http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/players/mike+modano/nhl.p.40
Puck Headlines: Ovechkin wax figure; Campbell talks ShanahanDallas Stars get cute, sign Mike Modano to a one-day contractVideo: In honor of his retirement, itâ??s Mike Modano vs. Mr. PerfectPuck Headlines: Top 10 rookies ranking; [San Francisco]e|OOD gets pro teamAs he retires, Mike Modanoâ??s lasting legacy for [Dallas]e|OOD , USA HockeyPuck Daddy Season Preview 2011-12: [Detroit]e|OOD Red WingsWhat We Learned: Enough with the outdoor hockey gamesMike Modano isnâ??t aware heâ??s supposed to be retired nowHockey Guilty Pleasures: Orland Kurtenblog editionDoes Aaron Rome owe Nathan Horton more than text apology?
Puck Headlines: Ovechkin wax figure; Campbell talks ShanahanDallas Stars get cute, sign Mike Modano to a one-day contractVideo: In honor of his retirement, itâ??s Mike Modano vs. Mr. PerfectPuck Headlines: Top 10 rookies ranking; [San Francisco]e|OOD gets pro teamAs he retires, Mike Modanoâ??s lasting legacy for [Dallas]e|OOD , USA HockeyPuck Daddy Season Preview 2011-12: [Detroit]e|OOD Red WingsWhat We Learned: Enough with the outdoor hockey gamesMike Modano isnâ??t aware heâ??s supposed to be retired nowHockey Guilty Pleasures: Orland Kurtenblog editionDoes Aaron Rome owe Nathan Horton more than text apology?
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
â?¢ [Washington]e|OOD Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will be getting his own wax figure at Madame Tussaud's museum in [Washington]e|place , D.C. Or they're just going to leave it as a floating head in memory of Ovie's CCM commercials . [ @darrenrovell via @dcwax ]
â?¢ NHL commissioner Gary Bettman released a statement Friday morning regarding the incident Thursday night in London, Ontario: "We have millions of great fans who show tremendous respect for ourÂ players and for the game. The obviously stupid and ignorant action by oneÂ individual is in no way representative of our fans or the people of London,Â Ontario."
â?¢ Frank Seravalli spoke with former NHL discipline czar Colin Campbell in London, Ontario, Thursday night about Brendan Shanahan's first day of suspensions: "The position needed some fresh blood, some new eyes.Â Brendan is a good replacement, he's been suspended by at least three of us [disciplinarians], and he's been hanging around us for the last couple of years." [ Daily News ]
â?¢ Friday is Mike Modano Retirement Day. NHL Network and NHL.com will be broadcasting the press conference. At 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, NHL Network will air a one-hour special on Modano's career. [ NHL ]
â?¢ Chris Peters with a Modano tribute of his own. [ USOH ]
â?¢ Mason Raymond of the Vancouver Canucks is still unsure when (or if) he'll be able to play again after suffering a broken vertebrae in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final from a Johnny Boychuk hit. [ Vancouver Sun ]
â?¢ Edmonton Oilers tough guy Darcy Hordichuk on why Shawn Thornton's play in the Stanley Cup Final helped the Bruins win: "Had Vancouver won, it would have been again everybody is trying to be like [Detroit]e|OOD and we don't need that toughness. What he [Thornton] did in that series and [Milan] Lucic and [Brad] Marchand, it's going to change Vancouver's approach." [ The Province ]
â?¢ Bruce Dowbiggin got CBC's P.J. Stock on the phone to discuss his comments following the death of Wade Belak. [ Globe & Mail ]
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Like us, you may feel that Mike Modano's retirement, announced Wednesday, came a year too late. Drafted first overall in 1988 by the [Minnesota]e|OOD North Stars, Modano played 20 seasons and 1,459 games with the [Minnesota]e|OOD / [Dallas]e|OOD franchise.Â Then, in an act of sacrilege, he opted not to retire last season, and played out the final 40 games of his NHL career as a member of the rival [Detroit]e|OOD Red Wings.
