Steve Yzerman

[Syckle78]

Unless you were around to see Yzerman at his offensive peak before injuries took a toll I think his talent is underrated. He had the highest season point of anyone in the 80s not named Gretzky or Mario. He did playing with very,very little talent around him. Those teams were basically Yzerman and a bunch of guys. Just an amazing dynamic player that could skate,stickhandle and shoot.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

Not as good as St. Nick or Sergei. Datsyuk was arguably better.

Sure, if you ignore the first half of his career and his offensive prime.

 

[Syckle78]

Not as good as St. Nick or Sergei. Datsyuk was arguably better.

Nope.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

One of my favorite memories of Yzerman, and I have a ton of them, was actually the first game of his final postseason. He knew and it was pretty apparent that this was it. But despite being a shell of his former self and on his last legs, he came out during that game 1 and literally was giving every single ounce of effort he had remaining. He was making cuts on his skates that we hadn't seen in forever: his signature fly up the left boards and stop on a dime. I remember just watching and shaking my head, like putting a cherry on top of a career which already had him considered one of the greatest captains of all time. He was 10th in Detroit scoring that season, 50+ pts behind Datsyuk (who unfortunately was out for that game 1) and Zetterberg who were just entering their primes. But still during that first game of the playoffs, he basically showed them what it would take during the postseason.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Not as good as St. Nick or Sergei. Datsyuk was arguably better.

Datsyuk doesn't belong there, sorry but that is going to be a bad argument.

 

[Obe2kenobe]

Not as good as St. Nick or Sergei. Datsyuk was arguably better.

Yzerman's Stanley cups,692 goals and 1755 points even though it was in a higher scoring era, make him my # 2 behind only Howe. Lidstrom #3 Fedorov #4.
Yzerman had that competitive attitude like Messier and the offensive ability near Gretzky and Lemieux.

 

[BigDucky]

I would rank Yzerman in the 4-6 range: After Howe, Lidstrom, and Sawchuk, and in the mix with Lindsay and Kelly.

All the coaching and the defensive systems today have removed a lot of the individual skill from the game. Yzerman came up in a time where star players were allowed and encouraged to carry the puck and make high risk/high reward type plays. Very exciting to watch. Hopefully the league can get back there one day; not like the 80's, but more like 96 which was an excellent balance of defense and star players that were allowed to be star players.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Yzerman is a top 30 player of all time, which is a big deal. He’s definitely the greatest Red Wing of all time in terms of his contributions and role in the franchise, but in terms of talent, he’s behind Gordie and Nick. Incredible player, leader, and guy.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

I would rank Yzerman in the 4-6 range: After Howe, Lidstrom, and Sawchuk, and in the mix with Lindsay and Kelly.

All the coaching and the defensive systems today have removed a lot of the individual skill from the game. Yzerman came up in a time where star players were allowed and encouraged to carry the puck and make high risk/high reward type plays. Very exciting to watch. Hopefully the league can get back there one day; not like the 80's, but more like 96 which was an excellent balance of defense and star players that were allowed to be star players.

96? 96 was dead puck era. Hoo boy, was it dead puck era.

It LOOKED like it was a great era to a Wings fan because the Wings had an obscene amount of talent and could play skill hockey but the hockey in general (outside of the glorious moments when the Russian Five were flying) was abysmal. That was the heyday of the neutral zone trap (left wing lock, etc.) and it almost killed the sport.

There was no balance in the league. Star players weren't allowed to be star players. Star players were the only ones with the talent to occasionally break the trap.

 

[BigDucky]

96? 96 was dead puck era. Hoo boy, was it dead puck era.

It LOOKED like it was a great era to a Wings fan because the Wings had an obscene amount of talent and could play skill hockey but the hockey in general (outside of the glorious moments when the Russian Five were flying) was abysmal. That was the heyday of the neutral zone trap (left wing lock, etc.) and it almost killed the sport.

There was no balance in the league. Star players weren't allowed to be star players. Star players were the only ones with the talent to occasionally break the trap.

95-96 had 12 players break 100 points and at least 20 players score above a ppg. League wide scoring was higher than any year since then, including the first year after the lockout. Not quite dead puck yet.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1996_leaders.html

 

[Shaman464]

95-96 had 12 players break 100 points and at least 20 players score above a ppg. League wide scoring was higher than any year since then, including the first year after the lockout. Not quite dead puck yet.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_1996_leaders.html

Deadpuck was like a cancer that was metastasizing through the NHL starting around 95 with the rise of New Jersey and their trap game. I would say that 96 was probably the year where it and run and gun were in equal balance, but from there on most teams became trap heavy and killed most of the fun.

 

[LeighDx59]

I've watched since about 1996, but im unforunate enough to not really remember alot of Yzermans prime playing years. I just remember one-legged Yzerman towards the end of his career. Seeing highlights and everything though, all-around he would be #2 behind Gordie imo. Talent wise, he would be three.

 

[PelagicJoe]

Agreed on the neutrail zone crap trap. That 1995 cup win for NJ still is the cheapest cup victory I have witnessed in my lifetime.
Back to the topic on hand, Yzerman is one of the all time greats and he was rather underrated in the second half of his career. Think of how many more points he would have had if he remained all offense. It's an interesting "what if," but without his great two way play, we might not win any of those three cups.

 

[ashenhigh]

What a warrior. 2002 playoffs was the stuff of legends.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Agreed on the neutrail zone crap trap. That 1995 cup win for NJ still is the cheapest cup victory I have witnessed in my lifetime.
Back to the topic on hand, Yzerman is one of the all time greats and he was rather underrated in the second half of his career. Think of how many more points he would have had if he remained all offense. It's an interesting "what if," but without his great two way play, we might not win any of those three cups.

Not just had he stayed all offense, but had he not slid into that goalpost in March of 1988. He crashed into the net and it got stuck on its moorings. That was the start of all his knee problems (He still managed to put up 50 goals and 102 points in 62 games that season before the injury).

As a kid I started following the Wings obsessively the same year Stevie was named captain, so I'm lucky enough to have seen all of Yzerman's career. Him being the first glimmer of hope coming out of the Dead Things era and everything he gave to the Wings over his career is why I put him #2 on the all-time Wings list second only to Gordie.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Steve Yzerman may be the third-best Red Wing in terms of sheer career impact (Howe is definitely superior, and Lidstrom top-5 defensemen of all time), but I wouldn't be opposed to the idea that he is the "greatest Red Wing" ever.

 

[Bench]

Steve Yzerman may be the third-best Red Wing in terms of sheer career impact (Howe is definitely superior, and Lidstrom top-5 defensemen of all time), but I wouldn't be opposed to the idea that he is the "greatest Red Wing" ever.

Then why is he working to hard to build a team in the division that keeps knocking the Wings out of the playoffs? Not very loyal if you ask me.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

Then why is he working to hard to build a team in the division that keeps knocking the Wings out of the playoffs? Not very loyal if you ask me.

Obviously because he knows Ken Holland's brain and realizes that we'll never retool until the streak is broken.