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Modin expects new challenges

Lightning's top scorer will try to balance fatherhood with goal to improve on last season.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 24, 2001

[Times photo: Toni Sandys] Lightning left wing Fredrik Modin scored a team-high 32 goals last season.

The Lightning expects a lot from Fredrik Modin this season, but nothing compared to what he expects of himself.

Think getting knocked around a hockey rink is tough? Try dragging yourself out of bed to take care of a crying baby's 2 a.m. feeding. Or caring for it when it is ill.

And how about bringing a new life into a world that is still reeling from terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon.

Modin and his fiance, Linda Renhorn, are expecting their first child in December. And while the 26-year-old left wing said he could not be happier, the recent catastrophic events have given him pause.

Modin said society has changed since he was a boy in Sundsvall, Sweden. "I just think about how things have changed since I was growing up and some things were around," he said recently. "A knife, smoking cigarettes. Now, instead of knives, it's guns. Instead of smoking cigarettes, it's drugs.

"What's going to happen when my kid grows up? What will be around him or her? It makes you think."

Change does not necessarily have to be bad.

Consider that Modin's career took off after he was traded in October 1999 from one of the NHL's most storied franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs, to one of its least.

As his ice time increased, so did his production.

Modin scored 22 goals in 1999-00, six more than in 1998-99. He scored a team-high 32 last season, was named to the World All-Star team, won the hardest-shot competition with a blast of 102.1 mph and had four assists in the game.

"We wanted him in Ottawa, but the Leafs wouldn't trade him to us," said Lightning general manager Rick Dudley, who was the Senators' GM in 1998-99. "The talent was there, everybody could see that. The Leafs saw it but they had people in front of him."

Most expect Modin to score 40 goals this season, but he hates the numbers game.

"Of course I want to score a lot of goals, tons of goals, get a lot of assists and have a great plus/minus," he said. "But what I'd really like to do is feel that I've stepped forward. I want to improve and do a little bit more and push myself to be better."

Modin's game is more than just lighting the lamp. At 6 feet 4, 220 pounds, he is extremely tough to knock off the puck. His reach makes him an excellent defender (he was an admirable minus-1 last season) and he is developing into a team leader, more by example than words.

"I'm not the guy who yells and screams," he said.

No, he is the guy who has a slap shot that can dent a goaltender's chest protector, and an even more deceptive wrist shot.

As if rival goaltenders needed more bad news, a sore hip-flexor muscle that bothered Modin all summer seems to be healed.

Is it any wonder the conversation always comes back to goals?

Modin has two in three preseason games. His ice-skimming slap shot 34 seconds into overtime Saturday night resulted in a 4-3 win over the Capitals.

"That's where Freddie's game is ready to go, to some of those big goals," coach John Tortorella said.

Toward that end, the coach wants Modin to shoot more, something he has tried to do. Modin took 167 shots in 1999-00, 217 last season. Considering his 14.75 shooting percentage, Modin would need about 270 shots to hit 40 goals.

That kind of production would pay off big-time for Modin, whose two-year, $2.25-million deal is up at the season's end. A more important production begins in December.

"I can't wait to have a daughter or a son and see them grow up and develop," Modin said. "I'm looking forward to it a lot."

The couple does not want to know the child's sex before it is born.

"It doesn't matter what it is," Modin said. "It'll be a nice surprise."

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