The Red Wings are now creating a podcast and the first participant was none other than former captain Steve Yzerman. You can download the MP3 file here or you can just click on the play button below to listen to the 15 minute or so long interview.

The Detroit Free Press recently interviewed former Detroit Red Wings player Brendan Shanahan (currently of the NY Rangers). Two of the questions and corresponding answers mentioned Steve Yzerman.

Q: Now that you’re rubbing elbows with fashionistas, who was the best-dressed Wing while you were in Detroit?

A: “I’ll give it to the Captain, but I’ll have to give his wife credit because she shops for him.”

Q: Whom among the Wings do you keep in touch with?

A: “It’s tough as teammates in the off-season with schedules and geography and families. But I keep in touch with Yzerman, and I hung out with Nick Lidstrom at the All-Star Game. Kris Draper and I will exchange e-mail every now and then. When Dan Cleary scores a goal, I usually get a message from him. Really, almost all of the guys I played with over the years will send little messages throughout the year, as I do to them. Text messaging has become an accepted part of my life.”

During the 2nd intermission of the Sweden-Slovakia game in the WJC, Steve Yzerman was interviewed by SVT. You can watch the 8 minute interview online here. The interview is at the 1 hour and 41 minute mark and lasts about 8 minutes. Clicking on fullskärm to the bottom right of the video feed will make it a full screen.

Thanks to LGW forum reader redwingrulez19 for the link.

USA Today transcript for the Yzerman interview with Jim Rome on May 7, 2006.

Steve Yzerman on the Jim Rome Show 4/7: Rough transcript
Steve Yzerman appeared on the Jim Rome show this afternoon on WDFN 1130 AM.

I’ve paraphrased as the two gentlemen talked rather quickly. Pleasantries were exchanged at the beginning and end of the interview. Yzerman and Rome asked one another how they were doing, and got on with it:

Rome says: The last time we talked about how you missed 17 games this season, and now you’ve got 5 goals and 7 assists in the last 12 games. How do you feel coming down the stretch?

Yzerman: Prior to the Olympic break I felt that I was coming around things were slowing down on the ice–and I could see things develop a little faster–and after the break, I felt a lot better, but I had the opportunity, in practice and games, to work on my game, and get sharp, and I hope that I can be a productive player in the playoffs.

Rome asks: You seem to have gotten tougher over the years. As you’ve gone through your career, do you feel that you’ve become a tougher athlete?

Yzerman: I don’t think so, I haven’t necessarily gotten tougher, but over my career I’ve played with some pretty darn good veteran players, and as their careers went on, they took better and better care of themselves, in terms of conditioning, and diet, and that helped extend their careers, but they always put team success first. With Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Lidstrom in the lineup, there’s a lot of depth, and good young players, so I don’t feel like I have to carry the load, and I feel that I’m more effective in a supporting role at this point in my career.

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2004 Yzerman interview with Visit Detroit Magazine

Few men are as synonymous with a city as Steve Yzerman is with Detroit. He arrived in metro Detroit from Canada in 1983, joining a franchise long removed from glory, and has been the team’s captain since 1986. Since then, he has stood at the forefront as the team has come to represent the very finest metro Detroit has to offer. The Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in 42 years when they claimed the championship in 1997, and went on to win it again in 1998 and 2002. (The Wings have celebrated at total of 10 Stanley Cup victories over the years.)

Like the city that is known world wide by a simple shorthand moniker, “The Motor City” (and sometimes “Hockeytown”), Yzerman, 38, is known around Detroit simply by his nickname, “Stevie.” Wanting to learn a bit more about this somewhat private but still fascinating captain of the Red Wings, we sat down with him to find out what he likes about both the area and playing for perhaps the most – respected team in hockey.

Visit Detroit: What would you tell a player who is considering joining the Red Wings?

Yzerman: I’d tell him the same thing I tell a new guy whenever he comes in: This is a great area to live. There are excellent schools, and it’s especially a great area to live if you have children who are into sports. The minor hockey community here is as good as anywhere. I always use the example of Chris Chelios – he and his family came here from Chicago, and his kids are very active in sports and they really enjoy it here.

Visit Detrot: Where did you go after the Wings won the Stanley Cup?

Yzerman: We’ve won twice at home and we’ve gone to different places. In ’97, we went to Big Daddy’s Parthenon in West Bloomfield and had a great time. The last time around, in 2002, we went to Sangria in Royal Oak.

Visit Detroit: How has Detroit changed for the better since you first moved to the area?

Yzerman: I don’t know that it’s dramatically changed. The Tigers have a new ballpark (Comerica Park), and the Lions are back downtown again in a new stadium (For Field), so we’re really starting to see downtown come back, and I’m hoping we’ll see it pick up even more. To me, the most amazing thing is how the suburbs keep growing, keep stretching out even farther.

Visit Detroit: Do you live in the metro area year round? What do you like about your community?

Yzerman: I have a home on a lake in Ontario, Canada, so I spend quite a bit of time there during summer. The rest of the year, I live in Bloomfield Hills. I love it because it’s real quiet, almost like a small town. It’s close to the golf course I like to play, which is nice. It’s just a very quiet area, and I can get anywhere I need to go in a short amount of time without any major traffic tie-ups, and the kids go to school right around the corner, so it’s great.

Visit Detroit: When you have visitors from out of town, where do you take them?

Yzerman: My wife takes them shopping at the Somerset Collection in Troy. Depending on what season it is, I try to take people to a sporting event – either a Pistons game at the Palace, a Lions game or a Tigers game. I’m really into sporting events, and I try to see as many as possible live.

Visit Detroit: Where is your favorite place to watch sports?

