Bleacher Report has a cute Twas the Night Before Christmas story, NHL style, and Yzerman snuck in there.

More rapid then Crosby the players they came, Gare whistled and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now Savard! now, Trottier! now, Gretzky and Goulet! On, Bossy! on, Yzerman! on, Stastny and you too Messier!

To the arena, we will once again score! and these 1-0 games will happen no more!”

The Sporting News article
November 6, 1989
by Keith Gave

Ten games into the 1989-90 season, Steve Yzerman was worried that he wasn’t carrying his weight with the Detroit Red Wings after the club made him the third millionaire in the history of the National Hockey League. But that’s typical of Yzerman, the soft-spoken captain of the Red Wings who says little but carries a very big stick.

“I don’t think I’ve played all that well yet,” Yzerman said. “I’m trying hard. I just don’t think it’s there yet. I’ve missed a lot of good scoring chances. Too many.

“I’ve never really been a good starter. Usually, it takes about 10 games or so to find a groove. Statistically, I’m all right, I guess, but I’m looking to get a lot better and stronger.”

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The Sporting News article
March 27, 1989
by [unknown]

Steve Yzerman doesn’t have a 99 or a 66 on the back of his sweater, but the numbers he’s put on the scoreboard have been every bit as imposing as the ones registered by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. In fact, there’s a growing number of people who think Yzerman just might be the most valuable player in the National Hockey League.

“He’s a complete player because he can do it all,” Vancouver Coach Bob McCammon said after Yzerman, 23, scored one goal and assisted on another in leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 2-2 tie against the Canucks on March 14.

“He’s got his team in first place with all the adversities they’ve suffered through. He the MVP of the league in my opinion. He doesn’t seem to play many bad shifts.”

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Sports Illustrated article
Feb 8, 1988
by Austin Murphy

HEADING TOWARD THE DRESSING room after a recent practice at Joe Louis Arena, the Detroit Red Wings’ Steve Yzerman passed a gaggle of young admirers. One of them, a skinny, blonde, buck-toothed girl, looked to be about nine. Yzerman held his stick out to her and asked, ”Want this?”

She froze. Of course she wanted the All-Star center’s stick. But wouldn’t he be smiling if he wanted her to take it? ”Take it!” hissed her friend. ”Take it!” Finally, as if in a trance, she did, with both hands. Afterward, Yzerman, a genuinely nice fellow who just happens to leave his game face on even when there’s no game, wondered aloud if he had upset her.

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The New York Times article
January 13, 1988
by Joe LaPointe

When he discusses the notable contributions of Steve Yzerman to the Detroit Red Wings this season, Jacques Demers, the coach, acknowledges them in the context of the split personality of professional hockey.

On one side, Demers sees and extols the grace of Yzerman’s game: his slap, wrist and backhand shots, his intensity, his vision of the ice, his willingness to pass to teammates and his ability to accelerate and weave between brawny defensemen for another thrust toward the net.

On the other side, Demers sees the more base aspect of the sport: the need to protect Yzerman (pronounced EYE-zer-man) from hockey ruffians so he can do artistic and subtle things.

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Detroit Free Press interview
Nov. 8, 1983

Steve Yzerman is so young, he remembers scoring his first goal as if he scored it yesterday. Actually, he got it about 13 years ago, while playing his first season of organized hockey in western Canada. It was not a pretty sight.

“I couldn’t even stand up (on skates),” he said. “I had fallen down in front of the net. Their guy banked it off one of their guys’ skates and into the net. I was lying there, and I got credit for it.”

How times have changed. Yzerman (pronounced EYE-zer-man), the Red Wings’ first-round pick (fourth overall) in last summer’s amateur draft, has begun his rookie season in superb fashion. He is quick, smart and sometimes sensational on the ice. With eight goals and eight assists, he ranks first among rookie scorers.

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Detroit Free Press interview
November 8, 1983
by Bill McGraw

Steve Yzerman is so young, he remembers scoring his first goal as if he scored it yesterday. Actually, he got it about 13 years ago, while playing his first season of organized hockey in western Canada. It was not a pretty sight.

“I couldn’t even stand up (on skates),” he said. “I had fallen down in front of the net. Their guy banked it off one of their guys’ skates and into the net. I was lying there, and I got credit for it.”

How times have changed. Yzerman (pronounced EYE-zer-man), the Red Wings’ first-round pick (fourth overall) in last summer’s amateur draft, has begun his rookie season in superb fashion. He is quick, smart and sometimes sensational on the ice. With eight goals and eight assists, he ranks first among rookie scorers.

Read the rest of this entry »