NHL.com article
January 3, 2007
by John McGourty
Link to Article

They retired Steve Yzerman’s No. 19 at Joe Louis Arena Tuesday night, a fitting tribute to the captain of the Detroit Red Wings’ three Stanley Cup championship teams from 1997, 1998 and 2002.

They remembered the three championships, Yzerman’s 692 goals and 1,063 assists in 1,514 NHL games. They remembered his plus-202 career statistic and his 70 goals and 115 assists for 185 points in 196 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Also remembered was Yzerman’s five seasons in which he scored 50 or more goals and his six-straight seasons with 100 or more points. Those with long memories recalled Yzerman leading Canadian Junior A hockey in assists while with the Nepean Raiders and his 91-point season with the 1982-83 Peterborough Petes. That led to Detroit making Yzerman the fourth-overall pick in the 1983 Entry Draft.

The fans remembered Yzerman for his runner-up effort, behind Buffalo goalie Tom Barrasso, for the 1984 Calder Memorial Trophy when Yzerman had 39 goals and 48 assists as a rookie. They remembered then-coach Jacques Demers making Yzerman the youngest captain in Red Wings’ history in 1986. They remembered him winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 1998 Stanley Cup.

They remembered how Yzerman played through knee and leg injuries and how he suffered an eye injury in trying to bring another Stanley Cup to Hockeytown.

They pretended they forgot how they wanted him traded in the early 1990s after he raised their hopes with his brilliance and scoring statistics, yet the team still couldn’t win.

Former Columbus Blue Jackets coach Gerard “Turk” Gallant was Yzerman’s linemate in the late 1980s, when Yzerman set still-standing Red Wings’ scoring records. Gallant was a useful forward for Detroit until Demers put him on a line with Yzerman and Paul MacLean. Then he became an All-Star. Gallant broke into the NHL in 1984, putting up six goals and 12 assists in 32 games and averaged 72 games and 56 points over his eight seasons in Detroit.

But the best years were with Yzerman. Gallant was named a Second Team NHL All-Star after the 1988-89 season, when he had 39 goals and 54 assists for his career-high 93 points. MacLean had 36 goals and 35 assists to post his sixth NHL season with 70 or more points.

Yzerman set team records that season with 65 goals, 90 assists and 155 points. The line put up 140 goals and 319 assists, breaking the Red Wings’ single-season scoring record set by the famed “Production Line” of Howe, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay.

Yzerman also set team records that season when he scored in 28-consecutive games, posting 29 goals and 36 assists for 65 points. Yzerman’s 388 shots on goal that season are still a team record. NHL players determined he was the best player in the League that season when they voted him the Lester B. Pearson Trophy.

Gallant is still amazed that he once played on the most productive line in Detroit Red Wings’ history. Gallant will go down in Red Wings’ history as a member of the team’s most prolific line.

“Obviously, Steve Yzerman’s 155 points were a big chunk of it right there,” Gallant told NHL.com. “We worked very well as a line because we were three different types of hockey players. Steve was a superstar. Paul could put the puck in the net. He was a big, strong, physical player who could take up space in front the net. I was a two-way player who got garbage goals and rebounds from those two guys.”

Stanley Cup fever ran high that year in Detroit, which had not won since 1955. The Red Wings won the Norris Division by two points over the St. Louis Blues, 10 points over the Minnesota North Stars and 14 points in front of the Chicago Blackhawks.

But hopes were quickly dashed as the Blackhawks won three-straight games in the opening round of the playoffs and four of six to eliminate the Red Wings.

“Our team had been playing well for a couple years and at that time I thought we were starting to be an elite team,” Gallant recalled. “We were all healthy that year, which really helped. We won the Norris Division, but lost in the first round to the Chicago Blackhawks. Paul got traded to St. Louis with Adam Oates and we failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs the next season.”

When the team faltered again, Demers was fired. Yzerman and Gallant played together only rarely thereafter. Although he played four more NHL seasons, the thrill was gone for Gallant, the best years behind him.

Unfortunately, that was the high-water mark for the Detroit lineup that preceded the championship teams. The Red Wings lost both the 1987 and 1988 Campbell Conference Finals to the Edmonton Oilers and were thought to be at their best in 1989. The Red Wings rebuilt during the early 1990s.

Gallant, who came up in 1984, played nine years with the Red Wings and parts of two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He retired in 1996 after posting 211 goals and 269 assists for 480 points in 615 NHL games.

The incredible scoring season remains one of his favorite hockey memories, but he treasures even more the enduring friendships with Yzerman and MacLean, now a Red Wings assistant coach. He said one key to their success was that they didn’t realize they were chasing records until late in the season.

“We really never talked about it,” Gallant said. “With about three or four games to play that season, we read where we were close to the record. As individuals and as a line, we had never talked about it. I think we needed six or seven points with six games to go. Hey, games used to average seven goals and we were on the power play!

“It’s really something exciting, when I look back on it. Obviously, we played more games that season than the Production Line had played in the early 1950s. But Detroit’s history is unbelievable and that line of Howe, Abel and Lindsay was one of the best all-time in the NHL. Lindsay mentioned breaking the record to us once and congratulated us.”

Yzerman, MacLean and Gallant’s timing was bad — they got good in the era of the amazing Edmonton Oilers and fell in 1989 to an emerging Western power in the Blackhawks.

“The Red Wings were very disappointed with losing that series. We made deals to get us more experience,” Gallant said. “I was very disappointed to see Paul leave. When I first got to Detroit, we were an old hockey team, with a lot of good players near the end of their careers.

“But in two drafts, we put seven players into the lineup. Edmonton had Wayne Gretzky and all the top horses and we lost the Conference Finals twice. You could see our team getting better. I was disappointed to not be a part of the Stanley Cup champions in the late 1990s, but by then my career was over. I was very happy to see Steve Yzerman and a lot of other guys I knew on that team win the Stanley Cup. It was great.”