Star of Stars

Modano off to impressive start under Tippett

More in this column: * Waddell's dash through the rain * Keepin' it smoooooooth * NHL fans go to LEGOland * Rumor mill * Worth noting * Shameless plug

Mike Modano may as well be the ugly American.

He is one of the best all-around players in the world, yet is underrated by most.

If you think about the top two-way threat, Peter Forsberg is likely to jump out.

If you think of the top skating center in the league, Sergei Fedorov likely tops the list.

If you think of the best center on the draw, Rod Brind'Amour may be the choice.

If you think of great team leaders, Steve Yzerman comes to mind.

But Modano doesn't have much, if any, ground to give to the above players in these categories. He has fashioned himself into one of the most complete players of this generation.

He gets more respect than Rodney Dangerfield, but probably less than he deserves. At a salary of $8.5 million, Modano is a bargain when compared to Bobby Holik at $9.6 million.

It's strange to realize that the 32-year-old Modano is already in his 14th NHL season. Maybe the baby face and toothy grin make him seem younger.

"I feel real comfortable with the state I'm at in my career," Modano said. "Granted, I've had some makeovers in my career and some changes. I think that just happens with the players around you and the coaches you have around you. ... There's a little bit of sacrifice there. There's a lot of talent, so I think you have a number of guys who have to pull back a little bit and accept responsibility in other areas of the game.

"I think Steve [Yzerman] did that. He was one guy I really watched to see how he transformed his game. He added a lot to his game, he's not just a great scorer."

Of the top American-born players in the game today, both Chris Chelios and Brian Leetch have won more individual accolades than Modano, who has been named to just one second-team NHL postseason All-Star team. And though Phil Housely tops the U.S. scoring list with 1,216, Modano is almost a sure bet to break that mark, and could put it well out of anyone's reach with another good half-dozen seasons.

"He's an underrated player, if that's possible," Stars general manager Doug Armstrong told the Dallas Morning News. "He's an elite player in the game and has been for a number of years. He hasn't received the personal accolades of Hart trophies and Selke trophies, but he's been in the running, year in and year out. Hopefully this year, if he continues, he'll get that recognition for the Hart Trophy because he's certainly the MVP of this organization."

Modano became the fifth U.S.-born player to get 1,000 career points last Friday, and he is the franchise leader with 422 goals and 1,001 points. And more milestones are in sight as Modano is just 23 assists away from 600 and 33 games away from 1,000.

The Stars' star is enjoying life under first-year head coach Dave Tippett. Then again, who wouldn't enjoy a 12-4-4-1 start to the season?

"It's been a lot of fun," Modano said. "It's been a bit of a learning process. I think any time you have new personnel, it's a time that you have to earn the respect of the new coaches and a lot of the new players. It was an exciting start to the year. We got off to a good start. I think everybody was really committed coming into it to make a difference, to really have the start and the transition we wanted. It's been really good so far."

In the seven seasons in which he played all or part of the year with Ken Hitchcock as the head coach, Modano averaged 78 points. Hitchcock's defensive system required Modano to backcheck incessantly, taking him out of some of the team's offensive gameplan. Modano would frequently join two-time Selke Award winner Jere Lehtinen in a checking role when Hitchcock needed a big stop against the opponent's top offensive line.

Modano learned to play defense by watching two-way guys like Neal Broten and Mike McPhee early in his career, but it wasn't until Hitchcock drilled it into him that Modano became a great defensive player. Modano improved from a minus-12 in his last year playing without Hitchcock to a plus-43 in Hitchcock's first full season as the Stars' head coach.

Coming out of juniors, Modano was a bona fide sniper, scoring 294 points in three seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL.

Freed up to get more involved in the offense again under Tippett, Modano is tied for second in the NHL with 24 points in 21 games. He is on pace to equal his career-high of 93 points, accomplished in by 1992-93 in the final year in Minnesota, and 93-94 in the franchise's first season in Dallas.

