Rumor: Mike Modano set to make return to the NHL in very high profile role.

The National Hockey League may soon have a new high powered executive at the helm of one of it's teams, and the position may be filled by one of the league's legendary players.

On Sunday night Minnesota Wild insider Mike Russo published a very interesting story in The Athletic that touched on a rather intriguing rumor involving former National Hockey League great Mike Modano. Although it has to be classified as merely a rumor at this time, there appear to be some very serious talks going on about the organizational structure of the Minnesota Wild and more importantly how Mike Modano might fit into that organizational structure moving forward. 

From Russo's report:

It’s not cemented in stone yet, but it’s looking more and more likely that Hall of Famer Mike Modano will be working for the Wild in some capacity — maybe several capacities, actually — at some point in the near future.

The highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history and the No. 1 overall pick in the 1988 draft by the once-beloved Minnesota North Stars has hung around the Wild a handful of times the past three months. According to sources, Modano met with Wild owner Craig Leipold and his brain trust, including team president Matt Majka, back in December. He has also watched a couple games with Leipold in recent months.

This will not be some token role for Modano either, there are serious talks of Modano uprooting his entire family, which currently resides in Arizona, and moving them out to Minnesota in order to allow Modano to take on this new challenge. Things appear to be moving quickly now as well as Modano was spotted sitting with both Minnesota Wild general manahger Paul Fenton and assistant general manager Tom Kurvers on Sunday and was seen talking privately to Fenton during nearly the entire third period of that game. 

Russo has speculated that Modano could take over as president of hockey operations for the Wild, something that many have suggested the Wild have needed to do for some time now, although Russo does admit that it is not yet clear that this is what is happening here. He does also add however that Modano certainly has the stature and the profile to fill such a role on an NHL franchise. 

One last thing worth mentioning here. There has been some indication, although only rumors at this time, that owner Craig Leipold may feel he made a mistake in hiring Paul Fenton as his general manager. If that is indeed the case bringing in a guy like Modano to oversee Fenton's role on the team would make a ton of sense from Leipold's perspective.