Mike Modano breaks silence on his ugly ending with the Detroit Red Wings
Photo credit: NHL.com
Mike Modano broke his silence on his ugly ending with the Detroit Red Wings in a recent interview.
Few players in NHL history had a career quite like Mike Modano's. Drafted 1st overall by the Minnesota North Stars in 1988, he went on to appear in 1,499 regular-season NHL games, scoring 561 goals and adding 813 assists for a total of 1,374 points.
He won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999 and became the all-time leader among American-born players in goals, points, playoff points, and games played as a forward.
Modano joined the Red Wings for the 2010-11 season after his long run with Dallas finally came to an end.
He signed a one-year deal, returning home to Michigan, hoping to finish his career on a high in his hometown.
Things, however, didn't quite go as planned. He suffered an injury and saw limited ice time in the playoffs, but something else cast a shadow on his time in Detroit.
Nearing the significant milestone of his 1,500th NHL regular-season game, he was made a healthy scratch by Mike Babcock. As a result, Modano was ultimately limited to 1,499 games and never reached the mark.
The NHL legend opened up about that story in a new podcast interview.
Modano Breaks His Silence On Ugly Ending With the Red Wings
In the recent interview, Modano laid out what went wrong, and how he felt about the way things wrapped up with the Wings:
"Probably around Thanksgiving, I felt I was about the best shape I'd been in in two to three years....but then I got hurt. If I didn't get hurt, I think my idea, my feelings obviously and my whole demeanor would have changed. It was just a hard struggle to get back, it was a rare, crazy injury."
"I figured I was done at that point.....it didn't pan out well."
"It was just an odd phone call, I just didn't expect to get at that point, knowing I was so close. And then he dressed me in Chicago to end up with 1,499. It was frustrating at the time, I got to the rink and he just kind of let it be known that he brought me in to win a Cup, not get 1,500 games."
"I didn't play much in the playoffs, and I knew the writing was on the wall at that point."
"I figured I was done at that point.....it didn't pan out well."
"It was just an odd phone call, I just didn't expect to get at that point, knowing I was so close. And then he dressed me in Chicago to end up with 1,499. It was frustrating at the time, I got to the rink and he just kind of let it be known that he brought me in to win a Cup, not get 1,500 games."
"I didn't play much in the playoffs, and I knew the writing was on the wall at that point."
Check out the full interview here:
Now that time has passed since the incident, Modano seems to have turned the page on that disappointing NHL exit and is still remembered as one of the NHL's best players even without reaching the 1,500-game mark.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 15 | 293 ANSWERS Mike Modano breaks silence on his ugly ending with the Detroit Red Wings Do you think Mike Modano will return to the NHL in other functions? | ||
| Yes | 195 | 66.6 % |
| No | 98 | 33.4 % |
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