If Yzerman hadn't adjusted his game for the good of the team,I think he would have had 13 100 point seasons.
That was some of it but IMO had more to do with his knee and back issues.
When he came back from a herniated disk in '94, you could see that he had lost a step.
Stevie played a harder game than Sakic did. Went into the corners more frequently and sacrificed his body to make a play more often.
All anyone ever sees with Sakic in his early years are his high points totals, many of which were meaningless points he got against teams up multiple goals who had taken their foot off the petal.
Sakic was the epitome of a one dimensional player for his first 4-5 seasons and still couldn't hold a candle to Yzerman offensively.
Yzerman will always be ahead of Sakic in my book. He peaked higher in all aspects of the game and I always thought Sakic's defensive game was overrated much in the same way that Crosby's defensive game is overrated today.
Yzerman was a true superstar, a guy that put butts in the seats and then made it hard for those butts to stay in their seats when he was on the ice.
Stevie, in the 80's, made hockey fans out of people that weren't and converted Detroit fans out of people that followed other teams long before the Wings were winning Cups.
He was a hockey players hockey player and you just couldn't help yourself.
That's my opinion after watching both from start to finish anyway.