The Dallas Stars have stripped Mike Modano of the captaincy. Huh?
While not unprecedented, it is highly unusual for a team to take away the honour associated with the "C". The most recent examples have involved players who were given the team captaincy very early in their career and then engaged in public disagreements with coaches & management. Vincent Lecavalier had the "C" taken away in Tampa Bay at the tender age of 21, after underachieving & publicly clashing with head Coach John Tortorella. Eric Lindros was similarly demoted in Philadelphia, but only after running afoul of GM Bobby Clarke & cricitizing the Flyer's medical staff over the diagnosis of a concussion. The Lightning & Flyers replaced Lecavalier & Lindros with Dave Andreychuk & Eric Desjardins, respectively, both of them older, more experienced players.
None of these circumstances exist in the Modano/Dallas case.
Modano joined the Stars (Minnesota North Stars) in 1989 after being selected first overall in the 1988 draft. He has been a model of consistency, recroding close to a point a game in his 16 year career (1,179 games - 1,183 points). After a disappointing 2003-04 campaign (14G, 30A, -21) Modano bounced back with 27 goals & 50 assists last season.
Adding to the confusion over the demotion is the fact that the Stars apparently thought enough of Modano last year to sign him to a 5-year contract that will pay him $4.25 million for the coming season. The contract almost guarantees that Modano will retire having played his entire career as a Star. When he does hang up his skates Modano will do so as the owner of virtually every Dallas offensive record, including most goals, assists, game winners & games in the regular reason & playoffs. Modano has also been nominated multiple times for the Masterton trophy as the Dallas Star player demonstrating the most perserverance & dedication to the game.
Brenden Morrow is a good young (27) player (451 games, 269 points) coming off a decent but unspectacular season (23G, 42A). He recently signed a 6-year, $24.6M (US) contract extension.
Modano and Sergei Zubov will serve as the Star's assistant captains.
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