Modano officially retired

by **mc_homer** Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:31 am

My favourite all time player.
All time franchise leader in just about every offensive category going.
Greatest American born player in history.
The reason I became a hockey fan.

Modano today posted on Twitter via Facebook (ahh the days we live in) that he will officially announce his retirement on Friday. He may have gone off to play with that dirty red team for a season but he will always remain a Star through and through. I hate Hicks for creating a situation that didn't allow Modano to retire a Star but that takes nothing away from how I view Modano as a player.

Modano was the heart and soul of the team for so very long and even as his career began to wind down it was his face that everyone associated with the Stars and still is to this day. If it was not for him, hockey would likely not have done half as well in Texas as it has done. Modano put in a lot of effort making sure hockey was successful in Dallas both on and off the ice and deserves a lot of credit.

That final game in Dallas in 2010 Modano tied the game in the final minutes and added a shootout goal to set his long time buddy Jere Lehtinen up for the game winner. It was the perfect way for fans to say goodbye to the player they loved, and as it turned out to say goodbye to two other well loved players in Lehtinen and Turco. His final game for the Stars was back where he started in Minnesota playing against the Wild. He paid respect to the fans there by putting on the old North Stars jersey to salute the fans and topped the game off with another great performance. Modano also had a beautiful assist in the Ducks game on a goal by the man many Stars fans will become the next 'face of the franchise' in Jamie Benn. It seemed a perfect 'passing of the torch' so to speak.

Number 9 will no doubt be raised to the rafters of the AAC before long where it should be. When it does it will be the first number the Stars have raised since they moved to Dallas. I hope they honour Jere Lehtinen as well when they raise #9 as so much of what they both did was tied together, it would be fitting to see them honoured together.

Thank you Mike for all you have done and good luck in retirement!

Modano tops off his 50 goal season.

Modano's 500th goal.

Modano ties and sets the new all time American goal scoring record (I still hate Nashville fans for booing this)

Modano sets the all time American point scoring record.

Standing ovation at the AAC for Modano's last home game.

The perfect finish.

by **mc_homer** Fri Sep 23, 2011 6:46 am

Modano will officially retire a Star! Nieuwendyk is set to sign Modano to a one day contract with an annual salary of $999,999 in honour of his number. Modano will announce his retirement after completing the paperwork.

I think this is a nice touch to allow Modano to go out officially with the team he should never have left.

http://stars.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=589379&navid=DL|DAL|home