"We think that any of our four lines can play against other teams' top lines," Modano said. "In that way, it's been a little bit of a free-up [for me]. It's a tough responsibility to score and to check when you're player against players like Sergei Fedorov, Jaromir Jagr, Peter Forsberg, players of that caliber."

The Stars look like they finally got it right with their latest offseason retooling. And a fourth trip to the finals, and a second Cup victory, could await Modano at season's end.

The GM is coming, the GM is coming!

A walk through the pouring rain helped the Thrashers land free-agent goaltender Byron Dafoe.

In Boston last month to face the Bruins, Atlanta general manager Don Waddell hoofed it from the Thrashers' downtown hotel to meet Dafoe and agent Bryant McBride at Anthony's Pier 4, a legendary Boston restaurant with impressive views of the skyline and Boston Harbor.

Though it ranks a somewhat distant second to Paul Revere's ride, Waddell's walk to the wharf could go a long way toward helping his team turn around its thus far disappointing season.

"I asked him to come meet Byron to get a better understanding of who he was," McBride said. "It was the worst rainstorm I've seen in Boston in years. It was bad. It was rainy as hell, but Don slogged through the thing in the rain. He showed up soaking wet. That kind of laid the groundwork for it."

Dafoe was impressed by Waddell's willingness to meet with him for a feeling-out process. Waddell asked Dafoe good questions and listened to what Dafoe's wishes were. Salary numbers weren't discussed at all, but Waddell did his homework and put Dafoe through the wringer for a good hour at the restaurant in the event that negotiations might begin in earnest in the coming weeks.

"In this business, a lot of it has to do with trust and what type of people you are dealing with," Dafoe said. "That was the first time I had met Don in person and he just struck me as a general manager who is trying to do the right thing and is doing everything in his power to make this club succeed."

The two sides parted ways, though McBride was kind enough to spare Waddell a return stroll through the downpour by giving him a lift back to the hotel.

"Nothing really came of it right away, but it was put in the bank and it all came together [Tuesday]," Dafoe said.

According to McBride, Dafoe came "really, really close" to signing with the Blues in late October, before St. Louis general manager Larry Pleau opted to sign Tom Barrasso as more of a stopgap solution. The Blues want Brent Johnson as their long-term No. 1 and didn't want Dafoe to be in St. Louis competing with Johnson for the starting job. Nor did Dafoe want to serve as a bridge until Johnson is healthy again and then be in a platoon situation.

Things heated up with the Thrashers on Monday, with the Islanders and Rangers also showing interest.

"For our hockey team, this is a major step," Waddell said Wednesday, his shoes presumably just now drying out from doing his Gene Kelly impersonation in Beantown. "With the addition of Byron to our hockey club, this gives us the opportunity to go the next step. He's a proven goaltender. His stats prove he's not only a No. 1 goaltender, but one of the top goaltenders in the NHL."

Dafoe had been through a holdout in a contract dispute with the Bruins three years ago, so he knew there would be idle time -- "I'll be honest with you, there were some long days. ... There were days where you just kind of watch the clock go by" -- but he didn't expect to be out of action quite so long.

"I'm so excited just to get back out on the ice and start playing again," Dafoe said. "It's been a long summer and a longer fall. The fact that I got a deal done with Atlanta is really exciting. I think it's a young, up-and-coming team that added some veterans over the summer, and they had a bad start but they seem to have found themselves lately."

And now they've found a No. 1 goaltender, too, something Waddell was willing to go to great -- and wet -- lengths to find.

Smooth operators

One glance at a Zamboni and hockey fans are hooked.

In fact, if you asked 10 hockey fans to choose between a Zamboni and a Ferrari, I'm guessing six of them would chose the Zamboni. Everyone loves the Zamboni!

Well, the ice resurfacing machine with the funny sounding name is about to hit a milestone in the 53-year-old company's history.

The 7,500th Zamboni will be delivered to an arena in Thorburn, Nova Scotia on Nov. 26, thanks to a gift from the National Hockey League Players' Association "Goals & Dreams" fund. This will be the 40th Zamboni the NHLPA had donated since the fund was established in 1999, and Hall of Famer and Chairman of the fund Mike Gartner will join Zamboni Company executive vice president Frank Zamboni in delivering the machine.