It was weird.
Thankfully, GM Joe Nieuwendyk and the [Dallas]e|OOD Stars took steps on Thursday to rectify the heinous thought of Mike Modano retiring a Red Wing by signing him to a contract the day before he officially calls it quits; a contract that directly references the number he wore in [Dallas]e|OOD :
Cute. Obviously, Modano won't play a game for the [Dallas]e|OOD Stars, but this was a clever way to honor a player that will be forever linked to their franchise.
But does it have consequences under the current NHL CBA's salary cap?
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One undeniable aspect of just-retired Mike Modano's (notes) appeal as an NHL star was that he was a little bit Hollywood, and not just because he appeared shirtless on magazine covers and married the woman who gave the world " I Wanna Be Bad ."
He's also one of the only NHL stars to appear in a World Wrestling Federation vignette; and what better time to revisit this classic than on the day he officially hung up his skates?
This originally aired in March 1993 on the syndicated "WWF Superstars" program. Clearly, Ed Belfour was the second choice for the [Dallas]e|OOD Stars behind the late Curt Hennig. Just another link in the Puck-and-Wrestling Connection.
As you can imagine, the tributes to Modano's impact and career continue to roll in. Check out Y! Sports NHL columnist Nick Cotsonika's "greatest American player" take, Kevin Allen's celebration of Modano's speed , Jordan Kuhns's take on "a real star" and Mike Heika will a nice piece about Modano's legacy in [Dallas]e|OOD (sub. required, sadly).
s/t to reader Aubrey Chau for the clip.
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
â?¢ Someone threw a crab on the ice at the [Washington]e|OOD Capitals' preseason game against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night in [Baltimore]e|place . Mainly because the body of Omar Little is so hard to get through the turnstiles. [ DC Sports Bog ]
â?¢ Meanwhile, there's been some discussion about what Winnipeg Jets fans might toss on the ice as part of their new hockey traditions. Hockey Hourly's suggestion: "A bag full of loonies, while expensive for the tosser, would represent the city of Winnipeg, home of the Royal Canadian Mint." [ Hockey Hourly ]
â?¢ Gabriel Landeskog of the [Colorado]e|OOD Avalanche tops the THN top 10 Calder candidates. [ THN ]
â?¢ Mike Modano on his retirement: "I wasn't working out much. I wasn't skating. There wasn't motivation to do much. I was traveling and at that point, I said, 'Let's pick a day here and get the thing on the calendar.'" [ ESPN Dallas ]
â?¢ Brendan Shanahan on his job as the new discipline czar: "It's important that the color analyst in Florida gets it right because fans will go to bed trusting in what he says. … Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I do believe that professionals want to get it right. And I am going to make as much information available as possible." [ USA Today ]
â?¢ Marian Hossa is back at Chciago Blackhawks camp after Pavol Demitra's funeral and the birth of Hossa's daughter. [ Tribune ]
â?¢ It's writing like this that makes you mental as a hockey fan. Yep, the NBA lockout will put the NHL back on ESPN despite the 10-year contract the league has with NBC. Uh-huh. [ Lakeland Times ]
â?¢ Former NHLer Brent Severyn offers a glimpse as life as a hockey goon: "Here's the paradox: You must work yourself into a frenzy of emotions to fight, but outwardly curb those feelings. You still have to get through your day and do all the things that normal people have to do --- laundry; go to the grocery store, etc. -- while the frenzy inside your mind builds. But you can't expose it to the rest of the world. It's only acceptable to express it on the ice." [ SI ]
â?¢ Cool news for West Coast hockey fans: The ECHL has approved a franchise for [San Francisco]e|OOD starting in the 2012-13 season. The league announced it'll be called the "Bulls," therefore ruining the incredibly fun speculation about what a professional hockey team in [San Francisco]e|place should be called. [ ECHL , via Charles Gee]
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Mike Modano officially retired from the NHL on Tuesday, two months after it was obvious he would and about one year too late . Hip cat that he is, Modano announced it via Facebook and Twitter:
Time for Scotty Wazz to cross another name off the "guys from NHL '94 still playing in 2011" list ...
