So what kind of coach are the Dallas Stars getting in the returning Ken Hitchcock?

Former Stars great Mike Modano joined The Hardline on KTCK-AM 1310 The Ticket last May and described Hitch's style.

What it was like playing for Ken Hitchcock when he coached the Stars:

Modano: It was tough. Hitch had my cell phone, he'd call me every night before games and ask me 'what type of player I was going to be, how you're going to show up, you going to be there tomorrow for us, how are you going to play?' He was on top of me 24-7...Those veteran guys were hard on us, they pushed us. We were all young, we didn't know it took to win, but once you're around those guys and you see every other night having to go so deep physically and mentally, it was so much fun. You learn a lot about yourself as a player and team.

How hard it was to adopt Hitchcock's defensive style of play:

Modano: I think everybody was on board more than it appeared. I think early on maybe we did butt a little heads. I think Hully [Brett Hull] and myself and [Sergi] Zubov, we just needed a little more leash than anybody else to just be a little more creative in the way that we wanted to play. I think ultimately Hitch never really wanted to take away the creatively on the offensive side of the puck, he just wanted to add that detail of being a frustrating defensive team. He felt if we did that, we'd have the puck more often and we'd have opportunities to score more often, which ultimately was the case with us. He drove it home hard on us.

Click here to listen to the whole interview.

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