It seemed a little too scripted didn’t it?
Reports surfaced over the weekend that Red Wings forward Mike Modano was shooting for a return from a lacerated wrist on Feb. 24—the day his former club Dallas comes to town. That would have made a nice little story in the papers, but it’s one that Modano had second thoughts about, which is why he’s now aiming for Feb. 26 in Buffalo.
“That gives me two full weeks of still skating and working out and really being ready,’’ Modano said. "I thought about Dallas (Feb. 24 at home), but too many little stories within the big story. Mentally and physically I just want to be ready, start on the road, in Buffalo.
“Probably a lot of distractions (vs. Dallas, his former team) for the first game back. You think with your head more than your heart, so that would be the smart issue.’’
Modano has been skating and practicing for awhile and even was taking a little contact in the process to get him back in the groove of things. All signs point to a return next week, which at any rate is earlier than the initial reports of a mid-March return. Modano will get a full month to prepare himself for the playoff race and basically give the Wings their opening day roster back, depending on what happens with Valtteri Filppula in the coming weeks.