USA Today article
February 25, 2003
by Kevin Allen

When Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman opted for an osteotomy to repair severe knee damage last summer doctors told him to set his goal at being able to carry his kids instead of an NHL team.

“I think a lot of people thought he would never play again,” Detroit coach Dave Lewis said. “He’s proved them wrong before, and now he’s back in the lineup. I never thought (he was finished). I know his character.”

Yzerman, 37, made that clear Monday when he played 13:17 in Detroit’s 5-4 win against the Los Angeles Kings. His return came almost seven months after he had a bone realignment procedure that is done primarily on older patients suffering from severe arthritis.

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Detroit Free Press column
February 25, 2003
by Mitch Albom

What they did to Steve Yzerman last summer, you wouldn’t wish on a prisoner. They cut his leg bone with a saw, then chiseled it until a path was opened. They wedged that path wider with a fork-like device, then inserted a steel plate, then tightened that plate with screws, then packed it with spare bone material. Then they woke him up.

They call this medicine.

“Osteotomy” is its official name, and if you’re lucky and you fully recover, you have less pain as you walk your grandkids to school. You are not supposed to resume an NHL career.

“We didn’t do it so Steve could return to playing hockey,” his surgeon, Dr. Peter Fowler, told the Free Press. “We did it so Steve could return to walking without pain.”

But what the good doctor may not understand — and what Red Wings fans know all too well — is this: If Yzerman walks, he walks to the rink. If he steps, he steps onto the ice.

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Washington Post article
February 22, 2003
by Jason La Canfora

Another grinding practice was winding down last week when Dave Lewis, coach of the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, handed his team over to its venerable team captain. Steve Yzerman, the heart of this organization for the last 20 years who is days away from completing an unprecedented return from knee-realignment surgery, could have let the club rest for the next night’s game, but opted for a session of sprints instead.

For 15 minutes, one of the NHL’s oldest teams sweated and panted as Yzerman and his tender right knee led them from end line to blueline to redline to blueline to end line. Yzerman’s presence on the ice was itself a medical wonder — some doctors advised him to retire last summer and spare his shredded knee further damage — and the mere sight of him spurred on his teammates. No one dared complain about the extra work, and the next night the Red Wings, who will face the Capitals at MCI Center tonight sans Yzerman, emerged from a slump with a 6-2 thrashing of Atlanta.

“We had already had a full practice but Stevie skated them hard and we ended up having pretty good success the next night,” Lewis said. “That’s just one little example of what Steve Yzerman means to this team. He demands and commands as much of his team as he commands and demands of himself. And Stevie has pretty high standards.”

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AmericaJR Online article
January 13, 2003

Steve Yzerman, captain of the Detroit Red Wings is ready for a comeback after his surgery on his knee.

He has been traveling with the team to Chicago and Colorado. Yzerman has begun to skate and practice with his team. The captain is planning on returning to the game soon.

On Aug. 2, 2002 he had an osteotomy which is a re-alignment procedure on his right knee. Yzerman admits, “The doctors said that generally people that go through an osteotomy feel better after six months, and February will be six month.” He adds, “I feel better and I’ve improved what I’m trying to do each week.”

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Associated Press article

Steve Yzerman is one small step closer to wearing a jersey and skates on game days rather than a sport coat and loafers.

The future Hall of Famer is on the road with the Detroit Red Wings for the first time since the defending Stanley Cup champions traveled to Carolina in June. He’s not healthy enough to play Wednesday in Chicago or Thursday in Colorado, but he wants to practice in and away from Hockeytown.

After having an osteotomy — a realignment procedure — on his right knee Aug. 2, Yzerman is eager to push himself in practice.

“The doctors said that generally people that go through an osteotomy feel better after six months, and February will be six months,” Yzerman said.

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Associated Press article

Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, using crutches as he recovers from knee surgery, says he won’t return to the NHL if he’s unable to overcome the intense pain from the injury.

Yzerman, 37, underwent knee surgery last Friday. The operation to correct the alignment of the right knee, performed by Dr. Peter Fowler of London, Ont., was said to be a success.

Yzerman chose the realignment procedure rather than reconstruction of the knee. He led the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup title despite the injury.

“The approach I have is, take the steps, do the rehab, see how it feels,” Yzerman told the Detroit News.

Yzerman acknowledged that it was possible he had played his last NHL game but remains committed to making a comeback.

“I’m concerned, but I’m not spending a lot of time worrying about it,” he said. “We did this with the idea of skating and not hurting any more, and there’s a chance that won’t happen. We really don’t know how I’m going to feel, but I’m not going to sit around and think negatively.”

