NHLPA.com article
July 14, 2006

“We’ve been through a lot together. There’s no place to play that you get this kind of treatment, respect and adulation.”
– Steve Yzerman

When a player that has recorded nearly 1,800 points announces his retirement, you would expect a collective cheer from his rivals. Not so when the player in question happens to be Steve Yzerman.

For three decades, he made even the best in business look like amateurs, scoring goals, setting them up, or preventing them in every conceivable fashion.

So why, some 22 seasons after his National Hockey League career began, are fellow players sad to see Yzerman hang up his skates?

Because few NHLers in the history of the game are as beloved as the class act from Cranbrook, British Columbia.

Ranked by the NHL Scouting Bureau as the No. 3 overall prospect in the 1983 Entry Draft, Yzerman had already given the hockey world a glimpse of what was to come.

He heightened his reputation with his performance on Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in 1983, winning a bronze medal.

In his final year with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League, the 5’11”, 175-pounder, scored 42 goals and totaled 91 points in only 56 games.

It was that offensive ability that made the fourth overall pick in the 1983 Entry Draft a shoo-in for success at hockey’s highest level. It also made Yzerman a fan favourite in Detroit even before he skated in his first NHL game.

And when he did finally make his debut, Yzerman didn’t disappoint, as he contributed a goal and an assist in a 6-6 tie against the Winnipeg Jets.

“I’ve wanted to be in the NHL since I was a little kid,” he said. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

In his first campaign, he set Detroit records for goals by a rookie with 39 and for points with 87. He also competed in the All-Star Game, making him the youngest player ever to wear an All-Star jersey.

From that point, things only got better for the centreman, who was runner-up to backstopper Tom Barrasso in voting for the 1984 Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

A sure sign of Yzerman’s importance to the Red Wings franchise came on October 15, 1985, the day he signed a seven-year contract with the Original Six team, representing the longest contract ever signed by a Detroit player.

In 1986, he was given the honour of wearing the ‘C’ for Detroit, making him, at age 21, the youngest player to receive such recognition.

Between the 1987 and 1993 seasons, Yzerman’s offensive totals never dipped below 100 points, and on five occasions, he netted 50 goals or more. He also set all-time records for Detroit when he tallied 65 goals, 90 assists and 155 points in 1988-89, a year in which he finished third in the league scoring race behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

One of the greatest individual achievements in his career came in 1989, when Yzerman was voted as the recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award, which recognized him as the most outstanding player that season as chosen by his fellow NHLPA members.

There were numerous other outstanding moments in his brilliant career, including back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in 1997 and 1998, along with another championship in 2002.

Yzerman, who persevered through several injuries throughout his career, some quite serious, was also a Conn Smythe winner in 1998, a Frank Selke Award winner in 2000 and a Bill Masterton Trophy winner in 2003.

A 10-time All-Star, Yzerman, who will have his No. 19 sweater retired by Detroit in the near future, wasn’t only a professional on the ice. His efforts within the community won him widespread praise, as he worked alongside several worthwhile causes throughout the years.

It was that unselfishness both on and off the ice that won him the hearts of hockey fans all over the world.

And while it was a difficult decision to call it a career, Yzerman, who will stay on with the Red Wings in an unspecified role, doesn’t have many regrets.

“I’ve enjoyed my career immensely here in Detroit,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot together. There’s no place to play that you get this kind of treatment, respect and adulation.”

Acknowledgements of Yzerman’s contributions are by no means over.

His time on the ice may have come to a close, but there is another significant hockey moment to come in three years time.

That’s the year Stephen Gregory Yzerman will find his name alongside hockey’s greatest when he’s inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame after the three-year waiting period expires in 2009.

“I’ve had a wonderful career and I really will miss it.”