Question: The forward who missed 18 games in the 1994–95 Dallas Stars season was which retired American professional ice hockey player, who played primarily for the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise? 
Context: The Minnesota North Stars were an American professional ice hockey team based in Bloomington, Minnesota, a city in the U.S. metropolitan statistical area of Minneapolis – St. Paul – Bloomington, Minnesota–Wisconsin.  The team joined the NHL in 1967 as an expansion team with five other teams; the Cleveland Barons, another 1967 NHL expansion team, were merged with the North Stars in the 1978–79 season.  The North Stars played in the Stanley Cup Finals twice: as the Prince of Wales Conference champions in the 1980–81 season, and in the 1990–91 season after winning the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, but lost in both Finals.  The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center.  The team relocated to Dallas, Texas in 1993, after former owner Norman Green announced that he was moving the team to Dallas's Reunion Arena in search of a better economic situation, and are now known as the Dallas Stars.  The North Stars played in the Norris Division of the Clarence Campbell Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL) in their last season.  There were 16 head coaches for the North Stars team. Travis John Richards (born March 22, 1970) is a former professional ice hockey defenseman.  Richards graduated from Robbinsdale Armstrong High School in Plymouth, Minnesota in 1988.  Richards was a member of the University of Minnesota Gophers hockey program before making his professional debut during the 1993-94 season.  A child psychology major, Richards would spend four years at the University of Minnesota where his brother Todd was a Gopher from 1985 to 1989.  Earning WCHA Second Team All-Star honors on defense in 1992 and in 1993, Richards would join the US National Team at the 1993 World Championships at the end of his senior year.  Drafted by the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League in the ninth round (169th overall) of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, Richards played only three games in the NHL for the Dallas Stars .  On July 26, 1996, Richards became the second player ever to sign with the Grand Rapids Griffins, then of the International Hockey League, now of the American Hockey League.  Richards played in each of the team's first ten seasons and became team captain in 2001.  He holds the record for most career games as a Griffin with 655.  Richards's number 24 was retired by the Griffins upon his retirement, becoming the first number retired by the club .  For a time he was the hockey director at The Edge Ice Arena in Holland, Michigan.  He resides in Grand Rapids, MI and has 2 daughters and one son, Ellie, Melissa and Riley. Neal LaMoy Broten (born November 29, 1959) is a retired American professional ice hockey player.  A member of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980, Broten was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000 having appeared in 1,099 NHL regular season games from 1981 to 1997 with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings.  He is the older brother of Aaron and Paul Broten. The 1994–95 Dallas Stars season was the 28th season in franchise history and the second in Dallas, Texas.  Injuries to forward Mike Modano caused him to miss 18 games, more than a third of the 48-game regular season, and finished with 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists).  As a result the Stars didn't have the same offensive power they had had in 1993-94, when Modano scored a career-high 50 goals and relied on Dave Gagner to pick up the slack, which he did, leading the team in goals, assists and points.  Despite finishing the season on a 4-game losing streak for a 17-23-8 record, Dallas still scored more goals (136) than they allowed (135). Jere Kalervo Lehtinen (born June 24, 1973) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward.  A right winger, he was drafted in the third round, 88th overall, in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars.  Lehtinen played his entire 15-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the North Stars/Dallas Stars organization.  A two-way forward, Lehtinen is perhaps best known for his defensive responsibilities, for which he won the Frank J. Selke Trophy three times as the NHL's top defensive forward.  After his retirement, he has served as the general manager of the Finnish national ice hockey team. Jarkko Varvio (April 28, 1972 in Tampere, Finland) is a retired Finnish ice hockey player who had a very brief stint in the NHL.  Varvio was drafted by Minnesota North Stars in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft.  He was the top scorer at the 1992 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships in Czechoslovakia.  However, his only two active seasons in the NHL were in 1993-94 and 1994-95 with the Dallas Stars.  In 13 career games, he notched three goals, four assists (for seven points), and had four penalty minutes.  Jarkko scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game, which was also the first game Dallas Stars played as the Stars since leaving Minnesota.  After his time with the Stars Varvio bounced around Europe playing in various leagues.  Varvio last played for Ravensburg EV in Germany's GerObL before retiring in 2005. The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993.  The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, and the team's colors for most of its history were green, yellow, gold and white.  The North Stars played 2,062 regular season games and made the NHL playoffs 17 times, including two Stanley Cup Finals appearances.  In the fall of 1993, the franchise moved to Dallas, Texas, and is now known as the Dallas Stars. Michael Thomas Modano Jr. ( ; born June 7, 1970) is a retired American professional ice hockey player, who played primarily for the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise.  He is the all-time goal-scoring and points leader amongst American-born players in the NHL, as well as the last active player in the NHL who played for the North Stars when the team was in Minnesota.  Modano was drafted first overall by the North Stars in 1988, and after the team moved to Texas he helped the Stars win the Stanley Cup in 1999.  Modano played his final NHL season with his hometown team, the Detroit Red Wings.  Modano is considered one of the most influential figures in popularizing hockey in Texas and the southern United States.  Modano was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 17, 2014.  In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. Gary Allan "Gubbio" Gambucci (born September 22, 1946 in Hibbing, Minnesota) is a retired American ice hockey forward who appeared in a total of 51 National Hockey League regular season games with the Minnesota North Stars in 1971–74.  Before turning professional, Gambucci excelled as a scorer for the United States national team at the 1969, 1970 and 1971 Ice Hockey World Championships as well as the University of Minnesota men's hockey team.  Gambucci was signed as a free agent by the Montreal Canadiens in the spring of 1971 after scoring seven goals in ten games for Team USA at the 1971 world championships in Bern (he was also elected to the tournament all star team at the world championship "Pool B" qualifying tournament in 1970).  The Canadiens immediately traded him and Bob Paradise to the North Stars for cash.  However, Gambucci failed to become a regular in Minnesota and left the NHL for the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the rival World Hockey Association following the 1973–74 season.  Gambucci retired from professional hockey in 1976 after playing 112 WHA regular season games for the Fighting Saints as well as representing the United States at the 1976 Ice Hockey World Championships tournament in Katowice. Brad Donald Palmer (born September 14, 1961 in Duncan, British Columbia and raised in Lake Cowichan, British Columbia) is a retired professional ice hockey player.  He was selected by the Minnesota North Stars with the 16th pick in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft.  He played two seasons with the North Stars and then played one year with the Boston Bruins.  In 1981, WHL Memorial Cup Participant Victoria Cougars represented the West while in the same year season, the NHL Minnesota North Stars became finalists playing the powerful NY Islanders for the Stanley Cup.  The Cougars had a very strong team with the likes of Grant Fuhr, Barry Pederson, Paul Cyr, & Geoff Courtnall to name a few, but came up short at the tournament as a number of these players including Brad Palmer had been brought up their respective NHL club for the playoff run.  Although, the North Stars were without question the underdogs their play and lineup of youngsters knocked off the mighty Montreal Canadiens in the semi-finals.  Previous, to that season the rookie record for goals scored in the playoffs was 6.  Dino Ciccarelli finished the dramatic Stanley Cup run with 14, while Brad Palmer scored 8 goals.
Answer: Mike Modano