Modano was never a 100-point player. The closest he ever came to breaking the century mark were back-to-back 93-point seasons with the [Minnesota]e|OOD North Stars in 1990-1992. His 561 goals ranks him 23rd on the all-time list, as the four goals he scored in 40 games with the [Detroit]e|OOD Red Wings last season pushed him ahead of Guy LaFleur.
[ Play Fantasy Hockey, now with Pro Leagues ]
Yet Modano was every bit the superstar that Steve Yzerman or Joe Sakic or any of his peers during his prime were; and like those two Hall of Famers, an indelible part of his legacy is specific to franchise and to country.
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It's going to be another year of blockbusters and huge flops in the NHL. Which teams blew out their budgets for big name stars and gigantic special effects to score Michael Bay-levels of box office gold? Which teams are bloated action retreads and terrible sequels? Find out in Puck Daddy's 2011-12 NHL Season Previews, running throughout the month.
Another division title for the [Detroit]e|OOD Red Wings with a 47-25-10 (104 points) record, their 10th in the last 12 seasons. Another Western Conference Playoff victory in Round 1, the fifth year they've advanced.
But, it was also another semifinals loss to the San Jose Sharks, the second straight year they've been eliminated by the black and teal.
While three veteran mainstays retiring this summer, the Wings return the same collection of veteran stars and depth grunts that keep them in contention each season.
Nicklas Lidstrom's back; will the Stanley Cup return to [Detroit]e|OOD as well?
(Please Note: The following preview is not presented to you by Amway .)
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Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
On Friday, the NCAA conference Hockey East formally announced that it would hold a pair of outdoor games at Fenway Park on Jan. 7, 2012.
It will be the second doubleheader the league has hosted at the ballpark since 2010, and highlights an increasingly concerning problem with the state of games outdoors.
Namely, that there are too goddamn many of them.
Remember all that talk about how the NHL might be watering down the specialness of the Winter Classic by holding the Heritage Classic about a month and a half after? Turns out the concern over NHL's big single-day, money-making, attention-grabbing premier event was misplaced. This league isn't even remotely the problem.
It's everybody else.
This year's Winter Classic will be the league's seventh outdoor game in nine years, which is a little less than one a season and a wholly appropriate number. (This figure does not include the associated alumni games, obviously.)
The real issue is any half-assed league can put one of these together these days. The AHL will hold two outdoor games of its own this year, one in Hamilton and one rumored-but-kind-of-confirmed in [Philadelphia]e|place on the Winter Classic ice. And then there's the NCAA, which will have the two Hockey East games plus a CCHA tilt in [Cleveland]e|place between Ohio State and Michigan. And the WHL, the NAHL, the AJHL ...
Why not just play every hockey game from now on outside?
( Coming Up: Sabres' Cup chances; pressure on Shea Weber; Jordan Hendry goes Wild; Teemu feeling optimistic; Flaming bank robber; John Tavares roommate watch; Modano on the fence; Jovanovski rebound; LA Kings go with four jerseys; Kyle Wellwood hungry for contract; Bruins aren't afraid of competition; crazy Alex Semin trade; Dustin Penner busting a gut this offseason; and please god no Nickelback in Winnipeg.)
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With all due respect to Mike Modano's (notes) life-altering-decision-making process: Is anyone else surprised to hear he's "still mulling" retirement from the NHL, as reported by ESPN [Dallas]e|OOD on Friday?
In the sense that he isn't retired already?
No, not yet, even though by his own postseason timeline a decision should have already been made. But if Modano had retired this summer at 41 years old after 21 seasons in the NHL, we would have noticed via an unavoidable celebration of his career from all corners of the hockey world, like the one Joe Sakic (notes) experienced when he hung up the skates.