Piecing it together

LEGO will release a new series of NHL-themed products in the spring, as the NHL announced a multi-year deal with the toy company on Tuesday. The big rollout of the new products will take place at the NHL All-Star Block Party during All-Star Weekend in Sunrise, Fla.

LEGO will sponsor the league's Hockey Rules Ice and Inline Hockey Tour, the NHL Challenge series of European exhibition games and the "Creative Play of the Week" on NHL.com next season.

The company was founded in 1932 by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen and has grown into one of the 10 biggest toy companies in the world. The name LEGO comes from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" ("play well"), though it was also later revealted that in Latin "LEGO" translates to "I study" or "I put together".

"We are thrilled with the authenticity the NHL, recognized around the world as a leading sports and entertainment brand for children, will add to our forthcoming hockey-themed products in the LEGO Sports category," said LEGO Americas president Andrew Black. "Our combined efforts next year will have the LEGO and NHL brands top of mind with today's active children, and will take the overall sports toy category to new levels."

Rumor mill

Boston might need to deal Martin Lapointe this season to clear space to re-sign restricted free agents Brian Rolston, Sergei Samsonov and Joe Thornton in the offseason. Paying a third-liner like Lapointe $5 million would probably mean Rolston, Samsonov and Thornton could reasonably ask for salaries around $6 million, $7 million and $8 million, respectively, and not feel one pang of guilt about doing so. ... The Kyle McLaren sweepstakes is heating up. Big-money teams like Colorado, Philadelphia and St. Louis are interested, but Calgary could be a surprising suitor. The Bruins would probably ask for Craig Conroy and another player from the Flames in exchange for McLaren. The impressive NHL debut of 19-year-old Shaone Morrisonn on Monday night is another reason Boston thinks McLaren isn't needed back. ... Even though the Sens just inked Karel Rachunek to a two-year, $1.55 million deal two weeks ago, he could be traded.

Worth noting

I don't know what this says about his young coaching career, but the Rangers are 3-0 in games that Bryan Trottier hasn't coached this season, but just 6-10-3 with him behind the bench. ... Mark Messier already has 10 goals in 22 games, after netting just seven last year in 41 games. ... The Flames' seven-game skid is the team's longest losing streak since dropping eight in a row from Dec. 21, 1998-Jan. 5, 1999. ... Detroit's Kirk Maltby has more short-handed goals (four) than any Calgary player has power-play goals. ... The Panthers have played a league-leading 11 overtime games, while the Avs have played nine OT contests, tops in the Western Conference. ... The New York Islanders are 8-1-1-1 in their last 11 games against the Tampa Bay Lightning. ... The Dallas Stars are 8-3-2 in their last 13 games at Phoenix. ... The Kings' eight-game road trip ends Thursday in St. Louis. The team will have spent 27 of 31 nights away from home and played 13 of the past 15 games on the road. ... The Sabres' 0-9-2-1 skid equals the club record winless streak of 12 games set in 1991.

Shameless plug

Hockey card collectors need to be increasingly discerning about which sets they collect in a marketplace that is continually flooded with new products.

But Be A Player has already put out two must-have products this season with their First Edition and Memorabilia Series cards.

The 425-card First Edition set was released in August, but the 300-card base set Memorabilia Series just came out Wednesday.

Memorabilia Series hobby boxes have 24 six-card packs and include one of 40 six-inch replica of the Stanley Cup in each box. Each of the different Cups has a player from that championship team featured on it.

Be A Player (as well as its Parkhurst line) are the only brands to have Mario Lemieux autographs in 2002-03. In the Memorabilia Series, there is a 10-card set honoring Super Mario which includes one to four pieces of Lemieux game-worn equipment.

In addition to their two sets already out, Be A Player will release eight more products this season: Between the Pipes and All-Star Series in January, In The Game-Used and Parkhurst in February, Original Six and Retro Parkie in March, Signature Series in April and Ultimate Memorabilia in May.

Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for CNNSI.com.

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