Yzerman: In Detroit, I really like all the new stadiums, and I still consider the Palace relatively new. They’ve all done a really nice job. I went to my first ever college game last year in East Lansing, to Spartan Stadium. That was a great experience. In the future I plan on spending a lot more time at college games – usually during the season, if we’ve had a Saturday off in the fall, I’ve been to lazy to go anywhere and I’ll just watch the games on TV. But I definitely want to go the Big House (Michigan Stadium) in Ann Arbor at some point; I’ve heard that’s a great place for atmosphere.

Visit Detroit: What do you think makes Detroit such a great sports town?

Yzerman: I think the people in Detroit are hardworking people who not only are fans of sports, but also play a lot of sports. Any sport here does well, - golf, college basketball, auto racing – all are supported well, and I think it’s because people are active and involved themselves.

Visit Detroit: Besides the Wings, do you have a favorite local team?

Yzerman: I like all sports. The majority of television that I watch is sporting events. Pretty much ever since I moved here, I like to see how the Tigers, Lions and Pistons are doing. I follow them regardless of winning and losing, just to see what’s happening.

Visit Detroit: What is your favorite restaurant?

Yzerman: I have at least four or five, and I can’t really say one more than the other. We go out to eat a lot, and there are a lot of great restaurants in the area. I like Andiamo’s on Telegraph at Maple (15 Mile) a lot for Italian.

Visit Detroit: Do you have a favorite coffee shop?

Yzerman: Not really. I spread them out – I have about four different routes I take down to Joe Louis Arena, and I’ve got a Starbucks mapped out on every one. There’s a place called Deli Unique on Woodward Avenue that I like to stop at for breakfast if I get up early enough before going down for practice. There’s a little place called Toast, on Woodward and Nine Mile, which I like a lot.

Visit Detroit: Where do you like to shop?

Yzerman: I don’t really do a whole lot of shopping. My wife goes to Somerset Collection, and she also likes the stores in downtown Birmingham.

Visit Detroit: You took home the Stanley Cup in the back seat of your Porsche after the ’97 championship. What else do you like to drive around the Motor City?

Yzerman: My favorite is my Yukon XL Denali.

Visit Detroit: You’re a big golfer – how would you rate the local courses?

Yzerman: I’m a member at Oakland Hills Country Club, and they’ve got a great course. It’s my favorite place to play. There are several places around the area, really too many to name. I think if you take the whole state, the courses here are as good as anywhere in the country.

Visit Detroit: What are some of your favorite moments from playing hockey?

Yzerman: I’m fortunate to have quite a few now. Winning the Stanley Cup in ’97 was fantastic, and then we won it again in ’98, and in 2002. Those three, and then being part of the Canadian Team at the Salt Lake Winter Games that won the Olympic gold medal.

Visit Detroit: How do you see the upcoming season shaping up?

Yzerman: I think we have a good chance. We’ve made some changes, and I feel we are a legitimate contender, something I’ve felt we’ve been every season for the past few years. There’s a chance our roster may still change a bit before the playoffs, so I wouldn’t make any big conclusions, no great assumptions. But with the addition of Derian Hatcher and with big Jiri Fischer coming back, I think we’ll have a much better defensive team.

Visit Detroit: Right now, you’re Steve Yzerman, longtime captain of the Detroit Red Wings. Could you ever picture yourself as Steve Yzerman, mayor of Detroit?

Yzerman: Hmm, I don’t know if I’ll be mayor of Detroit. I’m not quite sure what qualifications you need for that.

Visit Detroit: How about Steve Yzerman, Red Wings general manager, then?

Yzerman: I’d like to stay in the organization and work in management in some position. I enjoy the game of hockey outside of playing it, and I’d be happy to stay in it after I retire from playing. I’ve always said I don’t want to be a coach, but these days being a general manager is a 12 – month job, so I might lean in the coaching direction just so I’d get some time off to play golf.

IGN.com interview
December 1, 2003

Back in 1986, Steve Yzerman became the youngest captain in Red Wings history by sewing the C on his jersey when he hit the legal age of 21. Now, 13 years later, not to mention three Stanley Cups, an Olympic Gold Medal, and over 1,500 points, Yzerman is skating to the forefront again, only this time the C is for coverboy as he mugs it up for Microsoft’s new game, NHL Rivals 2004.

IGN Sports caught up with the fast moving Stevie-Y and asked him about the Red Wings, mullets, and turning some of those octopi into calamari. Here’s what Detroit’s favorite son, by way of Canada, of course, had to say.

IGN Sports: What’s the one thing about the NHL that’s the most difficult for a video game to capture?

Steve Yzerman: I think the hardest thing to capture is what the puck handler sees when he’s taking a shot. From the games that I’ve played, and you’re coming in on the goaltender, you have an idea of where you’re going because you’re looking at the angle through the eyes of the audience or the television and not through the eyes of the player. It’s almost like you see too much, because when it happens for real, everything flies at you so fast, you never get a sense of the ice and where everyone is at that one moment. On replays, they capture it really well, but it’s the one area I’d want to see them work on for future games, trying to capture what the player sees as he skates down the ice.

IGN Sports: What types of things do you see down on the ice that the audience doesn’t pick up on because we’re so far away?

Steve Yzerman: Being out last year with an injury, I sat up high and watched a lot of games, and you see so much more and it just seems so much slower from up top. When you’re on the ice, you have very little time, you see very little, and everything happens really quick. The one thing that I notice from watching a game as opposed to being out on the ice is that you’re able to see a man open, you’re able to say that the puck should be passed here or there, but on the ice you just see it so much differently. Everything’s at eye level, and if you look the wrong way, you might miss out on the perfect pass that everyone up high is screaming about.

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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.

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