[rmjvol]

With the retirement of Steve Yzerman, I thought it would be good to have a thread to reflect on his accomplishments and memories.

If you're new to this website, take a minute to register so that you can post a reply. It would be great to hear your input on what made Yzerman one of the all time greats.

Steve Yzerman Background

Stephen Gregory Yzerman (born May 9, 1965, in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada) is a former hockey forward who played from 1983 to 2006, all for the Detroit Red Wings, leading the team to three Stanley Cup championships, in 1997, 1998, and 2002. At the age of 21, Yzerman was named captain of the Red Wings in the 1986-87 season, and to date has been captain of his team longer than any other player in NHL history.

Yzerman won numerous awards and trophies during his playing career, including the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1989, the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1998, the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward in 2000, and the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance in 2003. He is a nine-time NHL All-Star, a First Team All-Star in 2000, and a member of the All-Rookie Team in 1984.

On July 3rd, 2006 Yzerman retired from hockey finishing his career ranked 6th all-time in NHL career points.


Tell us what you remember about Yzerman. Love him, hate him? Greatest ever or not? What 1 memory sticks out in your mind about Yzerman?

[blueandwhite]

ok I have no good peterboroughesque story - but I do wonder, what will he do now? One of the biggest most repected players in the league - what's next? some players you don't want to disappear - you hope they'll find a new way to BE there.

[Lefty Noob]

Stevie Y was drafted fourth overall in 1983, so I thought it'd be fun to look at who went before him.

#1 overall to Minnesota was LW Brian Lawton of Mount St. Charles High School in Rhode Island. Lawton scored a whopping 266 career NHL points. The #2 pick, made by Hartford, was LW Sylvain Turgeon, who tallied 494 career points. The third fella wound up being pretty good - it was this center named Pat LaFontaine who was selected by the Islanders. Together, the first three picks in that 1983 draft tallied 1,773 combined points in their NHL careers. Yzerman retires with 1,755 points, the sixth best total in NHL history. Just thought that was interesting.

[blueandwhite]

I love those kinds of stories. brian who?
Yzerman's numbers are mind blowing.
we always seem to come in fourth in Canada, ie one after the bronze medal. But here's to fourth now.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Stevie Y was drafted fourth overall in 1983, so I thought it'd be fun to look at who went before him.

#1 overall to Minnesota was LW Brian Lawton of Mount St. Charles High School in Rhode Island. Lawton scored a whopping 266 career NHL points. The #2 pick, made by Hartford, was LW Sylvain Turgeon, who tallied 494 career points. The third fella wound up being pretty good - it was this center named Pat LaFontaine who was selected by the Islanders. Together, the first three picks in that 1983 draft tallied 1,773 combined points in their NHL careers. Yzerman retires with 1,755 points, the sixth best total in NHL history. Just thought that was interesting.

Lafontaine without injuries would have piled up a lot more points...He had 468 goals and 1013 points when he had to pack...three of those seasons were really short due to injuires...and he only played til he was 33...to me he was a lot like Stevie Y...short, quick offense of center...tallied a lot of ponits for his team...the biggest difference is he didn't have Yzerman's team.