USA Today article
June 16, 1998
by Kevin Allen

Only one Detroit Red Wings player would lampoon Steve Yzerman’s leadership mystique, and that’s Yzerman himself.

Asked he what he does in his role as the NHL’s longest-serving captain, Yzerman says with a smirk, “To be honest with you, very
little, in my opinion.”

That opinion isn’t shared in any other corner at the Stanley Cup Finals. If Detroit wins the Stanley Cup, Yzerman, the postseason
scoring leader, is the overwhelming favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

Detroit center Kris Draper says there’s “no doubt” Yzerman will win the award. “He’s among our best players every night,” Draper
says.

If Yzerman wins the award, it’s not as if he has to re-arrange his trophy case.

Although he’s considered a sure Hall of Famer and once scored 155 points in a season, Yzerman surprisingly has never won a major
NHL trophy — never even been a first- or second-team All-Star.

That’s the price he paid for being one of the league’s top centers in an era when Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were garnering
the glory. Before he won the Stanley Cup last season, the only other individual glory was the Lester Pearson Award in 1989 as
the players’ choice for MVP.

What Yzerman has won through the years is respect. Detroit defenseman Slava Fetisov, a captain in Russia for eight years, calls him a “great leader.” Considering Fetisov’s stature in international hockey, that’s the equivalent of having Michael Jordan call another basketball player great.

“When I came here, there were a lot of rumors of no leadership in the dressing room,” Fetisov says. “I never saw any of that.
Steve Yzerman is a special player. I have been a captain for eight years, and he is a real captain. He leads by example.”

It’s hard not to give your best in Detroit when the captain is diving in front of slap shots and trading slashes with the opponent’s
nastiest competitors.

“He’s a very determined player,” coach Scotty Bowman says. “You sort of have to tell him not to practice. He feels obligated to
practice. He likes to practice.”

Those who thought Yzerman wasn’t a strong leader presumably were basing that on the one thing Yzerman lacked before last season: a championship. That generalization never sat well with Yzerman.

“I don’t think you have to win a championship to be labeled a winner or have what it takes to win in team sports,” Yzerman
says. “I happened to be fortunate enough to be in the right place last year.”

Yzerman is a confident player on the ice, but talking about himself makes him squirm.

He won’t even acknowledge he is Detroit’s leader. “Scotty is the leader of our team,” Yzerman says. “We respond
to him and we know what we’re supposed to do.”

If Yzerman wins the Conn Smythe, it will be viewed by many as a cumulative award as much as it for this year’s playoffs. His
teammates say he has been deserving of some trophy for a long time.