This home white air-knit gamer by CCM was worn by Mike Modano during his first-ever game in an NHL uniform! The Minnesota North Stars selected Modano with the 1st overall pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. He was the face of the Minnesota/Dallas franchise for 20 years while compiling Hall of Fame statistics. After playing for a lone season with the Detroit Red Wings in 2010-11, Mike announced his retirement from the sport. During his illustrious career, Modano netted 561 goals and added 813 assists for a career point total of 1374. Mike played in eight NHL All Star games, was 2nd Team NHL All Star in 2000 and has represented Team USA in numerous international competitions including a Canada Cup, 2 World Cups and 3 Olympics. The mantel was finally made complete when Mike captured the 1999 Stanley Cup with Dallas. Mike is the Stars franchise leader in games played, goals, assists and points among many other categories, and led them to the Cup Finals on 3 different occasions. Modano ranks as the highest scoring US born player, both in the regular season and the playoffs, in NHL history. This recent inductee into the USA Hockey Hall of Fame also gained induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on his first year of eligibility this past year as part of the Class of 2014.
A contract dispute saw Mike Modano, the NHL’s reigning 1st overall pick, begin the 1988-89 season in the WHL with the Prince Albert Raiders. It took a number of months before the North Stars and Modano came to terms. Shortly after doing so, the Minnesota North Stars played host to Dynamo Riga at the Met on January 7th 1989. With the franchise struggling with attendance figures, GM Lou Nanne made the decision to call up their highly touted rookie to play against the Russians, hoping to spark interest from the fan base. It would be Modano’s first game in an NHL uniform and he would wear the player number 39 for the first and only time in his career. Offered here is the jersey that Modano wore on that historic evening!
The game wear on this rookie sweater consists of stick and slash marks, board burns, board paint transfer, un-repaired burn holes and inner pilling. This was Modano’s debut jersey that he wore against Dynamo Riga on January 7th 1989 before he was returned to Prince Albert the very next day. Shown above are some amazing photo matches of Modano holding up this exact jersey as a rookie on draft day and again wearing it against Dynamo Riga during his 1st game in an NHL uniform. Another photo shows Mike happily holding up his first NHL gamer during training camp in 2005. Also shown above are video highlights of Modano wearing this exact jersey during the January 7th 1989 game at the Met. After Mike’s departure back to the WHL, this sweater would next find its way onto the back of Neil Wilkinson, who wore it during the 1989-90 pre-season, thus explaining the name change on the jerseys verso. That would be the final time this jersey saw action. This is an amazing piece of history that should appeal to a wide array of collectors and fans. A tremendous photo and video matched offering of this newly elected Hall of Famer’s first NHL jersey, choice!
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