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Press Release
August 4, 2002

Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman underwent a successful knee osteotomy today. The procedure was performed by Dr. Peter Fowler of London, Ontario and observed by Red Wings team physician Dr. David Collon.

An osteotomy is a procedure that corrects the alignment of the knee, thus transferring pressure to the proper area. Following the procedure, Dr. Collon described the surgery as “totally successful” and noted that the examination of the knee during the procedure confirmed that the osteotomy was definitely the required procedure.

Yzerman is expected to return to the Wings’ lineup during a window of late December to early February.

“We’re very pleased with the result of Steve’s surgery,” said Detroit General Manager Ken Holland. “We’re optimistic that he will return to the lineup sometime in the middle of the 2002-03 season.”

The name of the hospital has not been released as the Yzerman family requests that media and fans respect their privacy during the initial recovery and rehabilitation process.

London Free Press article
August 3, 2002
by Kathy Rumleski

Steve Yzerman hopes to be back playing hockey in three to six months but he also knows “not to expect the world.”

Most important to the longest-serving captain in NHL history is being able to play with his kids.

World-renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Peter Fowler of London performed a 2*-hour osteotomy yesterday on the Detroit Red Wings’ star centre.

Yzerman had the surgery, which corrects the bone alignment of the knee, transferring pressure to the proper area, at the University campus of the London Health Sciences Centre. He is expected to remain there only a day.

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May 20, 2002
by Daniel G. Habib

Ten minutes into Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series last Thursday, Blues captain Chris Pronger, a 6′6″, 230-pound Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, lined up Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, a perennial All-Star who stands 5′11″, 185. Yzerman, protecting his chronically sore right knee, quickly dumped the puck off the boards into the St. Louis zone and turned around, sticking out his rear end and catching Pronger in the midsection. Pronger flew into the air and fell hard, tearing the ACL in his right knee. Shortly afterward Detroit erased a 1-0 deficit and went on to a 4-3 victory that gave the Red Wings a three-games-to-one series lead. Two days later they whipped St. Louis 4-0 and advanced to the conference finals for the third time in six seasons.

Yzerman, 37, missed 21 of the Wings’ 22 regular-season games after the Olympic break because of his knee, but he has shown why he still wears the C. Playing more than 20 minutes per playoff game, Yzerman had five goals and 13 points to tie for the team lead in each category and also had won 62.6% of his postseason face-offs. He did all that despite an injury that forces him to skip most practices and morning skates and almost comically limits his mobility. After falling down he often uses his stick blade as a crutch to push himself up off the ice. “The way he has been playing, you wouldn’t know there’s something wrong with him,” says winger Darren McCarty.

Yzerman has been especially effective at critical times. After the Red Wings fell behind the Canucks two games to none with their first-round series moving to Vancouver, the usually reticent Yzerman made a brief dressing-room speech to encourage his team and then scored a wraparound goal to open the scoring in a game Detroit won 3-1. Despite his slight build and nagging injury, Yzerman doesn’t hesitate to initiate contact (ask 6′4″, 235-pound Vancouver winger Todd Bertuzzi, whom Yzerman nailed several times in the first round) or sacrifice his body (ask Blues defenseman Al MacInnis, whose power-play slap shot Yzerman blocked in Game 2). “He’s an amazing defensive player as well,” says Red Wings associate coach Barry Smith. “In his zone he’s absolutely solid. If the winger’s down low, he takes the point. He goes down to block shots. He battles as hard as anybody I’ve seen. He’s played like a lion.”

When asked how his knee was holding up after Detroit had eliminated St. Louis last Saturday, Yzerman smiled and said, “I get hit a bunch, but that’s the way it’s going to be. It’s fine.” Behind him, in his dressing stall, was evidence to the contrary: his thick black knee brace and a garbage pail that held several feet of discarded athletic tape.

Canadian Press article
April 2002
by Ron Sudlow

Even the Vancouver Canucks can’t help but admire the inspiring play of Steve Yzerman.

While hampered by a sore right knee that’s encased in a brace, Yzerman has scored two power-play goals and set up three other scores to lead the Detroit Red Wings in their Stanley Cup playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks. That put the 37-year-old veteran at the top of NHL playoff scoring leaders going into Monday night’s games.

While Detroit trails the series 2-1, if the Wings need any inspiration to even the best-of-seven series in Tuesday night’s Game 4, they only have to look to their captain.

The Canucks are also impressed by Yzerman after arthroscopic surgery on the knee allowed him to return just before the Olympics but didn’t stop the pain.

“We all respect the way he plays the game and to play on one leg is very impressive,” said Vancouver captain Markus Naslund who wants to follow that example.

“I’ve got to pick my game up and I’m the first one to admit that. I’m not pleased with the way I’ve played the first three games and it’s time to turn it up.

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