YZERMAN STATS

Birth: May 9th, 1965 in Cranbrook, B.C
Descent: Polish Family Background: Ron and Jean's third child of five children
Age: 33
Height: 5'11
Weight: 185 Ibs
Position: Center
Shots: Right
Last Amateur Club: Pterborough Petes(OHL)
Acquisition: 1st round, 4th overall (1983 Entry Draft)
Home: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Favorite Show: Law and Order (NYPD Blue)
Favorite Movie: Schindler's List
Favorite Music Group: U2
Favorite NHL Athlete: Bryan Trottier
Favorite Non-NHL Athlete: Muhammed Ali
Pet Peeve: Duckhooks (a bad golf shot)
Hobbies: Golf, tennis, raquetball, weightlifting
Marital Status: Happily married with wife Lisa and daughters Isabella and Maria Yzerman

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The Forgotten Years

At the start of the 1994-95 season, fans all around the world were devastated by the shortened season due to the lockout. In January 1995, as players would get ready to strap on their skates, no one would have ever thought the 100+ point glory days were over for Steve. Offensively, Steve had his worst season of his career, as his goals plunged from 58 in 1993, 24 in 1994, and 12 in 1995. Hi assists had gone from 79 in 1993, 58 in 1994, to 26 in 1995. His points reduced drastically as well, scoring 137 points in 1993, 82 in 1994, to a career low 38 in 1995. As his offensive stats reduced, teammate Sergei Fedorov's numbers improved significantly. Steve, in the meantime, was learning to adapt with a more defensive style expected by new coach Scotty Bowman. The overall Wings had learned to play as a team, and win as a team, as they went on to win the President's Trophy, with an impressive 70 points in only 48 games played. They went as far as the Stanley Cup finals, where they were sweeped by the Devils, specifically, Martin Brodeur. The media lost attention of Stevie by then. Hockey fans believed Fedorov had carried "his" team to the cup finals. News reporters began to follow risin superstars such as Paul Kariya and Jaromir Jagr. Steve was no longer an attraction to the media. The 1995-96 eason wasn't any better at first. The Wings started off the season at a 6-5-2 pace. Steve's poor numbers even put his name off the all-star ballot. After the all-star break, things began to pick up. Steve had an incredible second half of the season. His explicit leadership skills and 52 points in 39 games helped the Wings to an outstanding new NHL record of 62 wins in a season, surpassing the previous 60 wings by the 1976-77 Habs. Steve was nominated for the Frank. J Selke trophy, and that, in my opinion, was when he gained the mutual respect he so longly deserved, not as a powerforward, But as a legend.

In 1987-88, Yzerman had gotten used to the NHL, and now it was his turn to shine in the spotlight. As Stevie started scoring more, people started paying more attention to him. Coach Jacques Demers had given him the name "Stevie Wonder." What a great name. On the ice, he really was a wonder. He was consistantly among the top 10 leaders in scoring, but an awful tragedy was about to make history. One night in February, Steve was playing a magnificent game, as always. He'd just recently passed the 100 point barrier, a major thrill in his career, since it was the first time. That February night, he scored his 50th goal of the season for the first time in his new career. He was thrilled, for a little while. A few minutes later on the ice, Steve went down with an injury, the cause was by a player from the opposing team.

"It went from the happiest moment of my life to the scariest," exclaimed Steve. He missed the rest of the season, and eventually was knocked out of the top 10 in scoring, despite missing 16 games. Stevie finished the season with 50 goals, 52 assists, and 102 points in only 64 games. Stevie made it just in time for the playoffs, and then almost singlehandedly carried the team to the Stanley Cup when they were stopped by Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers in the conference finals. The Oilers would go on to win the Cup. And who else but Steve was blamed for the team's loss. Very unfair.

He'd show them. At the end of the 1988-89 season, the Red Wigs club would have to rewrite their record books. Steve finshed the season with a whopping 65 goals, 90 assists, and 155 points. Any player's dream would be to have 155 points, fortunately, not many other players were able to make their dream a reality. He finished third in scoring, behind Mario Lemieux(85/114/199) and Wayne Gretzky(54/114/168) What surprised me was that the Y edged out the Great in goals, 65-54. Yzerman won the Lester B. Pearson that year as the leagues most outstanding player. His 155 points were only passed by those numbers by Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. To this date, no player other than Wayne and Mario ever reached 155 points in a single season. Today's stars such as Jaromir Jagr, Paul Kariya, and Peter Forsberg will never reach 155 points. It's too impossible. Stevie was placed third in Hart(team MVP) balloting.

Yzerman knew what was coming at him. The next year, everyone wanted another 155 point season from Stevie, but that was a career year, and career years don't usually repeat. The fans were still gracious that Yzerman could score 100 points very easily. He again placed third in scoring with 127 points(62/65) behind Wayne Gretzky(142 points) and Mark Messier(129 points.) In there was a such thing as a clinch for leading your team in points, Yzerman would have won it by the time half of the season went by. He led the Wings' second leading scorer on by 47 points! closer

1990-91 went by quickly, just a regular 50 goal, 100 point season(50/58/108.) In 1991-92(that's the year I became obsessed with Yzerman!) Yzerman missed the 50 goal mark for the first time in 5 years. He finished the season with 45 goals, 58 assists, and 103 points.

1992-93 was a spectacular year for Stevie Y. He was voted starter for the All-Star game in Montreal. On February 24th, 1993, Steve recorded his 1000th career point, in just 737 games, and only 8 players recorded 1000 points in fewer games. The Wings lost to Buffalo 10-7 that night, despite Yzerman notching one goal and three assists. He would finish the season with 137 points(58/79) good enough for fourth in overall scoring.

Yzerman managed to score 82 points in 1993-94, but in 58 games. It was because of his herniated disk that caused him to miss the first 24 games, that caused Sergei Fedorov to emerge as the team's leading scorer, and that caused most hockey fans to forget about him. Had Yzerman stayed healthy the whole year, Yzerman would've placed 2nd in points, and with Steve and Sergei playing on the same line, Steve might've had a chance at the Art Ross Trophy(leading scorer!)

After playing two years of Junior in the OHL, Steve was ready for the big league. It's funny how Steve almost didn't become a Red Wing. In 1983, Mike Ilitch was trying to figure out if the Wings would be better off with Pat Lafontaine. Jimmy Devellano then stepped in and said "Mike, save your money." So, with the NYI picking third, they chose Pat Lafontaine, and Detroit, picking 4th, went with Steve. They chose the right guy. Steve went on to lead all rookies in points in the 1983-84 season tith 87 points(39/47.) He was second in voting for the Calder trophy(best rookie) but was edged out by then-Sabres phenom Tom Barrasso. The next year, Yzerman improved his offense by 2 points, this time scoring 89 points in 80 games.

New York Islander general manager Bill Torrey phoned Mike Ilitch asking if he still wanted to trade Steve Yzerman-Pat Lafontaine, this time, it was Mike that nixed the deal. With the Wings in the rebuilding process, Yzerman looked like the perfect man to evolve as the Red Wings cornerstone for the future.

His early success was delayed after an injury occured in the 1985-86 season, when he went down after just 51 games. During that span, Stevie was only able to score 14 goals and 42 points. Stevie quickly recovered the next season and started the 1986-87 season with a big bang, it turned out so successful the even before Christmas came out that year(1986) Yzerman was appointed captain, taking the honour away from longtime veteran Danny Gare. At 21 years of age, Steve was the youngest captain in the NHL at that time. Here we saw 21 year old Steve Yzerman from a suburb of Ottawa lead the way for veterans like Danny Gare. Then came the offensive years.