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MODANO EVOLVES INTO COMPLETE PLAYER By Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News DALLAS -- Too soft, one-dimensional, worried only about offensive statistics. For the longest time, that's all that hockey fans ever heard about Mike Modano, who has starred with the Dallas Stars during the last decade. Modano, who turns 30 this week, also heard these descriptions of him. Repeatedly. And it hurt. "It's always been an ongoing battle with people's opinions about how I play and how it's come full circle," he says. "When I first came into the league, you have certain perceptions people make about you. Those are hard to change. It's taken a long time to do that." People's perceptions have changed dramatically the last few seasons. He might have movie-star looks, but he cares about the game and wants to win. Yes, Modano is a force offensively. He is as fast a skater as there is in the NHL, a deft passer, a scorer. "Modano passes as good or better than anyone I've ever played with," says Brett Hull, his linemate. "Because of his speed and quickness, and because he's stronger than anyone gives him credit for, he creates a lot of open ice, not only for me but for everyone else." But this is a different Modano at the apex of his career. He also has evolved into a blanket defensive player, and someone who can bull through defenses that he once skated around. Stars coach Ken Hitchcock is baffled why Modano isn't mentioned prominently for the Selke Trophy, given to the NHL's best defensive forward. "To me, Modano is a Selke type of player," Hitchcock says. "He's a two-way player. He checks the other team's top line. He scores some nice goals, but he's not prolific as a goal-scorer. What he's prolific at is he's a tremendous competitor in the competitive areas." Of all the challenges Modano has faced in his career, the second half of this season has been one of the greatest, a testament to his character. In the second game of the season, an off-balance Modano was pushed into the boards by Anaheim defenseman Ruslan Salei and suffered a concussion, a broken nose, nearly a broken neck. When Modano returned from the horrifying incident, he pleaded with the NHL to stop such violence. He also got a chance to show that he doesn't skate away from good, clean, physical hockey. "I've grown to enjoy the physical part of the game," Modano says. "Teams go into games keying on certain individuals, and I know I'm one of them." After returning to the lineup, Modano fired his business advisers, hired new people and undertook new business projects around the Dallas area. All the while, he was fighting to get motivated. He was emotionally spent after last season's long Stanley Cup run. "It took him half a season to find the energy, emotion and joy in playing," Stars general manager Bob Gainey says. When Modano finally found all those, he averaged nearly a point a game in the second half, finished with 38 goals, and played defense that was second to none in Hitchcock's estimation. "We ask Modano to play a strong two-way role and he plays it and plays it very effectively," Hitchcock says. "That's the way we want our team to play."