Modano's Exit Tough To Take, but he Should have known it was coming

Kevin Sherrington's recent column in the Dallas Morning News posts that the Stars need to start moving forward and help create a new era for the Dallas Stars moving forward.

From Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News: www.dallasnews.com

When NHL Players say goodbye after 20 years with the only club that he had ever known, they shouldn't look so good doing it. The party in question should be a bow legged, beat up geezer, bent and creaking praying that his eyes don't leak and his dentures hold.

Mike Modano came in Wednesday looking like he's taken a wrong turn on the way to a GQ Photo Shoot. Sharp Suit and Great Tan, nose in place with his hair and teeth intact.

40 years old never looked so good on anyone, much less a guy who swings a stick for living. But not scars are so apparent. Given another 24 hours to consider the end of his fabulous career as a Star, Modano made the most of itin his last Dallas News Conference.

"All good things.... all bad things that happen turn out to be a blessing in disguise," he said. "Maybe this is one of those." Let's hope so. Let's hope as time goes by, he gets a better sense of Joe Nieuwendyk's predicament and the state of the Stars in general.

Let's hope if he blames anybody, it's Tom Hicks. Of course, he'll have to get in line. Or hire a lawyer.

Modano's days in Dallas might not be over if ownership wasn't quite in question and the team's prospects were better. But its a young, rebuilding club. There's no place anymore for a 40 year old fourth line center with Modano's skill set.

What's not yet clear is whetever Modano understands just what happened and why. It wouldn't be the first time. For better or worse, the Stars were always trying to tell Modano something he didn't get on his own.

When he became coach, Ken Hitchcock told Modano he'd have to work hard defensively. He was addressing one of the game's most gifted players, a man who would become the all time leading point scorer among U.S. Born Players. Defense? It was like using a maserati to drive a carpool.

As Modano once said of Hitch's command, "That kind of went 180 against what I was thinking."

But it was the best for the Stars, and it was the best for Modano. He showed a side of his game previously unexposed. Playing with a cast on his broken wrist in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals, Modano still didn't know how much to ask of himself. Going into Game 5, he said he'd been hanging around, waiting for something to happen. Then Hitchcock, who called Modano his "X-Factor", asked what kind of player he was going to be.

He responded by assisting on both goals in the pivotal Game 5. He didn't have a single goal in the series. But the Stars couldn't have hoisted the Cup without his gritty, gutsy play. Standings on a makeshift podium in a Buffalo locker room in the early morning afterglow, Modano realized how far he'd come.

"The scouting report said I was a very soft one way player," he said. He managed little else before his emotions overwhelmed him. Exiting the platform, he found his fathers shoulder and buried his head in it, barely coming up for air.

Even though the Stars helped him shed the soft image, Modano never seemed to learn that it was a tough love relationship. He was angry and hurt when they stripped him of the Captain C. But he really wasn't really the captain. He was "Upset and disappointed" when they told him they were turning the page, but he should have seen it coming.

Nieuwendyuk tried to tell him. His great career came to an end, too. He knows the feeling. "We talked about a lot of things during the season," the GM Said. "We even talked about how it's tough to find things in common with the young guys.

"I was trying to be as respectful as I could." Maybe that was the problem. Nieuwendyk should have come at him plain and simple, like Hitch did.

Nieuwendyk says he never would have given Modano a do-or-die ultimatum. If he had, it might have led to a cleaner separation. Not many Cowboys fans resent the fact that Jerry Jones fired Tom Landry. They just didn't like how he went about it. Nieuwendyk could have waited another week. Let Modano test the free agent market on the side. See if there's any interest.

Then if he didn't like what he heard, Modano could held his news conference first, and it would have seemed like his idea. Nieuwendyk didn't consider that option, either. He didn't get the idea that Modano was close to a decision. He simply couldn't wait.

Now were left to consider a divorice messier then it needed to be and the possibility that, like Emmitt Smith, Modano could finish his career in a jersey in another color. Even as he mulls his options, he concedes it doesn't seem right."

No it doesn't. But its his preogative. And give him this: He sure looks like he could still play. He hardly seems a day older then when he showed up on our doorstep in 1993, a baby-faced kid careening fast and smooth down a sheet of ice, head up, the whole world in front of him. Like Hockey in Dallas, he grew up before our eyes, and not without growing pains. But for two decades he remained the face of the franchise. And what a face it was.

Don't expect much during Free Agency for the Stars

Mike Heika recently wrote about the state of the team and because of the tight internal budget, the uncertain ownership and the team missing the playoffs the last 2 years. Don't expect the Stars to make many big splashes during the Free Agency period that started back on July 1.

They will be looking for role players, guys that could be on the border line between the NHL & AHL and guys that they know they will be able to get for very little.

From Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: www.dallasnews.com

The first day of Free Agency has been like Christmas for Stars fans in the past. They sat in anticipation and waited to unwrap gifts such as Pat Veerbek, Eddie Belfour, Brett Hull, Bill Guerin and Pierre Turgeon. Even if every signing didn't work out, the thrill of the acquisition was there.

But this year, the most excitement local fans will find is discovering where icons such as Mike Modano and Marty Turco will sign. With a $45 million internal budget and barely enough room to keep their own restricted free agents, the Stars will not be a player in NHL Free Agency when it opens up today.

Meanwhile, the franchise leader in points and goals, Modano, will ponder playing for another team for the first time in 22 years, and the franchise leader in goalie wins, Turco, will target the fastest way to a Stanley Cup with a new team.

"It's safe to say we're not going to be a big player in free agency, just as we weren't last year," Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk said. "But even though July 1 is the deadline, if we can do something that makes sense later, we'll do it."

Nieuwendyk's hands are tied. He has committed money to raises for players such as Loui Eriksson, Steve Ott and Stephane Robidas and still has key restricted free agents to sign in James Neal and Nicklas Grossman. The Stars are for sale, and until a new owner takes over, they is no money to spend.

Thus, a team that has missed the playoffs the last 2 years will probably be picked to miss the playoffs again next season. And, for now, there is nothing to do but to wait and see if Nieuwendyks's decision to move to Kari Lehtonen in goal and to trust a ton of young players will work out.

So, Stars fans are left to ponder if they should be a Modano Red Wings Jersey or maybe a snappy Turco number in Sharks teal.

"It is exciting," Modano said Wednesday as he prepared for the opening round of phone calls. "I'm really not sure what's going to happen and what the interest is going to be, so it'll be very interesting to see what offers are going to be out there."

Modano will act as his own agent and talk to GM's Directly. He will then get help from a friend who has a background in sports representation where negotiations get going.

Turco has already fielded one offer. The Philadelphia Flyers sought permission to talk to him early and offered a three year contract at an average of $2 Million a season. Turco turned it down and said he wanted to wait until today.

The Stars do have other issues, though. Jere Lehtinen is unrestricted free agent who's pondering retirement. If he decides to play, the Stars will probably offer him a one year contract. Nieuwendyk said Lehtinen is still very much up in the air and need more time.

In addition, Neal could sign a restricted free agent offer sheet from another team. The Stars are offering him a two year contract at a lower salary and maintain his rights, but if another team comes in with an offer sheet, the Stars must match it or lose Neal and get draft pick compensation. Just one more thing for the Stars Fans to worry about, eh?

It's a different world out there right now, and maybe no day shows it clearer then the first day of free agency. Well, maybe the first day of the playoffs.