo39

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Really wish things turned out better for him here. Stupid wrist injury.