Links and stuff about Modano.

A lot will be said over the next few days (maybe weeks) about Mike Modano and what he’s done for the Dallas Stars and what life will be like now that he doesn’t play for the Stars any more. What life will be like for the Stars, for Mike and not least, for us Stars fans.

This is a big day. A sad day.

Most of what will be said will be better than I can say it, but there will be plenty said by people in town that have no idea what it’s all about.

I may just update this one post with new things as the day goes on.

First of all, Mike Heika reminds us of this video retrospective. It made me misty when I saw it after the last game of the season, but today the tears are flowing.

(I did not write that title.)

• Richard Durrett got Brad Richards’ and Steve Ott’s reactions.

• Last night I happened to check the Stars site and found some great photo galleries from behind the scenes of the last two games of Mike’s Stars career. The pictures are all by Trey Hill, who I hope somehow becomes the Stars’ official photographer from now on. If he did our roster photos for next season, we’d be the envy of all NHL fans.

• Mike Heika with Mike’s reaction. I hear he’ll have a press conference tomorrow morning, so we’ll be able to hear more. (I’m sure I won’t be able to hold back the tears then, either.) (You know, this is why I switched from movies to sports, so I wouldn’t have to cry all the time. It’s not really working out that well.)

When asked about his fit on the Stars, he said he wasn’t happy last season.

“No, but who on the team was,” he asked rhetorically. “It wasn’t a good season, it didn’t come together very easily. I just think you have to put that in the past and move on.”

• Here’s some more reaction, again courtesy of Mike Heika.

• Brad Gardner over at Defending Big D has a good take on the situation.

As badly as I want to admonish the Stars, I can find no fault with this hockey decision. As much as I want to beg Mike Modano to ride off into the sunset, you can’t deny that fire in him that wants to play. This situation is a “lose-lose” if ever there was one.

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:(

No more No. 9.

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I’ve been loving you too long to stop now.

The Dallas Stars obviously want to break up with me, but I just can’t let that happen.

• They fired Doug Armstrong and hired nutty Brett Hull.
• They traded Jeff Halpern and Mike Smith.
• They let Nik Hagman just walk.
• They signed Sean Avery (admittedly, they almost got rid of me with that one).
• They traded my beloved Philippe Boucher for a bag of pucks Darryl Sydor.
• Instead of just firing Hull and letting Les Jackson take over, they demoted Jackson, too.
• They hired my original favorite player, Joe Nieuwendyk, to take over, which cannot end well favorite-player-wise.
• They fired my beloved coach, Dave Tippett.
• And if that weren’t bad enough, they hired Marc Crawford to replace him.

They’re obviously trying to get rid of me.

Well, it won’t work!

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Congrats to the ‘Hawks!

Well, hello there.

I’d like to send out a big, heartfelt congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks and their fans for winning the Stanley Cup this year. It was a pretty exciting Finals series and the good guys won. The Chicago fans were great and I’m extremely jealous of them.

I have a few random thoughts about the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs and I’ve decided not to try to arrange them in any kind of meaningful way. Just so you know, right up front.

• As seen above, and elsewhere, Patrick Sharp is a handsome, handsome man. He’s also a pretty good goal-scorer and a fairly good defensive forward and he shoots right and the ‘Hawks might have to part with somebody important next season. Just puttin’ it out there.

• The Blackhawks have a topnotch site and they pack it with fun videos. This timelapse video of the day of the Stanley Cup parade is pretty cool. You should check out their commercials and their behind-the-scenes videos. The Dallas Stars could learn a thing or two from them. (I’ll rant some other time about the slide into boring that the Stars site has taken.)

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