RedWingsWorld.com article
March 19, 2007
by Bob Duff

Steve Yzerman entered the arena and jaws dropped. Hurriedly, people fumbled through their belongings for pen and paper.

Yzerman was back in his element, even though his game uniform was unfamiliar. The No. 19 sweater with the “C” in the upper left corner was gone. A suit and tie are elements of Stevie Y’s new uniform.

A vice president in the Wings’ front office, Yzerman still spends much of his life at the rink, even if the task he performs in this new arena has required a complete readjustment in his thinking.

As a player, Yzerman was about winning. Success was the only development he sought.

These days, the success he seeks involves development. Where once the future was now, Yzerman’s new career is now built around the future of the Wings.

“I enjoy watching hockey,” he said. “The benefit of being in the Detroit area is that there’s a lot of hockey being played and not just the Red Wings. You have Canadian junior hockey, U.S. college hockey. I guess it is work, but it’s also a lot of fun.”

As he sits alongside Detroit general manager Ken Holland and assistant GM Jim Nill on game nights, Yzerman’s own game is evolving into a different view and a dramatic change in viewpoint.

“I watch now and obviously the win and the loss still matters, but I watch with a purpose,” Yzerman explained. “I’m watching the players very closely and I’m watching the opposition very closely, trying to get a real good handle on players. I’m really trying to get something out of watching the game. It’s been a great transition.”

Detroit’s top draft pick in 1983, Yzerman stepped on the ice for the Wings and was an immediate impact player. He captained the team to three Stanley Cup titles, won Selke, Pearson and Conn Smythe trophies finished among the NHL’s all-time scoring leaders and established a reputation as one the game’s greatest leaders.
He anticipates there being more of a learning curve as an executive.

“I’ve really enjoyed just watching Kenny deal with different situations, whether it be a contract negotiation, or a potential trade,” Yzerman said. “It’s very interesting to me just watching him manage the team.

“Observing Kenny’s role, which is kind of the position I’m in, you’re looking more at a bigger picture. How are we going to be in April? How are we going to do over the course of a season? That’s how Kenny is thinking, not so much on a day-to-day basis. He wants to win every night, but he manages the team based around a lot of factors, not just winning the next game. A player or a coach is more worried about winning tonight.”

Perhaps the most amazing development in Yzerman’s transition to the front office after more than two decades of being front-and-center as not only the team’s best player, but also its most popular figure, is that Yzerman has found he doesn’t miss the day-to-day regimen of playing as much as he’d anticipated.

He’s at ease with his choice to exit the playing surface and is certain the timing was right.

“I feel comfortable just sitting and watching practice,” Yzerman said. “I feel pretty comfortable in the decision to retire.”

No longer occupying a locker stall in the Red Wings’ dressing room, Yzerman’s long-foreboding presence inside that room is rarely felt. Other than his image, which hangs among photos of legendary Detroit players that encircle the room, Yzerman is seldom there.

“I haven’t really gone out of my way one way or another (to be in the room),” he said. “If I have a reason to go down to the locker-room, I do, whether it’s to grab a drink or to say, ?Hi’ to someone.

“The players are busy getting ready to practice or play. You really have to accept the fact that you’re no longer a player and stop trying to act like a player.”

The camaraderie Yzerman once shared with the players is now supplied by his new front office compatriots.

“With Kenny and Jim and the guys in the office, I still feel somewhat of that atmosphere, only with a different group of people,” Yzerman said. “It’s a lot of fun on a day-to-day basis to be around 20 other guys. It prolongs your childhood, really. I do miss that, but it was time to move on.”

He’s traded in that locker room stall for a Joe Louis Arena office, although it would be inaccurate to suggest Yzerman maintains banker’s hours.
He doesn’t exactly punch a clock.

“If there is (a clock), I haven’t been using it,” he said. “My schedule’s flexible. Somewhere between 8 (a.m.) and 1 o’clock, I roll in.

“Some days, there’s not a whole lot going on. I try not to sit there for the sake of being there. Some days, there’s little things to do. I try to stay on top of what’s going on in hockey, not just in the NHL, but also our draft picks, the prospects we have playing at all levels of the game. There’s always scouting reports coming in. That keeps me occupied.”

Away from the rink, Yzerman is also discovering that there is life after hockey.
“I’ve seen some college football games, I was able to watch the Tigers’ World Series run and attend a few of those games, which was really exciting and enjoyable,” Yzerman said.

His new-found free time even allows Yzerman the opportunity to aid his wife, Lisa, by serving as Mr. Mom around the house and assisting with the shuttling of their three daughters to and from activities, which include horseback riding and soccer games.

