It’s Just Business, Mr. Modano

This is life. This is business. There’s no question that it sucks when sports and business intersect, but this is reality. Mike Modano being shown the door in Dallas is more of a business decision than a human decision. As if we needed another reminder, sports is a business and Modano’s playing career with the Dallas Stars is over.

We don’t want to think it’s a business because of the emotion that WE put into the game. Some of us plan our schedules around games. We plan vacations around our favorite team’s road trips. We’re in great moods when they win and we’re depressed when they lose. Somehow, we shut out the notion that at the end of the day, 30 owners want to turn 30 profits. If we wanted to cheer for the bottom line, we’d watch CNBC and Bloomberg a lot more than Versus and NHL Network.

Even if he still looks like he's 28, he's actually 40...

That brings us to the intriguing case of Mike Modano. The news from Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk isn’t exactly earth-shattering: They won’t be offering a contract to Mike Modano and he’s free to leave as a free-agent. We still aren’t sure if he’s even going to come back for another season; but we do know that if he chooses to lace ‘em up again, it wont be with the organization where he’s spent 22 years.

It’s not a surprise that a good number of fans want to keep him around. For the Stars fans that routinely wear their Modano jerseys out to BBQ, the news is a slap in the face. For a guy that has meant so much to the team and hockey market, he should be able to play as long as he wants with the team. I get it—I’m a fan first, so I truly understand.

Hell, it sounds like Modano might want to keep Modano around. And I’m sure that at the right price (read: league minimum), the management would be willing to have him back as part of next year’s team. But you can’t have a franchise icon making the league minimum and playing 6 minutes per game when you’re trying to move forward with your organization.

At this point, he’s a 4th line center—probably the most famous bottom 6 guy in the history of the Dallas Stars franchise, but still a bottom 6 guy. The Stars have Brad Richards, Steve Ott, Mike Ribeiro, Toby Petersen, and Tom Wandell who all are natural centers. As if those 5 didn’t make the center position crowded enough, they converted Jamie Benn to center early last year in a move that looks like it will stick. That’s 6 guys competing for 4 center spots. Throw in Modano and it’s a very unlucky 7 competing to NOT get moved to wing.

If anything, the announcement that the Stars extended Steve Ott last season for almost $3 million per season (for 4 years) was tacitly announcing that the Mike Modano era was over. With Richards, Ribeiro, and Ott, 3 of their 5 highest paid forwards are centers. Even if he took a minor discount, Modano made $3.5 million last season. At some point they might want to invest a few bucks in some players that can play on the blueline (whether Marc Crawford cares about defense or not).

But on the other hand, let’s take a look at what the Dallas Stars are doing right now. For anyone who follows hockey in the West, they’ll see that there’s been a fall from grace for hockey in Big D. Less than a decade ago they were annually competing with the Blues, Red Wings, and Avalanche as the league’s elite. Their owner made sure the GM had every available resource to put the very best product on the ice. And before the salary cap, they were able to take the extensive resources and buy (and retain) the league’s best players.

And here’s where the cold-hard reality of the situation hits home: Tom Hicks is selling the team. While the Stars used to be one of the biggest spenders in the entire NHL, they’re now a team that is up for sale and operating under a strained budget that is lower than the increased salary cap (we’re talking $45 million per season in payroll). Cap Geek has the Stars current payroll at $43.7 million and still needing a couple of forwards, a defenseman, and a goaltender to fill out their 22 man roster. The have enough budget problems without trying to squeeze in a Dallas living legend, as well.

When a corporation is looking to sell to an investor, the LAST thing they do is increase debts. It sucks to look at it this way, but players’ salaries are nothing more than big red marks counting against the bottom line right now. That’s not changing until the team is finally sold and the new owner decides how he wants to attack the Stars payroll. But right now, there’s a greater chance of Jerry Jones being called “modest” than the Stars increasing their budget.

Even though we called for him to retire during the season last year (we weren’t the only ones), he’s certainly earned the right to call it quits whenever he pleases. But just like he has the right to play well past his prime, the Stars have the right to respectfully move on. And make no mistake about it, that’s exactly what they’re doing.

In releasing a statement to the public, Joe Nieuwendyk explained that they would not be offering him a contract this offseason.

“Mike is unclear on whether he will retire or not, and still may decide to play next season. After assessing our roster and where we need to go as a hockey team, we have decided to not offer Mike a contract and allow him to explore free agency on July 1. If Mike decides that he would like to play with another team, we support his wishes. That’s part of the reason behind the timing of this announcement; we wanted to be up-front with Mike and give him the option to explore playing for other clubs on July 1 if he chooses.” –Joe Nieuwendyk

With the public statement, there’s no circus that will drag on the process of “will they or won’t they.” It’s like a band-aid: it’s never fun tearing that thing off, so might as well make it as quick and painless as possible. By announcing this to the public before the July 1st free agency period, the Stars eliminated any of the BS that could have potentially erupted if Modano wanted to come back, and the Stars admitted they didn’t have the money for him.

Constant communication is usually the best way to deal with this—and this situation is no different. There’s never a good way to hand this, but the Stars have been up front about their intentions throughout the process. They don’t really have the money, have too many centers, would like to move on with their younger players, and would like him in the front office.

I can’t say I’d argue with any of that. But then again, I’m not filled with the emotion of watching one of my heroes struggle with the decision to retire. I’m just an outsider who sees the facts in front of me and the direction the Stars want to move in. If they want to start moving forward, the decision was pretty clear.