Ah, but Modano actually did have that quintessential retirement party already -- at the end of the 2009-10 season with the [Dallas]e|OOD Stars , as fans in both Big D and back in [Minnesota]e|place were given a chance to say goodbye in a storybook finale for his career. (Well, as storybook as a non-playoff year can be.)
Alas, the fire still burned in ye olde belly, and Modano signed with the [Detroit]e|OOD Red Wings . He played only 40 games due to a wrist injury, robbing him of a chance to leave the NHL in a satisfactory way. Which, again, he had after the 2009-10 season .
So he's still considering another go at it in the NHL. From Richard Durrett of ESPN [Dallas]e|OOD :
Keep in mind that Modano didn't lack for options last year during his post- [Dallas]e|OOD free agency â?? [Detroit]e|OOD , the San Jose Sharks , the [Minnesota]e|OOD Wild and the Anaheim Ducks all had their kicks at his tires. He wasn't ineffective when he played for the Red Wings, but he also wasn't Mike Modano, either.
Better to go out a legend than to linger too long. According to Modano, he'll be off the fence by the middle of September.
(Ed. Note: Our series "Puck Daddy's Guilty Pleasures" features puckheads from all walks of life answering questions about their own hockey-related guilty pleasures. It will run daily during the month of August. Have a suggestion for a "Guilty Pleasures" guest blogger? Hit us on email . Enjoy!)
Today's Special Guests: Mike Halford and Jason Brough from Orland Kurtenblog, the Vancouver Canucks-centric but all-things-hockey blog from the Vancouver Province.
1. The Player You Most Love To Hate
Halford: Ben Eager. The Canucks have been on the receiving end of his goonery for what feels like an eternity. Some prime examples:
-- Running Curtis Sanford in 2007.
-- Body-slamming Kevin Bieksa in the infamous "hair pulling" game.
-- Cheap shot on Rick Rypien in the 2009 playoffs.
-- Cheap shot (again) on Daniel Sedin in the 2011 WC Final .
-- Smack talking Roberto Luongo after scoring the all-important third goal in a 7-3 loss.
To top it off, now he's with the Edmonton Oilers — his fifth team in five years, I might add —meaning Canucks fans get six cracks at booing the ever-loving crap outta him this season. Also, six cracks at seeing some penalty box boobs.
Brough: Jay Bouwmeester. Nothing against him personally, I just remember all the hype before he signed with Calgary, then everyone in the media falling all over themselves to congratulate Darryl Sutter for landing him.
Bouwmeester has 53 points in 164 games with the Flames.
But what a skater!
Seems like Denis Potvin had it right all along : "In my view, what Jay has not shown yet is the ability to really control the game, the way a No. 1 defenseman should be able to. Now that could change if he ends up going to a team that's a contender and surrounds him with better players. At times, he looks like he wants to control the game, but I don't know if he knows how to do it. And do you want to pay all that money, $7 million a year or more, for a guy who might not be a No. 1 defenseman?"
Funny how Hall-of-Fame defensemen usually know a thing or two about playing defense.
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Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome was suspended for four playoff games by the NHL after knocking [Boston]e|OOD Bruins forward Nathan Horton out of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final with a late hit.
The moment became a turning point in the championship round, as Rome's suspension cost his team a body on defense and gave the Bruins a rallying cry in their title run. It was a regrettable moment, and Rome showed nothing but remorse after his suspension.
From the Canucks' website on June 7:
Rome also issued a back-channel apology to the Bruins and Horton through his general manager Mike Gillis.
But what about a direct apology to Horton?
Matt Kalman of The Bruins Blog asked Horton â?? who says he's symptom-free, post-concussion â?? about Rome's apologies before Milan Lucic's charity softball game in Lowell on Wednesday.
Horton feels they've been insufficient. From Kalman:
Or just let Shawn Thornton handle it. One of the two.
Were I in Horton's skates, I'd probably want more than a text message and some canned regret on the team website, too. But is this really a matter of respect or just the way these things go in the NHL?
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