Will He Or Won’t He

Steve Yzerman has a tough decision to make. Does he hang up the skates, or will he be around the Red Wings for his twenty-fourth season? He’s imposed a July first deadline to make his mind up.  Just like everything he does, this will be handled with the class and leadership he has shown over his last twenty-three years in the NHL. He is a rarity in sports, a player who has spent his entire career with one team, and has even given up more money to stay with Detroit. He is the face of the Red Wings, as he is the longest serving captain of all time, if he was to come back, this would be his twentieth season wearing the `C’.

Entering the 1983 NHL Entry draft, then Wings GM Jim Devellano was targeting Verdun center Pat LaFontaine. Before the Wings could draft, the Islanders selected LaFontaine third, sending Yzerman to the Wings. Undersized when he came into the league, many thought that “Stevie Y” would not make it into the NHL, but he surprised his critics, and made the team his first season, with Devellano even going as far as calling him “immediately our best player”. Three seasons later, Yzerman was named captain of the Wings, and saw them through the dark times.

Yzerman holds many Red Wings records, including 155 points, which has only been topped by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemeiux. He’s also the youngest Red Wing team captain. He even finished as a finalist for four awards, including the Art Ross and the Hart in 1989. Yzerman has been a quiet, but consistent force in the NHL since his arrival twenty-three years ago, and continues to win not just the respect of his teammates, but of his peers around the league.

He has led the Wings to three Stanley Cups, including a Con Smythe win in 1998. Also that year, Yzerman did something that was the essence of sports, thus creating one of the most emotional moments in sports that define his class and sportsmanship. After their 1997 Stanley Cup win, Vladimir Konstantinov’s career came to an end, and nearly his life, after one of the most tragic accidents in NHL history, when the limo driver, who was drunk, slammed into a tree killing Sergei Mnatsakanov, the Red Wings’ team masseuse, instantly. Konstantinov was left in a coma, and nearly died. He did pull through, but was left with severe brain injuries. After the Wings beat the Capitals, Yzerman took the cup from Gary Bettman, and immediately handed it to Konstantiov, where Yzerman helped him raise the cup. It is still one of the most emotional and most remembered moments, not just in hockey history, but in sports history.

In 1999, Yzerman scored his 600th goal, becoming only the eleventh player in NHL history to do so, while age caught up to the Wings and their playoff success started to fade. Even though he won the Selke in 2000, the Wings suffered back to back second round losses to the Colorado Avalanche. In 2001, he would aggravate a previous leg injury that still plagues him today.  His guts would show, as pretty much on one leg, Yzerman would score 23 points on the way to his third Stanley Cup.

His knees still bother him, and after the 2002 season, Yzerman had an osteotomy to re-align the knee. After missing the first sixty-six games, he came back to a standing ovation. The retirement talk started at the same time as the lockout started. Many believed that Yzerman’s career would be over, while some actually thought players like Yzerman would be helped by the long layoff. He did come back for this season, but has imposed a July first deadline. Not many players make their own decision to end their careers, but not many players have the class and the talent as Steve Yzerman. So, the question remains, will he stay or will he go? We will know by Saturday.