The correspondent says Ilya looks as if there wasn’t this loud story on Ilya’s contract. Ilya was in a good mood because he had been right back from his hometown — Tver — and was heading to Miami, Florida to his wife and kids.

In this video you can also see Nikolai Zherdev now of the Philadelphia Flyers, who is training at the same arena.

The former face of the Dallas Stars Mike Modano.

The Stars produced video tributes. People flew from all over North America to be a part of Mike’s final games. Hockey pundits lavished praise upon the career of America’s greatest scorer. The problem is, Mike Modano wasn’t and isn’t ready to retire.

Now, what does an organization do when they are ready to turn a corner, but the face of their franchise isn’t? According to GM Joe Nieuwendyk, you don’t even offer the player a contract.

Legions of Dallas Stars and Mike Modano fans have taken to the talk radio airwaves and the Internet to voice their displeasure about the organization’s decision. You see, in the South, we’ve been brought up with better manners than that. Up North, you can get away with letting a Saku Koivu (or any other player that has spent his entire career with one team) go. But with Modano … this one is going to hurt.

Mike Modano's good looks, easy charm and incredible play helped sell hockey in Texas.

As for me, I had hoped Mike would retire. Not because he doesn’t still have more hockey in him, but because I felt, in some ways, the Stars needed to move on, both on and off the ice. I’m also someone who hates seeing an athlete’s skill diminish as he struggles to keep up with the game he has played all of his life.

Sadly, few remember how feared Chris Chelios was. New York Rangers fans watched Mark Messier become a shadow of the player he had been. Even beloved Vancouverite Trevor Linden was a healthy scratch many times during his final season.

Mike Modano is my favorite player. He took that position the very first time I saw him skate. (Sorry Neal Broten!) I’ve watched him his entire career, even when he didn’t have his familiar No. 9 on the back of his sweater. As he and I take on different roles for the first time in more than 20 years, I hope he goes somewhere that will make him happy once again. You could see his frustration last season at how he was being utilized; and when Mike isn’t happy, he doesn’t play as well.

So, Mike, as you embark on this new chapter in your career, I wish you nothing but clean, fast ice … and may your jersey forever flap behind you!

(But please … land out East!)

Photos: Mike Modano from mikemodano.com.

Flyers D-man Chris Pronger works his magic in a room full of lights, cameras and stupid questions.

Christopher Robert Pronger has been on the radar for quite some time but as we came more and more into the Internet age; things that you wouldn’t read about other than in local papers or see on ESPN/TSN for 30 seconds would cross the globe (especially for those of us in the Pacific Time Zone). What kept my attention on him was the whole “Pronger wants to be traded” thing that got started in Edmonton after the Oilers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. There were all sorts of stories concocted from the actual reason that was given by the man himself which was “personal reasons,” to his getting a local celebrity knocked up; and the one that most of the media ran with, which was that his wife hated life there. I’ve been to Edmonton. Sure, it’s not the mecca that St. Louis is; but it’s not that bad. You just have to like miles and miles of flat land and build your kids’ Halloween costumes around snow suits that look like the little brother in “A Christmas Story.” Other than that, it seems like a very lovely town.

Once the Oilers found a buyer for their disgruntled boy, he went to a place that might possibly be the photo negative of Edmonton and that is Southern California. I wasn’t sure what to think when he was traded to the Ducks. I was happy to have a player of his caliber on my team; but I wasn’t sure what sort of mischief he was going to get himself into. What we found out is that, yeah, he’s really good at what he does but part of what he does is knock people around. He is also kind of an ass sometimes. Sometimes, though, you are willing to accept the “con” of his being an ass, for the “pro” of what else he can bring to the team. Namely, he is a player who is not only skilled at what he does, but he was willing to step into a leadership role, taking over the captaincy of the Ducks while Scottie Nieds made up his mind about retirement.

So I guess what I’m trying to say, and may get rotten fruit thrown at me for saying it, is that Chris Pronger doesn’t owe anything to anyone; and least of all the media. As a professional, he has missed the post season only four times; and one of those was because no one else in the league was working. During those playoff runs, three separate teams in the last five years went to the Stanley Cup Finals, with one winning it all — and the team he’s on this year has a good chance.

And for a very large defenseman, he’s scored a fairly respectable 661 points in a little more than 1,100 games, as well as being a six-time All-Star and owning one of those cute little copies of the Hart and the Norris Trophies. On top of that, he’s helped Team Canada win a World Championship and two Olympic gold medals. What more do you want from the man?

It amuses me reading different blogs and watching various sports shows. It appears that the media, both here and on the northern side of the 49th parallel, expect that since he’s a veteran and a Stanley Cup champion that he’s in the same vein of interview as Sidney Crosby or Johnny Toews. Well, kids, he ain’t. He never has, never will be; and for God’s sake stop having the nerve to look so surprised.

Photo: Chris Pronger from The Associated Press/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz

Does anyone else remember the good ol’ days of the All-Star weekend when it was eagerly awaited?  In an attempt to make the game better with more parity and greater fan appeal, the game is tweaked each year.  Yet it seemingly only appears to continue to lose its luster. With that in mind, I have some of my own suggestions.

  - Let the players choose the participants.  Who knows the talent better than those who play against these guys?  GMs picking the roster?   Seriously, guys.  It’s gone downhill since they switched the selection process.  Yes, I know why it was done, but it probably wasn’t the best solution.

 - Allow competitors into the skills competition that may not make the All-Star team.  We know there are exceptional skaters, stick handlers and shooters that don’t always make the squad.  Let’s see more talent represented there.  That might woo audiences a bit more.

-  Speaking of wooing audiences, can we get rid of the lame breakaway goal competition?  It was a big flop, in my opinion.  Trying (largely unsuccessful) trick shots on non-NHL goalies did nothing for me.  Of course, Alexander Ovechkin did bring some character to the game with his silly props and use of long-time enemy Evgeny Malkin to assist him (although I found the actual story behind the “make-up” of these two much more interesting.)  However, call me old fashioned but I preferred the class that fellow Russian Alexei Kovalev displayed in the All-Star game the next day, taking the game seriously, giving it his all and showing the fans what a fantastic stick-handler he is.  So, let’s bring back skill competitions where real skills are highlighted.

 - Finally, as we move back towards more intra-conference play, let’s resurrect the North America vs. The Word format.  East-West has little intrigue to most people, but pitting the two different playing styles against each other gets Don Cherry and others ranting about the non-North American players and at least resurrects a real rivalry.

So what do you say guys?  You have two years to think about it.