Mike Modano Returns to Dallas with Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings, like the other handful of sports' true perennial super powers, are hated by many, feared by most and begrudgingly respected by all.

So it is only natural when the small team hero is soon assigned the label traitor when lured to the “dark side” by the glitz and glamour of the big town championship machine. This is the kind of mental process that makes the Mike Modano situation entirely unique; it isn’t the young phenom with stars in his eyes, but a grizzled veteran with nearly 20 years devoted to one organization.

Modano is a man with a heart still craving the nightly battles on the frozen pond, and he parted ways with an organization that desires to turn a new leaf and forge ahead into this new NHL with some young hotshots.

Joe Nieuwendyk and the new Stars management group felt it necessary to toss aside the old guard, the last ties to an era of rampant success. One of the most difficult decisions Nieuwendyk could ever make was letting go the man that fought alongside him to ultimately claim the 1999 Stanley Cup. Don’t get me wrong, I bleed green and gold, but at some point choices have to be made.

The recent Tom Hicks fiascoes have led the Dallas Stars to the brink of financial collapse. So spending money on a new contract for a 40-year-old center that would receive limited playing time on the third or fourth line isn’t what the organization was interested in, and certainly not what Mike wanted. With a team recently bolstered by a new group of young talented players, a plan to finally stop living in past glory had to be made. Thus a new Stars team was born.

I know, I know, all you Stars faithful are wondering why? Why did young and innocent Anakin Skywalker turn into the twisted Darth Vader? Why did LeBron James join the Miami Heat and make every ESPN spin doctor have to buy a new pair of pants?

Most of all, why is Modano playing in the Dallas Stars Thursday night home-opener for the “evil” red empire? It’s because he is a Yankee northerner and a traitor to the righteous cause, right? Right? Well not so fast there partner (ah, don’t we all love southern stereotypes).

Unless you’re new to the NHL, you all know about the legacy of the Detroit Red Wings acquiring aging talent. If not let me fill you in.

The Red Wings have this innate ability to take a “washed up” superstar, plug them into the lineup and resurrect their careers; similar to when the Oakland Raiders resurrect Al Davis from his slumber every training camp for one more season. This is always a piece of the championship puzzle the Red Wings are able to conjure up.

Case proven with the always unstable Todd Bertuzzi, a man who once had to scratch and claw every night to earn some time on the basement line, who is now a productive cog in the big red machine.

This has reared its head once more with the early production Mike Modano has experienced in the first handful of games, and don’t forget “Mo” was born and raised in Michigan. That fact has to fulfill some twinge of excitement for Modano.

So, Stars fans, I want you to all blow the doors off any of those agitating and slightly embarrassing Red Wings chants that tend to creep up at moments of an unfortunate momentum shift. But before you get a few beers in you and feel that rash and short-term, emotionally-based reactions are the way to go, just plant one idea in your mind.

The bright and starry landscape of a growing hockey presence here in the heart of Texas has been made possible by men like Modano. He never turned his back on us, and we shouldn’t turn our back on him.

So paint those faces, put on your No. 9 sweaters, and make some ear drums burst. The small team hero is coming to back to Dallas, where he will never forget the time he spent here, and we will never forget the 20 years of class and performance that made North Texas fall in love with this great sport.