Three. It's a simple and small number.

	Modano

In hockey terms, that's one forward line. About one-sixth of a roster. And it's the exact amount of players left over from the old Minnesota North Stars, who left Minnesota in the early 1990s for Dallas.

Derian Hatcher, Richard Matvichuk and Mike Modano. All solid NHL performers, the latter a legitimate star. Matvichuk and Hatcher were relative unknowns back then, and from their relative indifference to Sunday's return to face the expansion Wild, it's clear the hoopla surrounding this odd homecoming has passed them by.

But for Modano, it's a little different. He was a No. 1 pick -- overall, that is -- and was, for better and worse, a front-line player even back then. So, what will it be like for him, the guy who was the franchise's future when Minneapolis-St. Paul became part of the franchise's past?

"I think the build-up is more than anybody expected," said Modano of Sunday's game marking the return of the Stars to Minnesota. "Obviously, there is going to be some hype leading into it, but I think once we get going and started, I think we are going to approach it like any other game."

The "we" there doesn't refer to all players on the ice -- just the Dallas Stars. This game is huge on the other side -- the Minnesota Wild side. Dallas won the Cup two years ago, barely has anyone from the Minnesota era on the team and boasts a roster largely consisting of veterans concerned with one thing: Winning.

Modano's thoughts after Cup

Even in the locker room afterwards, you know, I imagined what if this was happening in Minnesota, and if Neal Broten was still with us and Brian Bellows and players that I started in with the league. Those guys were on our thoughts and on my mind, especially. And, you know, they were an intricate part as far as my development and getting used to the league and getting familiar with it. There was a lot of what-ifs that happened in Minnesota. It would have been a great thing and as exciting as the fans were in 1991. It would have been a good thing for them to be a part of it, too.

Leave the sentimentality to the locals and just get the two points.

"Obviously we are going to have some friends and family that are going to be there. Brett Hull being from Minnesota and Jamie Langenbrunner, there is going to be a lot of family with them there," Modano said. "It is just the five of us or six of us that have any connection to Minnesota."

The Wild fans will get their players jacked up because an underlying resentment still exists. The 1999 Cup should have been in Minnesota, not Dallas. But Modano says the animosity has nothing to do with him, or any of the players for that matter.

"I think the bitterness is, unfortunately, towards ownership," he said. "Norm Green saved it from leaving a couple of years before, and everybody thought he was the savior. We went to the finals, and then, you know, a couple of years later, people were ready to hunt him down.

"But my times there were great. I won't change them for anything. The family I lived with my first year and the friends I made -- and spending my summers in Minneapolis were a special time."

It will be a playoff atmosphere, as close as it'll get in Minnesota for a long while. There might even be a few boos from the usually mild-mannered midwestern crowd. But make no mistake about Mike Modano and Dallas' approach. Fond memories exist -- and Modano might even have a few butterflies -- but all that matters in the present is the win.

Brian A. Shactman is the NHL Editor for ESPN.com.