After the Detroit Red Wings selected defenseman Max Nicastro in the third round, he had the opportunity to meet team executive Steve Yzerman.

On being greeted by ex-Wing Steve Yzerman at the draft: “Stevie Y came up, introduced himself and welcomed me to the team. I told him that he didn’t have to introduce himself- I already knew who he was.”

Nicastro also had saw the Stanley Cup trophy and had dinner with ex-Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman.

Tampa Bay Lighting owner Oren Koules hopes to sign Vinny Lecavalier to a nine year, $77 million contract extension. After that contract is over, he hopes to see Lecavalier working as a team executive similar to what Steve Yzerman does with the Red Wings.

“We absolutely do,” Koules said. “We’ve already talked to Vinny about it. When we talked, we talked about lifestyle, about how long he wants to live here. He wants to retire here when he’s done, and he wants to be part of this.

“We look at Stevie Y as the exact model of what we want to do with Vinny.”

Koules was speaking of Steve Yzerman, who after 22 seasons with the Red Wings moved immediately into a vice president position working with the senior vice president, Jim Devellano, and general manager Ken Holland.

On Saturday, Steve Yzerman picked up the phone and called Steve Johnston, the Wings’ sixth round draft pick (181st overall), to tell him the good news.

At his home in Guelph, Johnston — a lifelong Red Wing fan — was floored to pick up the phone Saturday and hear Detroit great Steve Yzerman on the other end.

“It was pretty cool,” said the lanky centre. “He said he was Steve Yzerman and I wasn’t sure it was real. Detroit was my favourite team growing up. I really had no expectations for any team. But after he called, I couldn’t sit still for the rest of the day.”

Quick clip from the Detroit Free Press:

Wings vice president Steve Yzerman received a round of applause from the Ottawa crowd on Friday night before announcing the team’s first-round pick. Yzerman is from nearby Nepean, Ontario. “It was getting pretty late,” he said. “I thought everybody would be almost asleep at that point. It was nice.”

The Ottawa Sun talks to the hockey greats who were at the draft as team management and their memories of their draft year.

“It’s surreal,” said goalie Michael Hutchinson of Barrie, who was drafted in the third round, 77th overall, by the Boston Bruins. “I had never seen Wayne Gretzky live before last night. And Steve Yzerman …” …

Many former NHL stars, including Gretzky with the Phoenix Coyotes and Yzerman with the Detroit Red Wings, were at the draft as team executives. But they can still relate to what their draft picks are going through.

“Mine was in Montreal. It wasn’t as big an event way back then,” said Yzerman, drafted fourth overall by the Wings in 1983.

“It brings back good memories and I understand the excitement that they have. They’ll be forever endeared to the organization that drafted them, regardless of what happens in their careers.”

Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail was impressed by Yzerman’s managerial presence yesterday when No. 19, the GM for Team Canada for this year’s world championship, announced his selection for the coaching position.

Every time I hear Steve Yzerman talk, I’m more and more convinced that he will be the general manager of Canada’s men’s Olympic team sometime soon, maybe even as early as 2010 in Vancouver. I’m trying to put my finger on the quality that comes through when he speaks and I’ve concluded that it’s because, in an era of non-answers, where people in position of authority can talk at great lengths without actually saying much at all, Yzerman represents the polar opposite.

You could tell, for example, that during the conference call announcing Ken Hitchcock’s appointment as coach of Canada’s 2008 world championship team, that he was prepared for anything – the usual softballs that get lobbed up in these things, but also for the more probing questions about roster decisions, about a player’s obligation to play for his country and about the elephant in the room – if there had to be a nod towards French Canadian participation given that Quebec City is a co-host and when this event was first announced, a faction of Quebec politicos and commentators thought the province should enter its own team in the tournament, separate from the official Canadian entry. …

Yzerman was prepared to excuse players for health reasons, for contract considerations, and even if a player’s head wasn’t “in it” following a long season. Indeed, Yzerman acknowledged that in his own career, he turned down Canada twice for the world championships, citing injuries. The second time – when he was bothered by a wrist problem but played with it down the stretch and into the playoffs - ended up as a year in which Canada won the world championships.

In hindsight, he said he regretted that decision because he never got another chance to win a world championship. It was candid, it was honest, and it demonstrated once again that Canada’s depth in hockey isn’t limited strictly to the players in the pipeline. The executive staffs are coming along nicely as well.

A reporter is saying that yes, Canada needs Stevie Y.

The recently retired Detroit Red Wings superstar is in his second season as vice-president of hockey operations, helping GM Ken Holland and his staff evaluate pro and amateur talent.

The expectation is that Yzerman will be the Red Wings’ GM down the road. To hear him speak, or watch him work, there is nothing casual about his involvement with the organization. Nothing like the typical ex-jock dabbling in some front-office work. Yzerman is pouring himself into his new occupation with the same sort of zeal that marked his brilliant 22-year playing career.

To Yzerman’s advantage, he still has a fresh appreciation of what’s required to win Olympic gold from his own heroic effort of essentially playing on one leg in the 2002 Games. As a guy who only retired in 2006, Yzerman retains an association with many of today’s players, veterans and young rising stars.

During his playing career, Yzerman was always there when his country came calling, be it World Cup, world championship, Olympics, whatever.

Now that he has traded in his No. 19 sweater for a suit, his country is still calling on Stevie Y. For good reason.

Bob Duff at the Windsor Star talked to Yzerman about the upcoming World Junior hockey tournament.

Detroit Red Wings vice-president Steve Yzerman is slated to board a plane for the Czech Republic Christmas night to take in the World Junior hockey tournament, but admits it’s unlikely to tell him much about the draft-eligible players skating in the event.

“It’s really not a tournament for 18 year olds,” Yzerman said. “It’s a tournament for 19 year olds. The younger players, they don’t get much ice time.”

Yzerman recalled his own experience playing for Canada in his draft year at the 1983 World Junior in Leningrad, where his teammates included Mario Lemieux, the top player chosen in the 1984 draft, but Canada only won a bronze medal. “People look at that and wonder how we could have lost, but the truth is, Mario and I hardly got on the ice,” Yzerman said.

Many of you have heard about Toronto looking for a replacement for their current GM John Ferguson, Jr. One of the many rumored replacements is none other than No. 19, Steve Yzerman. Don’t worry Red Wings fans, Wings’ president Jimmy Devellano says we have nothing to worry about.

As for Yzerman, Devellano said he has settled nicely into his vice- president’s role and has repeatedly said how much he enjoys apprenticing under Holland. The Wings are also compensating Yzerman handsomely.

Devellano dismissed the threat of a Toronto raid on the Wings’ front office as being more the product of a hyperactive media market.

“Our people are sexy, who wouldn’t want them?” Devellano said “But they all have contracts and I don’t think they want to go anywhere.

“The media in Toronto are dreaming in Technicolor.”

Steve Yzerman told the Grand Rapids Press this week that he is enjoying his current role in management.

“Not at all. I really enjoyed my playing career. It was somewhat sad to retire, but I also was relieved because I knew it was time to retire,” said Yzerman, 42. “I really enjoy being around the game and being part of the organization. I have zero interest in playing the game again.” …

“For me to be around them and see how they’ve handled things is really beneficial to me,” Yzerman said. “I find it very interesting every day.”

And as a fan of the American Hockey League, Yzerman enjoys attending an occasional Griffins game.

“I know we’re all really pleased with how our players from Grand Rapids developed,” he said. “Our players are here playing in a good system with a good organization, and it’s benefiting us.”

I hated to see Yzerman retire but now that he has, I’m just pleased he has no regrets and has no desire to play anymore.