Hall of Famer Mike Modano visits Arizona Coyotes prospect development camp

The Coyotes trimmed down their numbers for this year's prospect development camp to provide more individualized attention, and they added an extra set of eyes to monitor the action Wednesday when Hall of Famer Mike Modano took to the ice as a guest coach.

"I was surprised," winger Anthony Duclair said. "I wasn't expecting him out there, but he's an icon and legend skating with us. So it's a huge (boost) for us."

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Modano played for coach Dave Tippett from 2002-2009 when Tippett was with the Stars. The two live near each other in the Valley and play golf together.

"He was away on vacation for the last couple of days," Tippett said. "He text me last night and said, 'What time are you guys going on the ice?' I said, 'Why don't you come over and jump on?' And he said, 'As a coach?' Then I text him back and said, 'You don't get a whistle, but you get a track suit.' So he jumped on. It was just for fun. It was good to have him on the ice."

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During Wednesday's session, Modano shot pucks on the goalies, listened in to Tippett's lessons at the whiteboard and ended the practice by watching two teams scrimmage with Tippett.

"He has a good hockey mind," Tippett said. "He sees things that are very relevant to what's happening in the game. We have a lot of laughs together and talk about the game. We were together a long time in Dallas, still good friends."

Modano has the most goals (561) and points (1,374) in the NHL among American-born players ("Probably the best American player ever," center Christian Dvorak said.) He retired in 2011 and was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame last November.

"I think it's good for our young players to see a guy like that out there and involved," Tippett said, "and I'm sure those kids had a good feeling seeing him out there."