Mr. Do-It-All

Dave Tippett has known Mike Modano since Modano was a hotshot kid out of Detroit with a mullet haircut and the courage to think he could play midget and junior hockey in the Saskatchewan town of Prince Albert.

Tippett’s brother, Brad, coached the Prince Albert Raiders, and Tippett heard about the gangly kid who was taking on Canadians at their game on their prairie.

“He was very green, jumping to the Western Canadian Hockey League and he had to earn his stripes,” Tippett said. “But you could tell there was something real good about him.”

When they met again last year, Tippett was the coach of the Dallas Stars. He thought he knew everything about Modano, who had become one of the top U.S.-born scorers in NHL history and had turned the Stars into an NHL power. After a season and a playoff series, Tippett has discovered new and profound depths to Modano’s game and personality.

Despite facing opponents’ top lines almost every game, Modano passed the 1,000-point level this season with an 85-point performance, his best since 1994, and led the Stars back to the playoffs this spring after a one-year absence. In a six-game playoff series against the high-tempo Edmonton Oilers, he shared the team lead with 10 points, guiding the Stars to a second-round playoff matchup against the Ducks starting tonight at American Airlines Center.

From afar, “I don’t think you’d appreciate a lot of parts of the game and things he does,” said Tippett, a former King assistant coach. “From a fan’s perception or outside coach or player’s perception, you only see him five or six nights a year. The other times you see much more is on highlight reels, and you see the great goals he scores and the speed he plays the game with.

“In fact, after watching him practice every day and watching all the details of his game, you realize those are the things that make him not just an outstanding offensive player but an outstanding all-around player.”

Modano, 32, has shed his pretty-boy image and inspired comparisons to Detroit’s Steve Yzerman for their evolution into consummate players. Both entered the NHL as scorers, endured tough years with bad teams and were tested by demanding coaches. Yzerman has lifted the Stanley Cup three times but Modano has cradled it only once, in 1999, and lost in the finals twice.

“At the start of my career, the first five or six years, we didn’t have much of a nucleus and supporting cast,” said Modano, the first overall pick in the 1988 entry draft by the then-Minnesota North Stars. “It’s like Detroit getting [Nicklas] Lidstrom and [Sergei] Fedorov and [Brendan] Shanahan so Yzerman had a good cast of players so that he didn’t have to be the go-to guy. We have that here now too.

“I think there was some sacrifice for us both, as far as statistics. You’ve got to give up a little for the better of the team, and I’m real comfortable with doing that and I’m happy how it has all worked out.”

Like Yzerman, whose skills were chiseled by Scotty Bowman, Modano was remade into a complete player by Ken Hitchcock. The drawback was Hitchock’s defensive system, which limited players’ creativity. The Stars won their only Cup championship under Hitchcock and lost in the finals in 2000, but his lack of flexibility and his goading wore on players and ultimately diminished his effectiveness.

From a hockey perspective, Modano said he got along fine with Hitchcock, who was fired 50 games into last season.

“Hitch pushed hard, and when we won the Cup you understood why he pushed like that, even if at the time you’re thinking, ‘Get off my back,’ ” Modano said. “He really challenged me, mentally and physically.”

Those challenges took a toll last season. Yet, Modano believes missing the playoffs might have been a blessing for a team that had played 79 postseason games since 1997.

“Mentally and physically we’d come to the end of our rope and we needed time away,” he said. “We came back to training camp refreshed and energized and really committed to having a good year.”

They also came back to a new coach in Tippett, and free-agent signees Philippe Boucher and Bill Guerin. Like Tippett, Boucher’s respect for Modano has risen since they became teammates.

“He’s a superstar, and you know about his speed and skills, but when you play with him every day you see how hard he works,” Boucher said. “Guys like him and Zubie [Sergei Zubov] and [Derian] Hatcher, you see the intensity they bring every day and know they didn’t get where they are by luck.”

To get any further, Modano will have to get past Duck center Steve Rucchin, who did an excellent job neutralizing Fedorov in the sweep of Detroit. Modano, as surprised as anyone at the decisiveness of the Ducks’ first-round victory, anticipates they’ll present a different challenge from the Oilers, who Modano said put skating and speed ahead of size.

“Size is his big asset, and his [ability to win] faceoffs,” Modano said of Rucchin, who’s also 6 feet 3 and a few pounds heavier than Modano’s 205. “Plus he gets up and down the ice pretty good. Those things add up to a pretty good positional, strong checker.”

It’s not the first time Modano has been pushed and it won’t be the last. But his response will determine how far the Stars advance in a playoff landscape suddenly devoid of traditional powers Detroit and Colorado.

“It’s an interesting final four in our conference, something no one ever would have guessed a couple of weeks ago,” he said, referring to Minnesota’s upset of Colorado and its matchup with Vancouver. “Things have a way of working out in the playoffs. You never know how it’s going to pan out. Weirder things have happened.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Prime Modano

Dallas’ Mike Modano finished the regular season among the NHL’s top 10 in assists, points and plus-minus. A look at his numbers:

REGULAR SEASON

*--* GP G A Pts +/- Shots 79 28 57 85 34 193

*--*

PLAYOFFS

*--* GP G A Pts +/- Shots 6 4 6 10 3 12

*--*