Like many, I’m a sucker for when professional athletes play for one franchise their entire career long. Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Derek Jeter, etc, are immortal names because of their brilliance on the ice/diamond/whatever but also because they represent a dying breed.
Dallas Stars centre Mike Modano, the second American-born player ever drafted 1st overall (Brian Lawton was the first, in 1983, and since Modano there have only been three more: Bryan Berard, Rick DiPietro, Erik Johnson, Patrick Kane) and the NHL’s all-time leader in both goals (557) and points (amount) for American-born players, will not suit up for the Stars again. Ever.
As of yesterday, June 29, when the Stars decided to not offer Modano a contract, the 40 year-old centre became a free agent. This fall, unless he retires, Modano will wear another franchise’s jersey for the first time ever. Since being drafted in 1988, he has only worn the colours of the Minnesota North Stars and the Dallas Stars. Minnesota moved the franchise south in 1993, and started playing in Dallas as of the 1993-1994 NHL season.
That said, retirement may well happen. Apparently, Modano is going to take a bit to figure out what he wants to do with himself. From this piece at ESPN.com:
“In some ways I expected something of this nature to unfold,” Modano said of the Stars’ decision Tuesday not to bring him back. “I knew it was coming to be that time, that decision, and that hard choice [needed] to be made, obviously from a GM standpoint. Eventually, you need to go in a direction that’s going to be best for the team and I feel for the future. So I know there’s a lot of ‘he said, she said’ things about the rumors about me playing or not playing, but those decisions will be made in the next couple of weeks when the free-agent market opens up.”
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