“I’m helping out with breakfast, driving here and there,” he said. “You know, pick up and drop off. The usual kind of stuff.”

With so much on the go, he’s had little time to think about not playing and admitted he’s only donned the skates once since his July 3 retirement.

“I had them on during a brief clinic, a little promotional thing,” Yzerman said. “This year, I think I’m just going to take a break. I’m kind of busy watching hockey and when I’m not watching hockey, I’m doing stuff with my kids. I really don’t have any desire to skate right now. That’s how I feel. I just retired and don’t have any interest. Three or four nights a week I’m either at one of our games or watching it on TV. I don’t really have any desire to play.”

He’s getting his exercise via alternative workouts, discovering that some of the old aches and pains associated with a life in hockey are beginning to dissipate.

“I used to struggle with tendonitis a lot in my shoulders, I think it was related to the neck injury I had,” said Yzerman of the injury that required surgery in 1994. “The tendonitis is gone, but my knee is always going to be an issue. But for what I do now — riding a stationary bike, doing a general workout, it’s not bad.”

No longer an athlete, Yzerman is discovering like all of us that it’s not that easy to maintain a regular workout regiment.

“That’s been a struggle, I find,” he admitted. “I think everybody goes through that. You get into a routine and it isn’t a high priority and by the end of the day, it’s like, ?I’ll try again tomorrow.’ I think it’s really important to stay active, but I’ve seen how easy it is to push it to the back burner.”

On the front burner is the future of his hockey club. Yzerman attended a Michigan-Michigan State game in East Lansing to check-out Spartans forward Justin Abdelkader, a 2005 Wings draft pick. A trek to Windsor Arena — where he was surrounded by autograph seekers — was designed to get the skinny on Kingston forward Cory Emmerton, Detroit’s top choice in 2006.

“There’s always something to be watching,” Yzerman said. “We’re already starting to put together lists of potential guys for free agency next year and possible trade-deadline targets.”

The one aspect that scouting hasn’t be able to quell from Yzerman’s playing days is his need to compete. Whether it’s hockey, checkers or Monopoly, he’s there for one reason — to win.

“I don’t know that I’ve really filled that competitive void, other than being like all the fans and hoping that the team does well,” Yzerman said. “I try to look at it more from the point of view of projecting how our team is going to do over the course of the season rather than worry about individual games. What we can do to be successful? To fill that competitive void will be done over a period of time and not on a night-to-night basis.”

What he’s seen from the Wings on a nightly basis has mostly left a positive impression.

“I think there’s a lot of good things,” Yzerman said. “I’m generally impressed with the way the team has played, especially defensively. We’re keeping the shot totals consistently in the 20s and that’s very encouraging. Our defense is playing well. Our goaltending is solid. Offensively, we’re not generating a ton of goals, but I’m not too worried about that, because we’ve got enough guys who can score goals. We may not have anybody lead the league, we may not have a 50-goal scorer, but I’m not worried about that.

“Our team, historically, when we’ve done well in the last 10 years and won the Stanley Cup, we haven’t had anyone in the top 10 scorers. I expect the special teams to pick up and be more effective. That’s the only area of concern, but I think long-term, as we go through the year, we’ll be fine.”

Once the central figure in any Red Wings success story, Yzerman sizes up his current role with the big club as one where he’s more of an observer, offering points of view, but not being the one with the final say.

“Whether it’s players, fans, or media, we all have these ideas that, ?This is what the team should do,’ ” Yzerman said. “I throw ideas at Kenny all the time and he listens. Then he explains why some things are done and some are not done. It’s just not as easy as we all want it to be. Trying to get things done is not that simple, especially in the new system with the salary cap.”

Like the developing prospects he now studies on a daily basis, Yzerman views his position within the framework of the team as a work in progress.

“We’ve kind of left it at, ?Let’s just see where it goes for the time being,’ ” he said. “I’m pretty comfortable in what I’m doing right now. As much as I think I know, there’s a lot to be learned. Just by hanging around, keeping my ears open and watching what they do, even talking to the coaching staff to see what they do to prepare, I’ll discover more.

“I’m trying to learn the business, some of the things I don’t know about it and hopefully have some input in keeping the team strong as time goes on. One thing I’ve learned very quickly is people have to be allowed to do their jobs. I think it’s best that if Kenny (or coach) Mike (Babcock) or somebody wants to ask me something, that they ask me, as opposed to me barging in and saying, ?This is the way I think it should be.’

“I’m learning, so that whether it’s two, five years down the line or whatever, I’ll be better prepared to take on a more significant role. For the time being, I’m just going to let it evolve, see where I fit, find out what I like to do and what I’m comfortable with.”